With the advancement of Technology and Digital Communication Methods, It is a given that all of us have been exposed to social media for one reason or another, but did you know that Social Media has a greater impact for our lives than we expected?
A survey has shown that 90% of all marketers who utilise social media marketing has increased their business exposure and 66% of all marketers that invests at least 6 hours on social media per week have seen more leads. Social Media Marketing welcomes you and your business, no matter what you sell and who you sell it to, using social media as a marketing tool can help your brand grow and increase brand exposure.
The impact of social media marketing to brands and businesses has been very apparent yet there are some people who still prefers to stick to traditional ways of running a business, asking themselves, “Why would I need social media marketing when what I’m doing already works for me? Do I really need it?” The answer is Yes! Yes you do. – and here are some of the compelling reasons why:
Related: Building Engagement & Awareness With Social Media Activation
Social Media Marketing Connects You and Your Business to Consumers
With social channels like Twitter and Instagram, acting as effective marketing tools, you are given an opportunity to interact with your customer base. By reading their comments, feedback, tweets, posts and status updates, you will gain insight into consumers’ daily lifestyles and behaviours therefore helping you in understanding your audience by answering questions such as: what products are they buying and why? What hobbies do they have? What kinds of posts do they love to share? What websites do they visit?
These insights will benefit you with tremendous marketing benefits. When you understand your customers, you will know how to write better content and more compelling posts and it turn, leading to more traffic. But the benefits can sometimes go far beyond marketing, helping you identify customer pain points, improve sales conversions and even refine your product strategy.
With these benefits however, you must approach customers in the right way. Consumers see Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as social networks, not marketing machines and they don’t want to be pitched to – they want authentic engagement. This will present itself as a challenge when you’re first developing your social media marketing strategy. A lot of companies make mistakes by instinctively taking a hard sell approach, overwhelming their followers with discount offer codes, customer reviews and new product announcements. Then, when the traffic gains they reap are not what they expect, they assume that social media is just not a good fit for their brand.
The key to transforming your brand is by not seeing social media as a way to pitch your customers but as a way to connect with them. You need to interact with customers by helping them answer their questions, engaging in interactive content, entertaining and informing them with relevant content and even forming bonds over shared interests.
Slaying the Competition with the Right Social Media Marketing Strategy
Studies have shown that 91% of retail brands have utilised at least 2 social media platforms. This study shows that the crowded world of social media branding can feel very intimidating and intense. You might even ask yourself: “So, what hope do I even have of getting my brand noticed on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram?”
The truth is, it is a lot easier than you think, because most brands aren’t doing it right. Bigger brands might have sophisticated social media presences, but Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) rarely do. They usually start without the right social media strategy, they post irregularly, rarely engage with followers, using social media only as a mean for them to throw ads at customers now and then. And when that strategy doesn’t yield the results that they expected, they doubt the impact of Social Media and put even less effort into it.
The mindset and intention of using social media should not only be targeted on sales and numbers, the truth is, posting to social media just because you need to post will get you nowhere. With one really good social media channel, you are better off that your competitor is with four semi-abandoned ones. Invest in developing your strategy and voice, post good content regularly and respond to messages, inquiries and comments promptly, you can cultivate a following your lazy competitors can’t possibly match — even if they’ve been on social media for years longer than you have.
Making Sales with Social Media Marketing
By utilising social media to reach, interact and connect with your customers, they are more likely to buy from you when they need the products you sell, however, social media marketing does far more than increase brand presence. You can influence customer buying decisions at multiple points along the sales funnel, from amplifying the reach of white papers and blogs targeting top of funnel, to answering customer questions and addressing pain points, to incentivising buyers with coupon codes. Studies have shown that 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others, this is why it is vital for us to implement excellent customer service by utilising social media marketing.
With all the work that you put into social media marketing and growing your business, it is incredibly rewarding to get a chance to cultivate real connections and with customers and audiences all around you.
Related: Social Media Marketing For Small Business
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