Six reasons why you need to take social media marketing seriously

By now, we’ve all heard how valuable—even essential—social media can be. What if I told you that social media is the fastest growing trend in the history of the world? It may sound like a bold statement, but with one in every four people on the planet with Facebook account, it’s one you should be taking seriously. The reality is that people are using social media every single day. And not just once per day, multiple times. (Nomophobia : the fear of not being near your mobile phone…)

With such widespread use, social media presents an incredible marketing opportunity. Here are six reasons why your business should be taking social media marketing seriously:

Six reasons you should be taking social media marketing seriously

Brand awareness

Brand awareness is critical if you want to grow your business. It makes sense that the more people are aware of your brand, the more of your product or service you’ll sell. And, social media is a great place to increase your brand awareness.

There are lots of ways you can maximise the effectiveness of social media as a brand awareness tool, such as sharing relevant quality content (especially visual content) and developing a unique voice and personality for your brand. Our Channel reseller’s guide to social media marketing looks at these and other best practices you can follow to help you get the most out of social.

Audience reach

The likes of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter attract hundreds of millions of users worldwide, who spend literally billions of hours of engagement every month. Making social media one of the easiest and fastest ways of getting your business in front of a massive group of potential customers.

Cost-effective

Social media can be significantly cheaper than traditional advertising methods. Of course, technically there’s no ‘free’ option, it takes someone’s time to post on social platforms. But even a low time investment approach can work wonders if done properly. There are lots of paid advertising options available too which, if done well and alongside organic activity, can provide impressive ROI.

Engage with customers

Communicating and engaging with customers is one of the best ways to win their attention and get your brand message across to them. Customers don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to, even when they are. Social media is an efficient and effective way for interacting with customers and building a good rapport with them. The more you communicate and connect with the audience, the more chance you have of becoming the ‘go to’ in your area of expertise and winning them over.

Brand loyalty

Brand loyalty and customer satisfaction both play a major role in business success, but it all comes down to communication.

When customers see your company posting on social media, especially replying to their queries and posting original content, it helps them build a positive image in their minds. By staying engaged on social media and sharing useful content, you are more likely to encourage customer retention and customer loyalty.

Stats

One of the most compelling elements of social media is the ability to measure nearly everything you do. However, measurement is only effective if you know what to measure and why. Without this it can lead to time wasted in ‘analysis paralysis’.

Quality data can be the key to making a winning business case; without it, you could be basing decisions on assumptions and instinct. Measurement of useful data helps support the decision to take to action and (perhaps more importantly) secure budget.

 

Ready to get started?

It’s clear that social media is not a passing fad. It’s dramatically changed the way that brands and consumers interact with one another. If you’re not using social media marketing already, it’s time to get involved or risk losing in the long run.

But, diving in without a plan or an understanding of best practice can do more harm than good. So, before you get the temptation to jump on the social media bandwagon, get a clear picture in mind of what you want to achieve.

Building a social strategy that provides real value takes both savvy and hard work, but fear not—we’re here to help! Check out our: Channel reseller’s guide to social media marketing