The jury’s still out on whether social media is really worth the hype. Some can’t live without it and consider it a must-have for any business, while others believe in a more traditional approach and approach marketing from a more “organic” point of view. Regardless of which camp you fall into, social media is a big part of our everyday lives and, from the looks of it, is here to stay. With that in mind, it might be better to embrace it and enjoy the numerous advantages like the ones listed below.
Client engagement
One of the highest benefits of using social media is increased engagement with clients. The more you post interesting content, new products or services, offers, and other information, the more people within your target audience will engage with your brand. With consistency in the quality and frequency of your posts, you can build an audience that will readily offer feedback and recommendations. Social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and others can help you grow a community of loyal customers- a necessity for any business to succeed.
Better customer service
Unlike in the past where companies had to carry out expensive surveys anytime they needed to gauge the market and learn about their customers, social media enables you to communicate with your customers in real-time and at a much lower cost. Companies can create free online surveys, run polls, or even simply ask customers to comment directly about a product or service, thereby allowing them to serve the needs of their customers more efficiently. Customers can take to their favourite brands’ pages and comment, like, or even complain, which has raised the bar for most companies’ ability to quickly serve and solve their customers’ problems or queries.
Drive traffic to your website
Social media is perhaps the best and most effective awareness tool currently available to businesses. Using offers and promotions and engaging content, you can drive your target audience directly to your website, where you can then up-sale or drive conversion. When used as a channel to create awareness and drive traffic, social media is a highly effective tool, especially since the average person spends more time scrolling through their phone than they do watching TV or reading newspapers.
Boost your SEO
A major benefit of social media is that it can be a great help in boosting your search engine optimisation. Social media platforms can work as a signal to a search engine like Google that your business is legitimate and, therefore, safe for your target audience to purchase from. When using social media in this way, it’s imperative that you include a link to your website so that customers have a place they can go to get more information or even buy more products or services.
Build loyalty
Customers who follow your social media pages are more likely to trust you and be loyal when you post and engage with them regularly. By sharing relevant information, tips, and other interesting content related to your brand or industry, your target audience will come to recognise you as an authority on the subject and therefore be more willing to spend their money on your brand products or service.
Increase awareness
Raising awareness for your brand, cause, or product is another great benefit of using social media. Having a strong social media presence will create an ever-increasing wave of attention for your brand. Social media has a great multiplier effect, making it the perfect avenue for you to grow your audience and draw awareness to new product or service offerings, an important cause, or any important information you would like to pass on to your target.
Advertise your business
Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook give both small and large businesses and entrepreneurs the opportunity to advertise to highly targeted audiences. With social media, you can create adverts for different demographics and speak to your target audience in a language they will readily understand, thereby increasing the likelihood of generating high sales.
Learn about your target audience
Social media platforms collect and store large amounts of data about all the users, which information is then later sold to businesses to aid in crafting compelling marketing content. Social media can allow you to know what places your target audience frequents, the music they love, social status and income level, education level, and others. Armed with this information, you can create targeted advertisements that speak to the heart of your target audience’s pain points.
Learn about your competitors
Not only does social media let you learn about your target audience, but you also get to learn about your competitors; what type of content they post, how many followers they have, what level of engagement they have with the market, marketing tactics they employ and other details that can help you keep up with them.
Share website content
Social media creates the opportunity for you to share your website content on other platforms, which generates awareness and possibly sales. With the millions of websites online, it would be challenging to stand out or get people to visit your website, especially if it’s new, but with social media, you can generate the needed buzz to get people interested in your content without too much effort.
There are still many out there who don’t believe that social media is worth the investment; nonetheless, the online world continues to spin with ever more innovations added to each platform. As a savvy entrepreneur, your job is to stay on top of all the latest innovations, leverage the opportunities and grow your brand.