Benefits Of Social Media Marketing – Become Visible on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Even TikTok
In the modern world, social media for business is non-negotiable. It’s essential!
Gone are the days of growing your business using print advertising. It’s not enough to rely on an ad in the newspaper or flyers to promote your business.
Social media is now a tool that’s being used by successful businesses everywhere. So if you aren’t using it, you’re going to be left behind.
Just take a look at these statistics:
The bottom line is your audience is hanging out online… So you should be online, too!
Here are just 22 benefits of social media for business (although there are probably hundreds!):
Table of Contents
Benefits Of Social Media For Brand Building
Increase Brand Awareness
It’s no secret that brand awareness is essential for business growth. In fact, 85% of businesses use social media primarily for brand awareness.
And that’s no surprise!
Social media is a great way to promote your brand that costs next to nothing.
For the most part, using social media to grow your brand is actually free. And even if you decide to take advantage of paid ads on social media, compared to other types of advertising, it’s relatively inexpensive.
Not only is it cheap, but it’s also extremely effective!
83 percent of Instagram users say they discover new products on the platform.
Humanize Your Brand
People like to buy from people, not faceless brands with no personality!
Social media is your chance to come across as relatable and authentic – and that’s important because authenticity builds trust!
The truth is, there are millions of businesses on social media. And your audience knows that not all of them are trustworthy or worth spending money on.
Trust builds marketing receptiveness and in turn, drives new business. So, don’t be afraid to show a little personality on social media! It’s not all about being super professional and rigid on your social media profiles.
You don’t have to stick to posting strictly professionally made graphics and aesthetically pleasing posts, You should use your social media as a way to show your brand values.
This will help you to form real human connections with your target audience in the long run!
Establish Your Brand As A Thought Leader
As a business owner, it’s important that you position yourself and your business as thought leaders in your field.
So, how do you do that? Through social media, of course!
As we said in the previous section, people want to put their money into brands that have personalities.
And that includes insights and information.
A great platform to utilize for this is LinkedIn, particularly its publishing platform.
There, you can write your thoughts and share them with your audience, giving them an insight to who you are as a company.
Stay Top Of Mind
Did you know that seventy percent of social media users log into their accounts once a day? So, if your audience is logging in every day…
… You should be posting new content often enough so that you pop up on their feeds when they go online!
For example, let’s say you have a company that sells clothing.
Your audience may not be looking for a new outfit right now, but if they recognize your name and your content from social media, you’ll be the first business that comes to mind when they are in the market for clothing.
Benefits Of Social Media For Growth
Increase Website Traffic
To drive traffic to your website, you should always include a link to your posts or ads.
We recommend sharing content from your blog or website to your social media – if you give them a little teaser on social media, that will incentivize them to click and keep reading!
Don’t forget to make your website as accessible as possible.
You don’t want your target customers to have to work to find your website.
You want them to be able to find it easily with one simple click!
Generate Leads
Lead generation is one of the most important and valuable benefits of social media for business.
It’s a low-stakes, low-commitment way for potential customers to show interest in your products and services!
There are several ways you can generate leads on social media:
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- Share social proof like testimonials on your social channels
- Create targeted ads
- Create ‘clickable’ content
- Lead magnets that incentivize people to share their information
Boost Sales
Your social accounts are an important element of your sales funnel.
This doesn’t mean that your posts should be super ‘salesy’ all the time – that could be a major turn off for a lot of customers if all you do on social media is sell, sell, sell!
Here are a few top tips for boosting sales on social media:
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- Work with influencers to promote your products (More on that later!)
- Use paid ads to draw in new customers
- Share user-generated content to showcase existing customers enjoying your products
Partner With Influencers
In the world of social media marketing, word of mouth referrals are not dead.
In fact, word of mouth marketing is more important than ever!
It just looks slightly different in the online world – we don’t just take recommendations from family and friends, we take them from the influencers on our social media feeds.
Using influencers is a great way to get people talking about your brand and build credibility.
You may associate influencers with beauty or fashion brands…
… But believe it or not, there are popular influencers in every industry you can think of with a loyal following that want to hear their recommendations!
The influencer industry is relatively new, but it is just set to get bigger and bigger.
Make sure you jump onto this marketing tactic while there are still a lot of opportunities!
Benefits Of Social Media For Content Creation And Distribution
Promote Content
Promoting your content on social media is a fantastic way to get the content you have worked so hard on in front of new people so you can position yourself as an expert in your field.
Content creation can take a lot of time and effort.
And you want as many people to see it as possible, right?
As we said earlier, social media is where your potential customers are hanging out, so your content should be there for them to see.
But that doesn’t mean you need to create 5 different pieces of content to put on all of your social media platforms.
You can repurpose the same content for each different platform, for example:
- Resize your graphics to use on both Facebook and Instagram
- Use the same video for Youtube Shorts, Reels, and Tiktoks
- Repost your existing blog posts to Twitter and Facebook
Go Viral
Ok, we know what you’re thinking: going viral is not easy.
And you’re right!
But without social media, it would be practically impossible.
The truth is, people and businesses go viral every day. Especially now that newer platforms like TikTok have made going vital even easier!
Here’s how it works:
As people start liking, commenting, sharing, and tagging their friends in your content, their friends will do the same, then their friends’ friends, and so on.
We live in a world where there is more online content than we could ever consume.
So, if a friend has already shared a video, that acts as a sort of pre-screening, so we will be more likely to watch it yourselves.
Source Content
There are two main ways you can source content on social media as a business owner:
- You can source ideas: This one could not be more simple – you can simply ask your followers what they want to see! We recommend using the ‘ask a question feature on Instagram to do this, for example. And from there, you just give the people what they want. That is a surefire way to make sure the content you are producing is the content that people want to see.
