More and more companies are turning to Social Media Marketing (SMM) as a way to increase brand awareness and allow for authentic interaction with existing and potential customers. In fact, a 2015 study by the Social Media Examiner showed that 92% of marketers believed that social media was an important part of their business plan. The same study showed that 96% of marketers surveyed were using social media as part of their overall marketing plan. As more and more households cut the cord to network television, and magazines and newspapers continue to suffer from declining readership rates, advertising via social media makes good business sense. Instead of trying to drag customers to where you want them to be, Social Media Marketing allows you to meet them where they are – online.
Four Ways Social Media Marketing can help your business grow:
- Establishing Authority. Social Media Marketing can position your company as an authority in your niche. By regularly updating social media channels with interesting and current content, you can establish your business as the place to go for news and information. If a customer is trying to decide between two brands and one has a strong SMM presence, the customer is far more likely to remember and go back to that company rather than the one without a social presence.
- Decreased Marketing Costs (and higher ROI). Compared to traditional marketing, Social Media Marketing has a lower price point and a higher Return on Investment (ROI). In addition, SMM allows you to target your audience far more effectively than traditional media marketing. For example, Facebook allows companies to use geographic targeting with their advertisements so that a business can advertise to people who are the most likely to use their products.
- Reaching a New Audience. – Social Media Marketing is unique in that every post you create can be shared by your customers, exponentially increasing the reach of the post beyond the original audience. Every person who is reached can then become a fan of the company’s Facebook page or follow them on Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Snapchat and immediately become part of the business’ online community.
- Increased Website Traffic. In addition to the opportunities for growth outlined above, Social Media Marketing can also help increase your visibility in internet searches. If the first five things a customer finds when they google your company name are your website, and four of your social media channels, the chance that they will click through to your website is increased because your legitimacy is underscored.
In this day and age, there really aren’t any effective arguments against using Social Media Marketing as long as there is a clear understanding that while social media can be used as a broadcast platform, it is far better for both the consumer and the business when it is used as a communication tool.