Every business needs a social media presence, and most can benefit from actively trying to market and generate leads on the most popular social platforms.
The fact of the matter is that social media has become the preferred form of media in our day and age. 67% of people say they get their news from social media first. Breaking news most often comes from shares or second-hand sources, on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. In effect, content publishers need to have social media at the front of their mind if they hope for their outlet to get exposure ahead of a competitor.
For businesses, this same principle holds true. If you aren’t active on social media, others may talk about your business and seize control of the narrative. Or, even worse, your business becomes all but invisible until someone else shares content or news talking about you.
Aside from providing visibility, having a proactive social media marketing strategy can help boost your sales performance. It can help you achieve your marketing goals. You can earn new customer leads, increase brand awareness, and even offer customer support through social channels.
To cover the full scope of why your business needs to be on social media, consider the following five benefits. Discover how social media can be an essential part of any digital marketing strategy.
Create a Highly Visible “Hub” for Your Business’s News and Announcements
Let’s be honest. Very few people are going to religiously check your business website’s “News” or “Blog” page for announcements and press releases. Most people don’t even visit news sites to get news.
Being on social media adds more visibility for your business. Sharing news and announcements on social is dead simple. Your website’s followers can help share those materials for you.
Your social media profiles serve as an online “hub” for your business, away from your main website. This applies to your profile photo, the content you share, and the announcements you make. All of these have the effect of turning your social accounts into an official mouthpiece for your brand. Through social media, you can help shape your public image and control the flow of information you release into the world.
Increase Your Visibility on Search Engines
The jury is still out as to whether social media engagement and content shares can raise a business website’s search engine ranking. Hootsuite found a small correlation but concluded that a deeper study with more data points was needed.
Even if social media can’t help raise your web page rankings, it can help you occupy a more obvious spot in them. How? Well, social media platforms have great domain authority. This allows your social media page and posts to rank highly any time a search is made.
Twitter is especially good at earning top ranks. Google features recent tweets similar to how they would news posts. Having a social media profile and actively discussing your areas of business can definitely help your business rank higher in search engines.
Publish Your Content and Earn Traffic for Your Marketing Campaigns
People are more likely to check your social media pages than your homepage for business news. Nevertheless, you can encourage more traffic to your website by posting on social media. To do this, you need to craft great content previews for content like shared blog posts.
For campaign-related traffic, try to describe your offer in attractive terms to earn attention. If you’re in business, describe a sale for your website store. Or, you can encourage people to join a contest by posting a link to a landing page.
Social media posting is particularly useful for boosting the ROI of your content marketing campaigns. Without social sharing, many businesses would get little traffic to their blogs. By posting on social, you can boost traffic and potentially increase your correlated domain authority.
Today, there are various tools and apps that you can harness to help you take charge of your social media posting. With the right images and messaging, you can easily pull in huge amounts of traffic just from one post. The aim is to get people’s attention and to make full use of your available resources.
Read also : 12 Social Media Tools Your Business Can’t Live Without
Raise Brand Awareness and Earn New Customer Leads
Social media creates opportunities for countless people to discover your business. In fact, Google searches for business names spike if that business can generate social buzz.
People who follow and engage with your brand on social media can provide exposure for your business. Having people “like” or comment on your Facebook post is a good thing. These kinds of interactions appear on their friends’ news feeds.
Social media advertising is also another potential source of significant new impressions and customer leads. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn have powerful audience customization tools that allow you to get in front of your most valuable buyer personas even with a minimal budget.
Consider the possibilities. A landscaping company could target business owners in their area by using job titles as an audience filter. Or, they could target a wealthy neighborhood with large estate-style land plots that can offer lucrative contracts.
Software companies can offer free demos or pitch their product’s benefits to relevant audiences. Social media provides the visibility. Once you have someone on your landing page or on your email list, you then have opportunities to convert.
Interact With Your Audiences and Provide Customer Support
Build relationships with your audiences by creating content that encourages engagement.
The UPS Store, for example, came out with a powerful social media post that piggybacked off the popularity of a recent Nintendo product release. To date, the post has gotten 3,200 shares, over 200 comments, and 10,000 “likes.”
Interactions like these don’t just multiply brand impressions. They also change the way people perceive a brand. Someone who loves the playful tone of the post will tend to look positively upon the business posting it. The brand can also help forge strong associations between itself and the values it cares about most.
People who interact with the brand can also end up being more loyal customers. They will most likely repeat the desired positive brand associations to their friends and followers. According to one survey, 48% of people say they are more likely to make repeat purchases from a brand that engages with them. Also, 90% of millennials consider it “cool” when a brand responds to their questions.
And what about people who have nasty things to say about your business on social media, or people who have a complaint? That is actually a great opportunity!
After voicing a complaint about a company on social media, 71% of people who have a positive experience and have their issue resolved say they are likely to recommend that company to others. They also say they are likely to spend 21% more than they normally would.
Don’t Ignore Social Media Marketing, Or the World Could Ignore You!
Definitely, having a social media strategy is no longer optional for businesses. Even if you do not intend to advertise or promote your business on the major social platforms, you will still need a professional presence that responds actively to people looking for support and answers. It’s all part of today’s credibility game.
Many businesses have chosen to take a second look at their social media strategies this 2018. Take the time to review yours and see if it needs a good revamp.
Read also : 5 Ways to Revamp Your Social Media Strategy in 2018
If you would like help coming up with a social media strategy for your business, look no further! We can help you create content, earn followers, interact with audiences, launch cross-channel marketing campaigns, and create paid social media advertising campaigns based on your goals.
Contact us today and schedule a strategy session to get started.
