If you’re a business owner, chances are you’ve already considered using social media marketing to help get the word out about your business. Some of you are still digging your heels in and saying “do I really need it?”
Yes. Yes you do — and here are some of the top reasons why:
1. An active social media presence builds relationships with your audience and helps you understand them.
One of the most significant benefits of Facebook and Instagram marketing is the interaction you have with your customer base. When reading what they posts you’ll gain insights into their daily lives and consumer behaviors, and answer questions such as:
- What types of products and services are they buying and why?
- What content do they love to share?
- What websites do they like to visit?
- What types of hobbies do they have?
When you understand your customers, you can create better content and more compelling posts for your audience, which leads to more traffic.
2. Using social media for business boosts your sites SEO rankings.
3. Your competition is already on social media.
91% of retail brands are using at least two social media platforms. So, what hope do you have of getting your brand noticed on Facebook or Instagram?
Most brands are not employing an effective social media marketing strategy. Here is what happens. A lot of companies start a few social media channels because it’s low cost, and it’s what everyone else is doing. They post infrequently, lack engagement with followers and don’t develop a knowledgable voice or story. Social media remains a way for them to throw out ads at customers sporadically. When that strategy doesn’t produce results, they often abandon social media altogether.
If you take the time to develop your voice, story and strategy, post regularly and respond to messages and comments promptly, you can build a following your inactive competitors can’t match — even if they’ve been on social media way longer than you have.
4. A strong social media presence builds brand loyalty.
5. Social media ads allow targeting and retargeting.
How often are you seeing current or potential customers coming to your site but then not taking any action? They simply poke around your pages a bit and then leave without giving you a new conversion. How can you get that customer back to your page to actually go through with the action you’d ideally like them to take? Welcome to the world of retargeting.
6. Social media marketing establishes you as a thought leader in your industry.
Whether you focus on just one network—such as Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn—or you spend time on all of them, you have an incredible opportunity to reach a huge audience. Share links to your blog posts, share news, share tips, post opinions, and ask questions. Let your followers know you’re paying attention and that you appreciate them.
If you use social media regularly, it can greatly increase your brand’s reach. Your answers to common questions will come up in Google search, as well as in particular social channels. Other users will start to share to your posts or refer friends and colleagues to your social media team when they have questions. New leads, impressed with your helpful information, will be more likely to visit your site and purchase your products.
All without ever asking anyone to buy!
7. The ROI on social media ads is unbeatable.
As of 2018, the average Google AdWords cost per click varied from $1.20 for travel and tourism, to $5.27 for education and employment. Depending on the keyword targeted, you can end up paying $50 or more for a single click. Cost per acquisition, the amount of money businesses spend on ads to acquire a single customer, varies even more, from less than $20, to over $200 for the legal industry.
With targeted ads and boosted posts, you have a lot more control over when and where your message gets amplified, which means you can spend your advertising budget more strategically by focusing on the posts that matter most to your audience.
Conclusion
There is no denying that social media marketing has many advantages for startups and established brands. By staying consistent and present with your social media strategies, you increase traffic, rank better in SEO, improve brand loyalty, and much more. Your competition is already on social media everyday, so don’t let them take your potential customers. According to the Pew Research Center, 65 percent of American adults use social networks, which means that social media will touch nearly every customer that you come in contact with.
The earlier you start, the faster you will see the growth in your business. You owe it to yourself to compete everyday. Please contact me to win and get inspired. I want to meet you!