Social media marketing is becoming a must-have for organizations that use digital advertising strategies to market their business online. These platforms have evolved from strictly social networking sites to great marketing tools for organizations seeking to reach a wider audience.
As per reports, over 4.48 billion people use social media globally, creating a significant opportunity for businesses to advertise their brands online. But too many businesses miss out on this enormous possibility to get their name publicly known and expand their client base by completely disregarding social media marketing.
As a result, it is essential for businesses to be aware of the advantages of social media marketing in order to effectively benefit from it. So, in this article, we will take a look at the top benefits of using social media marketing.
WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Social media marketing, also known as SMM, is the practice of promoting products and services using social media platforms, as well as finding and connecting with your target audience and building your brand.
By exposing your business to more eyes on the web, you increase the possibility to attract a wider following and a devoted consumer base. SMM is an efficient method for businesses of all sizes to reach out to those prospects and consumers. Almost 90 percent of marketers say their social marketing efforts have increased exposure for their business, and 75 percent say they’ve increased traffic.
From a professional viewpoint also social media marketing is in high demand. As more businesses go online, there is a growing demand for social media marketers. For someone starting their digital marketing career, this could be a very lucrative choice.
HOW TO CHOOSE YOUR PLATFORM
With so many social media platforms to keep an eye on these days, it can be difficult to determine which ones would be most beneficial to your organization. However, this doesn’t mean that your company must have a presence on all of these platforms. Remember, quality will always triumph over quantity.
Your selection of marketing channels should be motivated by a few deciding factors, which are-
- Goals: Your social media presence should correspond to your business goals. Once you’ve determined your business goals, a few different platforms will stand out as the best fit to help you achieve them.
- Content types: There are 5 primary types of content available- text, images, videos, live videos, and stories. With numerous social media channels intended to accommodate different types of content, you must select which sort of content best conveys your message.
- Target audience: By establishing a target audience, you can match them with current statistics for the major social media sites. It will help you figure out which sites have the majority of the targeted audience spending their time there.
- Industry: Despite the availability of some of the most popular social media networks, it is equally important to market your products and services on industry-specific channels.
- Competitors: It is usually an excellent idea to keep an eye on your competition and their strategies. So, if your competitor is present on some channel, it’s a good sign that you should be there as well.
DIFFERENT CHANNELS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Now that we have talked about the deciding factors of choosing a channel, let’s take a look at some of the top marketing platforms.
Facebook: With over 2.7 billion members globally, Facebook is seemingly unavoidable when it pertains to social media marketing channels. Businesses can use its business manager tool to sign up for business pages, schedule posts, and ads, and run campaigns and advertisements, among other things.
Instagram: Instagram has been growing slowly for a while now. Primarily used as a mobile app, Instagram is the go-to place for brands when it comes to sharing visually appealing content. Since the value of influencer marketing on this platform is much higher, you can target your audience with the right type of content.
Twitter: Twitter is a microblogging social networking service with a strong emphasis on words that lets users publish brief messages, images, links, and other sorts of information. Twitter is an excellent social media platform for initiating discussions, but you must be in the correct demographic to benefit from it.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is ideal for entrepreneurs trying to expand their professional circle or reach out to B2B clients since it has a clearly defined audience of Working professionals eager to network and in search of new possibilities.
YouTube: According to Statista 2021, YouTube is used by 62% of global consumers. If you use video content for your marketing strategies, then YouTube is the place to be. Businesses uploading relevant video material such as demos may make use of this platform’s large and diverse user base.
ADVANTAGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Brand Awareness: One of the most significant marketing objectives for any organization is to increase brand awareness and recognition. With billions of people utilizing social media on a daily basis, it’s clear why it should be the first choice for marketers when it comes to brand promotion.
According to Sproutsocial, 55% of consumers learn about new brands on social media. The more individuals that are exposed to your brand, the more familiar they will become with it. Brand familiarity leads to greater conversions in the long run since consumers like to buy from companies, they are acquainted with. Fortunately, there is a wide range of tools available, both paid and free, that can be used to raise awareness of your company and showcase your products or services.
With the sharing option on social media, your followers can share your content with others in their own circle, exposing your brand to an even wider audience. This way you can acquire even more leads, you would not have otherwise.
User Engagement: Brands, large and small, rely on customer engagement to be successful. It is now ridiculously simple to do so, owing to social media.
Social media is not only a great tool to increase brand exposure, but it also allows businesses to engage with customers, reply to comments, distribute relevant content, and follow up with unhappy consumers.
Every customer engagement on your company’s social media accounts is a chance for you to openly show your concern for your clients. A business dedicated to customer satisfaction that takes the time to listen to their requirements will always be seen in a positive light.
Audience Insights: Another advantage of social media advertising is that it may assist you in better understanding your present target audience as well as in creating new ones. Being aware of the demographics, preferences, and dislikes of potential clients might help you figure out how to respond to their questions or requests.
You should constantly keep an ear out for consumer discussions. According to 62% of marketers, social listening is the best social media marketing tactic. This keeps you up to date on what’s trending and how to better tailor your brand to meet the demands of your customers.
Conversion Rate: Marketing your brand or a specific product on social media should have a positive influence on your conversion rate. Every piece of content you publish has the potential to direct readers to your company’s website and generate traffic because when you use social media to give your brand a personal touch, your conversion rates will naturally rise.
Additionally, you can create extensive audience targeting data for your ad campaigns, using multiple advertising platforms. Doing this ensures that your advertisements reach those who are more inclined to take action.
Another effective feature is remarketing, which encourages consumers to take action that they have previously abandoned, hence increasing your conversion rate.
Lead Generation: A lead is any piece of information that a social media user willingly shares with you. These can be names, email addresses, or any other information that you could use afterward to target them.
Social media lead generation is the practice of employing marketing methods that capture qualified leads on a brand’s social media platform with the goal of converting those leads into new customers.
Given the significance of lead generation, the majority of social media networks provide advertising campaigns aimed at generating leads. Leads may be collected by combining organic and paid tactics. After you generate leads, you have to nurture them through the sales journey, often known as the sales cycle.
Lead magnets can be used to entice people to share their information with you. These can be e-books, guides, webinars, free trials, demos, coupons, discounts, etc.
Cost-Effective & Great ROI: Social media marketing might be the most cost-effective element of a marketing strategy. Almost all social networking sites enable you to join and create a profile for free of cost, and any sponsored promotions you chose to invest in are quite affordable when compared to other marketing strategies.
Submitting organic material on social media is entirely free. Any sponsored advertising on social media is also extremely cost-efficient, which is a great benefit on its own because it allows you to keep a larger budget for other marketing and company-related expenses. Because of its cost-effectiveness, it is fairly easy to get a substantially greater ROI.
You can assess your ROI by using analytics tools to set up goals and track events.
CONCLUSION
It is clear there are various advantages of social media marketing and could bring numerous benefits to your organization. So, if you aren’t already using Social Media Marketing, now is the time to incorporate it into your marketing strategy. Consider which platforms will serve your purpose the best, create compelling content, and get started right away.