The advent of the internet has given businesses the undeniable advantage of adding social media to their marketing arsenal. The extensive use of social media across the population gives businesses the opportunity to reach potential clients like never before. Here are the top ten benefits of social media marketing and why your business should start using this valuable approach today.
Brand Awareness
Social media marketing has the immediate effect of increasing brand awareness. Create brand social media profiles and invite employees, peers, and current clients to like and share your page. This introduces your content to a new audience. Interacting online as the business further increases your business’ exposure to new people.
Cost Effectiveness
In the world of marketing, social media marketing is definitely one of the most cost-effective ways to build your business. Most social networks are free to join and take little to no budget to begin implementing a marketing plan. Even paid marketing on social media is relatively low cost compared to other mediums and the return on investment can be monumental!
Increased Website Traffic
Without social media marketing, your website traffic is generally limited to your current customers. Potential customers can also find your business through organic search. Social media allows you to expose your business to a limitless new clientele without having to rely on search engine rankings. It also gives you the opportunity to expose potential clients to your business before they even need it so when the time comes, the brand recognition is already there.
Inbound Links
According to Social Media Examiner, more than 58% of marketers who have been using social media longer than one year see improved search engine rankings. Improving your business’ search engine rankings is a vital way to garner new traffic and new clients. When you build quality content online through social media, you increase the chance your content will be shared. Sharing increases the likelihood of your content being linked from outside sources. This builds your website’s link profile and encourages higher search engine results.
Customer Satisfaction
Creating a presence for your brand on social media helps to humanize your business to your customers. It also creates a voice and opportunity for interaction with customers and potential customers. Every comment on your content provides you the chance to interact and dialogue with your audience. This creates brand awareness and loyalty because your customers know you will respond to their questions and pay attention to any complaints.
Brand Authority
Creating quality and well-curated social media profiles for your business helps you to build the brand authority that earns additional business. Communicating consistently and genuinely builds a loyal audience. Your customers see you as a leader in your field. By cultivating a tribe of devoted customers your audience will advertise for you to their friends and family.
It’s easy to see why the benefits of social media marketing are so plentiful. It truly is a must-have for any small business. It requires barely any initial investment of time or money. You can start building your social media following immediately. Once established, you can develop a social media strategy to build your brand and your customer base. For even more ways to use social media for your business, explore how building a Facebook group can benefit your brand.