When creating a new online marketing campaign for our customers we are asked about social media, why should you work on it and how that can help. As there are so many social networks, with each being aimed at a different group, sometimes our customers feel overwhelmed and their first reaction is to try and avoid some of them. That is why we took the decision in write about the top ten benefits of social media marketing.
Ok... why does this matter?
Most of the online entrepreneurs of our time look at social media as the "Big thing" and for a good reason. In any of the existing social media platforms, you can quickly get in contact with your customer and provide them with better, more personalized customer support that you competition may not do.
Jumping into the TIPS!
Higher Conversion Rates.
Social media marketing can help you bring up your conversion rates in many ways. The most important one is its humanization element. Social media networks are the place where brands/companies act like people and this is important because people like doing business with other people... not with companies. By simply building and interacting with your audience in social media you can improve your conversion rates on your existing traffic.
Smaller Marketing Costs.
Based on recent studies 84% of marketers found that 6 hours on social marketing per week was enough to generate an increase in traffic. That mean if you spend one hour a day working on your social media strategy and posting, sharing and commenting you can increase your traffic substantially in a very short period of time. This shows your audience that you are in constantly in touch available to your customers. Even paid advertising through Facebook, Instagram and Twitter cannot usually give you this kind of return.
Better Customer Experiences.
Social media can be used for anything you can think about, but their main purpose is a communication channel like email or phone calls. Every interaction you have on social media is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate your customer service level. For example, if a customer complains about your product on Twitter, you can immediately address the comment, apologize publicly, and take action to make it right. It is a personal experience that lets customers know you care about them.
Brand Recognition.
Every opportunity to increase your visibility online should be your number one priority in your online strategy. Social media Platforms are THE channels to give your brand a voice. This will give your current and future customers the feeling that you are more approachable and accessible than other companies and it will create a sense of familiarity for people that need or may need your services in the future.
Improved Customer Insights.
Social media also provide you with a great opportunity to learn about your customer's interests in and how they behave. For instance, you can monitor customers comments to see what people think about your business. You can measure conversions based on different promotions posted on various social media channels and eventually find a perfect combination to generate revenue.
Brand Loyalty.
Based on reports, the companies that engage on social media have a higher loyalty from their customers. Companies should take advantage of the tools social media gives them when it comes to connecting with their audience. A social media marketing plan is can be very influential and effective when it comes to turning sporadic customers to loyal fans. In a study published by Convince&Convert found that 53% of Americans who follow brands in social are more loyal to those brands.
Opportunities to Convert.
Every post you write on a social media network is an opportunity for customers to convert. By building on a followers base you will automatically have access to old customers, recent customers, and new customers at the same time. You can reach and interact with all of them very quickly. Every image, video, share or comment is a chance for someone to react, and every reaction could lead to a visit, and eventually a conversion. Not every interaction with your brand results in a conversion, but every positive interaction increases the likelihood of an eventual conversion.
Brand Authority.
Interacting with your customers on social media is a display of good faith for other customers. More and more the place where most people will go to compliment or brag about a product or service is the social media. And when they talk about your brand, your new audience will want to follow you for updates... The more people that are talking about you on social media, the more valuable and authoritative your brand will seem to new users. And if you can interact with major influencers, stars or experts on social networks, your visibility and authority will go straight through the roof.
Inbound Traffic.
Your inbound traffic without social media is limited to people already familiar with your brand and individuals searching for keywords you currently rank for. Every piece of content you post on your profiles is an opportunity for a new visitor. The more quality content you syndicate on social media, the more traffic you can direct to your website and more traffic means more conversions.
Search Engine Rankings.
It's been proven to be tough to keep up with all new strategies and changes the search engines do every day. Even keeping the best SEO team next to you is not enough. Google, Bing, and other search engines may be calculating your rankings using your social media presence as a significant factor. That is why if you want to rank for a given set of keywords, having a strong social media presence could be almost mandatory.
There is a lot more we can write about this topic but if you are starting on Social media Marketing these are the main 10 points you should focus on. It can be a lot for someone opening a company or getting into social media marketing, but this and much more can be the benefits of a good social media strategy.
If you are still undecided if you should focus on social media marketing right now, always remember that it is a proven way of getting yourself and you brand out there. And keep in mind that your competitors may already be doing social media marketing for some time already, so you if they being successful doing something, shouldn't you emulate it?
When to start?
The sooner the better. Social Media marketing is all about creating and maintaining a good relationship with you clients and it tends to grow as you expand your followers, their friends and family and so on. The sooner you start, the sooner you will be able to start growing that audience. Remember, you don't have anything to lose by getting involved in social media. The amount of time it takes to create your profiles and start posting is minimal... Just 6 hours a week... That's all you need to establish a strong social media presence.
If you have questions about this topic or anything else related to online marketing don't hesitate on give us a call 305.386.9003 we are here always ready to guide you and help you make of the Internet a better marketplace.
