Social media has become a major part of society and that has carried over into business. In the United States, 70 percent of the population has at least one social media account and 90 percent of young adults between the ages of 18 and 29 use social media. One-third of millennials, the most targeted demographic, say that social media is their preferred way of communicating with businesses. That’s why social media marketing has become an integral part of a successful business.
Statistics show that the best way to capture these customers is by engaging in social media. And seeing how their communication tendencies are unlikely to change as they age, social media will only become a more important aspect of marketing as time goes on. With that in mind, here are some of the benefits of using social media in your marketing plan.
Brand Awareness
Any chance a business has to increase its brand visibility is valuable. Social media is an additional way that a business can extend their voice and content. The ability to increase your brand’s visibility and extend its voice will make the company more accessible to new customers and will make you more familiar and recognizable to current customers.
Brand Loyalty
According to a study by Texas Tech University, customers show more loyalty toward brands that engage with them on social media. Similarly, Convince&Convert found that 53 percent of Americans that follow a brand on social media become loyal to that brand. Rather than being a distant corporation, engagement through social media brings the customer closer to the company creating a personal feeling that breeds loyalty.
Opportunity to Convert
Social media gives companies the unique opportunity to simultaneously access old, current, and new customers. Furthermore, they can interact with those customers learning all about what they like or dislike to satisfy more of their potential customers. Every time a company posts on social media, it gives them the opportunity to interact with more customers. These positive interactions could lead to them visiting their website for more information and eventually converting into a loyal customer of their product. Not every interaction will lead to a new, loyal customer but it will definitely increase the likelihood.
Conversion Rates
Interacting with customers through social media humanizes the company which makes customers more comfortable. If the customer only sees marketing through television or radio, they won’t feel the human element to the company that they get by interacting with them on social media. At the end of the day, most people want to do business with people rather than companies. This is proven in statistics that show that social media has a 100 percent higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing does. They also show that the higher the number of social followers a company has, the more trust and credibility customers have in their brand.
Brand Authority
Many people find out about new things through people they follow on social media. When people compliment or brag about a product or service on social media, the people who follow them see it and may start to follow that brand for updates. The more that people talk about a specific company or brand on social media, the more valuable and authoritative their brand will seem to new users.
Inbound Traffic
If you’re not engaging customers using social media, then the only online inbound traffic you’re gaining are those that are already familiar with your brand and those that search for the specific keywords in which you currently rank. Each time you post content, it’s another opportunity that you might find a new visitor. So the more quality content that you post on social media, the more inbound traffic you’ll generate and the more traffic you get, the more leads you’re likely to get.
More for Less
The fact that you can reach more people on social media than any other form of communication means that you can have more of a positive impact for less time and less money than other forms of marketing. This will allow you to stay within your marketing budget without any fears of going over your budgeted amount.
Search Engine Rankings
It used to be enough to just update your blog regularly with strong SEO to achieve high rankings in search engines but that’s not the case anymore. Today search engines are using your social media presence in their rankings. The search engines want to ensure that they are promoting legitimate, credible, and trustworthy sites and a strong social media presence proves that.
Customer Service
In terms of marketing, social media is a form of communication like email or phone calls. Each interaction with customers gives the company an opportunity to show off their customer service skills. Many customers will go out of their way to visit an establishment if they know they’ll be treated well.
If your business isn’t using social media marketing, you’re missing out on potential customers. While these nine impacts will positively affect your business, they’re not the reasons why your business should partake in social media. So make sure you’re taking advantage of this important marketing platform.