- You can source material: Create a contest or use a hashtag to encourage your customers to engage with you so you can source user-generated content to share. Getting your followers involved is the perfect way to build excitement and show that there are people out there who buy and enjoy your products.
Benefits Of Social Media For Communication
Reputation Management
No matter what industry you are in, the odds are your customers are already talking about you on social media.
It’s important for your team to stay on top of their game by monitoring posts that mention your business so they can nip problems in the bud before they escalate.
The rule for reputation management is simple:
Highlight the positive and address the negative.
As a business owner, it’s inevitable – you are going to run into issues and receive not-so-positive feedback from time to time.
But it’s how you deal with it that matters!
We know that your business is your baby – and nobody likes to hear anyone talk badly about their baby.
So it’s tempting to get defensive and fight back.
But that old saying ‘the customer is always right still stands!
Feel free to give your side of the story and explain yourself, but make sure you do it in a polite way.
And when you receive positive feedback, share it everywhere and keep thanking them!
Crisis Communication
If your business doesn’t have a plan in place for a crisis, it’s time to create one!
Let’s say Starbucks finds itself in the middle of controversy and everyone is talking about it online.
Sure, it may spread fast, but it won’t stop everyone from shopping there.
The impact of a crisis can be much more devastating for a small business in a tight-knit, niche community where everyone knows everyone.
Here’s our biggest piece of advice:
You may think that silence is the best option. Let it blow over. Sweep it under the rug.
But that is the WORST approach!
Address it on social media and get ready to engage if the worst occurs (and keep your fingers crossed it doesn’t!)
Customer And Audience Engagement
The beauty of social media for business is that it allows you to interact directly with your customers and vice versa.
This is important especially in today’s society when a lot of businesses are online.
If you don’t have a brick and mortar store, you may not get a lot of face-to-face interaction with your customers.
So, social media is the prime place to keep in touch with them.
If you want your customers to be engaged, you have to be engaged yourself.
Stay active and respond to comments and questions on your own social media posts in a way that’s appropriate to your brand.
Customer Service And Customer Support
Customers see social media as a way to get in touch with brands – so they expect them to be available.
You need to make sure you are monitoring:
- Your DMs
- Your comments
- Your mentions
And start seeing your social media as another form of customer service and support.
About half of social media users expect a response from brands on social media within three hours.
Make sure you do your best to meet that expectation!
Benefits Of Social Media For Gaining Insights
Learn More About Your Customers
Social media platforms now have great features for helping you get to know your followers.
It’s easier than ever to find out more about your demographic!
Social media generates a huge amount of data about your customers in real-time.
You can use that information to make smarter business decisions and tailor your social media strategy accordingly to speak to your real audience.
There’s no need to stay in the dark about your customers and followers…
… The information is right there for you!
Gauge Sentiment Around Your Brand
Social media isn’t just good for getting to know and engaging with your audience.
It’s also a key source of intelligence about your brand itself.
Thanks to social media, you no longer have to wonder how people are feeling about your brand – the information will be right there in front of you.
Because yes, you want your brand to be talked about on social media.
Remember that saying “all publicity is good publicity?”
Not true! Lots of mentions could be a good thing, but it’s also a way to find out if you’re going wrong somewhere.
So you can address the problem before it spirals out of control!
Keep An Eye On The Competition
Not only is it important to keep up with what people are saying about your business…
… But it’s also important to check out what they’re saying about your competitors.
This can uncover pain points that their products and services are not fixing, so you can jump in with a solution.
That way you win the customer!
Not only that, but you can also stay on top of their new launches, products, promotions, reports, and data.
Stay On Top Of Industry News
We all know how fast-moving the online world is.
But if you don’t stay on top of the latest trends and news, you will fall behind.
So, we recommend you keep up with the latest in the social media world with social listening.
For example, are you always taken by surprise when Facebook or Instagram do a big update and introduce a ton of new features?
You wouldn’t be if you were up to date on the latest social media news!
These changes could completely change the way your business operates on social media, so you need to be prepared and adjust your strategy accordingly.
Benefits Of Social Media For Advertising
Targeted Advertising
Think back to a time before social media.
Advertising was fairly expensive. Just think about the cost of a billboard or printing and distributing a couple hundred flyers.
That’s a pretty big bill.
But social media ads are a fairly affordable way to promote your business and distribute your content.
A lot of platforms now also offer powerful targeting options so you can reach the right audience and make the most of your budget.
In 2022, advertisers are expected to spend over $56 billion on promoting products over social media.
So if you aren’t, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity…
… And you’re leaving a lot of money on the table!
Targeted ad options allow you to get your ad in front of people who WANT to see it – not just any old social media user.
Ad targeting options include demographic information, geography, language, and even online behaviors.
So you can create a message that will speak to these particular groups.
Retargeting
Here’s a shocking statistic for you – almost 70 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned.
That means a lot of people are probably thinking of buying for you…
… But just don’t pull the trigger and hit the ‘buy’ button.
People who have abandoned products in a shopping cart are prime potential customers.
Think about it this way: they’ve already visited your site, thought about buying your products and expressed interest.
They just need that one final push.
Benefits Of Social Media For Proving ROI
Reporting and analytics
Marketers traditionally have always found it difficult to prove return on investment. But not anymore!
There are plenty of tracking tools and analytic tools you can take advantage of to see the full impact of your activity on social media, from follows to purchases.
Here at Infintech Designs, we understand that you have a lot on your plate as a business owner.
You may not want to add social media tasks to the mix. But don’t worry – that doesn’t mean you have to miss out!
We offer a range of social media services that will make your life so much easier and allow you to sit back while we do the hard work…
… And you enjoy the incredible results!