Being active brings many benefits
Today’s businesses need to have a social media presence. More than 70 percent of businesses have accounts on various platforms. But your business shouldn’t just jump into social media simply because the competition has a presence. It’s important to be on social media because your prospects and customers — nearly half of the world’s population — are using it every day.
If you want to reach consumers in your target audience, go where they are hanging out. Studies show more than 1 in 3 internet users are on social networks looking for information about brands and products. (Probably right now.)
Let’s cut to the chase and look at how beneficial social media can be for your marketing strategy and bottom line.
Help Search Engine Optimization
Social media and SEO are the peanut butter and jelly of the internet. They are simply better together. Social media helps build organic traffic, users that visit your website from Google, Yahoo, Bing, Duck Duck Go and other search engines. You want real human visitors and not automated crawlers or bots because you can convert people into actual customers. Once you start ranking high with organic and natural techniques and pull in valued traffic, it will be difficult for the competition to outdo such performance using paid advertisements.
Increase brand awareness
While 40 percent of users jump on social media to interact with brands they already know, it’s also a great place for discovery. In fact, 45 percent of marketers use social media to generate brand awareness. The technique works and helps with conversion because 76 percent of consumers actually purchase products they discover on social media. More consumers discover products on Facebook than any other channel, but if you’re seeking a younger audience, 18-34 year olds discover products on:
- Instagram: 3.3 times more likely than a general audience
- Snapchat: 3 times more likely than a general audience
- Pinterest: 2.7 times more likely than a general audience
- Twitter: 2 times more likely than a general audience
Using social media for marketing is very cost-effective. Having a great strategy often trumps a big budget. For example, Naked Pizza, a New Orleans, Louisiana-based business catering to health-conscious pizza lovers, Tweeted about its pizzas and successfully drew around 4,000 followers in just a few months. Sales increased after encouraging customers to follow their Twitter feed and the company broke a one-day sales record with more than 68 percent of its sales coming from Twitter followers.
Peel, a company that sells cell phone covers, used Facebook campaigns, resulting in a 16x increase in revenue and three times higher ROI. The company also used an Instagram account to interact with customers.
Expertise is showcased
What makes your brand unique and better than the competition? How will your brand be more helpful and solve problems? Consumers want to know and they turn to social media.
As part of an inbound marketing strategy, using social media helps establish a brand as a thought leader and a source for helpful information. A company blog is a great forum for thought leadership. Promoting the blog on social media is a great way to drive traffic to the website. Additionally, LinkedIn is a great platform for developing a following and building trust as a thought leader.
Keep things fresh
Consumers are heavy social media users. They check their accounts daily and often many times throughout the day. Every new log in offers an opportunity to connect to a potential or existing customer. Brands that want to be top of mind need to be consistent and provide new content on their feeds.
More than just putting information out there, don’t forget there’s a “social” part of social media. Followers have come to expect interaction, even from the big brands. Keep on top of accounts; 77 percent of Twitter users appreciate a brand more when their Tweet is responded to. Most customers want interactions within a few hours even though it takes 10 hours on average for businesses to respond.
Increase revenue
Simply put, building a community through social media ultimately increases revenue. Social media allows you to increase your reach, drive website traffic, establish your brand, interact with the target audience and build trust. When consumers trust you, they come back, engage and convert into customers. And when they like you, they tell others, share information and become social media influencers.
At T.E. Digital, we understand how important the bottom line is to every company. If your business hasn’t yet ventured into social media or if your social media isn’t delivering the results you want, give us a call. We can help develop a strategy that is relevant to your target audience. Seize the opportunity to benefit from all social media has to offer.
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