While there are many compelling reasons to integrate social networking in your marketing plan, let’s focus on the top 5 benefits of social media marketing.
There are some entrepreneurs who view social media marketing as the “next big thing,” a powerful yet temporary fad that should be exploited for its advantages while it lasts. To others, social media marketing is simply a buzzword that has no practical advantages when considering its complicated and steep learning curve; however, both groups would be wrong in their postulations.
Due to the almost instant appearance and rapid ascendance of the use of social media, too many business owners describe it as a passing marketing interest, one with no long-term value. However, when examining the statistics, you are able to view a completely different picture. According to a 2014 Hubspot report, 92 percent of marketers proclaimed that social media marketing was an important and growing part of their marketing strategy — with 80 percent indicating that their social media marketing efforts netted them a significant traffic increase to their website (where hopefully they had a great lead conversion process, also). Additionally, according to the social media examiner, 97 percent of marketers are participating in a social media campaign, although 85 percent of them have admitted that they are not certain of what social media platforms and tools are best for their business.
These numbers demonstrate the massive potential for social media marketing to increase conversions and grow a company’s customer base. The key for businesses is to maximize their social media efforts. Following are 5 ways that social media can be used to increase your business.
1. Increased Brand Recognition
Opportunities for a business to syndicate their content and increase their visibility are immensely valuable. Social media networks should be viewed as new channels through which your company’s voice and content are propagated. This is incredibly important due to the fact that social media makes your company more accessible for new customers. Additionally, it also makes your brand more recognizable to your existing customers, leading to the development of a relationship that is built on trust.
For example, users on Facebook may become aware of your company by stumbling across it on a news feed post. Furthermore, a customer who may be somewhat apathetic toward your brand may become better acquainted with your brand and its message after engaging it on multiple networks.
2. Improved Level of Brand Loyalty
According to a report released by Texas Tech University, brands who engage their target audience on social media channels experience a significantly higher level of brand loyalty from customers. This report offers the conclusion that companies should exploit the advantages that social media provides as far as customer engagement is concerned. Developing a social media strategy has the capacity to morph consumers into customers who are loyal to a company’s brand.
According to Convince & Convert, 53 percent of Americans who consistently follow brands on social media are more loyal to those brands they follow.
3. More Conversion Opportunities
Every quality post that your business makes on social media is another opportunity to convert prospects into customers. As you build a following on a social media platform, you are simultaneously increasing your access and exposure to new customers, old customers and recent customers, and you will have the opportunity to interact with all of them in a manner that is conducive to converting sales. After all, when done properly, it’s safe, non-confrontational, and not sales-y.
Every time that you share a video, image, blog post or comment, you create a chance for someone to react — with every reaction having the potential to lead to a site visit. Although not every interaction with your brand will lead directly to a conversion, every positive reaction will increase the likelihood of an eventual conversion. It is all part of the process. There may be times in which your click through rates will be considerably low, but the volume of your engagement has the potential to create significant results through social media. Remember, opportunity is the first element of any action. If you are not giving your target audience enough opportunities to engage with your brand, then you are robbing yourself of great conversion opportunities.
4. Higher Conversion Rates
There are a few distinct ways in which social media marketing contributes to higher conversion rates. The humanization element probably has the greatest significance as your brand will become more humanized through social media engagement. Social media offers a platform that allows brands to function in the same manner as humans, creating a higher level of personalization. In simple, people love doing business with people, and social media helps create that type of persona for your brand.
Additionally, there are recent studies that have revealed that social media produces a 100 percent higher lead-to-close rate than does outbound marketing. Furthermore, a higher number of followers on social media has the proclivity to develop a higher level of credibility and trust. This means that simply building your audience on social media can significantly increase your conversion rates.
5. Higher Brand Authority
When you interact with your customers on a regular basis, it serves as a show of good faith. When people go to brag on a particular product or service, they head to their favorite social media platform to do it. When your customer post your name, it will expose your brand to audience members who will want to follow your updates. It is simple, the more that people are talking about you on social media, the more authoritative your brand will appear to new followers. If you are able to engage with some major influencers on Facebook, Twitter or other social media networks, you will experience your visible authority absolutely skyrocket.
When you are able to sustain a long-term social media campaign, the aforementioned benefits listed above will become commonplace. Something else that you should consider is the fact that your competition has probably already begun their social media campaign, meaning that you cannot afford to fall behind in a competitive global market.
So, what are you waiting for? The truth is that the longer you wait to seize this opportunity, the more you stand to lose. When planned and executed properly, social media marketing has the capacity to generate more traffic, more customers and more conversions, and by the way, it is here to stay.
