4 Advantages of Applying Social Media Marketing for Businesses

It’s undeniable that social media has become an indispensable part of almost everybody’s life. In fact, research shows that, as of 2017, people all around the world use social media up to 135 minutes per day every single day, and that 22% of the world’s total population are on Facebook. It’s no wonder why so many of the top brands leverage social media as an integral part of their marketing strategy—it holds so much potential for growing your business.

In today’s digital age where social media networking sites are at the front and center, social media marketing is no longer optional. If you’re asking why and how, let us show you some of the ways your business can benefit from social media marketing:

1. Increase brand recognition and awareness

A strong online presence can only be made stronger when your business website is complemented with an active social media presence. Social media accounts become new channels for your business’ content and voice. If your brand is on social media, it’s easier for customers to find and communicate with you. New and potential customers also become better acquainted with your brand if they regularly see your content. Here are a couple of tips on how to further increase brand recognition and awareness through social media:

• Be conversational – Put a human element to your posts by using conversational language. Tone down the corporate-speak and add life to your posts by talking like an actual person. Don’t shy away from humor and informality. By being conversational, people are more likely to engage with your brand. More engagement on social media ultimately leads to increased brand exposure.
• Get visual – Get your content noticed by curating eye-catching visuals such as photos and short videos. Be consistent with your branding and be sure to include your logo wherever it’s appropriate. High-quality and attractive social media content are more likely to be shared and liked by your audience when they like what they see.

2. Decreased marketing costs

Advertising on social media is far more affordable than traditional marketing methods. In as little as six hours per week, 84% of marketers reported that their social media effort already yielded a significant increase in organic traffic—that’s equivalent to just an hour a day. Additionally, you can run targeted ads to help you reach the right audience based on demographics, location,  interests, and connections. On Facebook, for example, you can run a targeted ad campaign for a minimum daily budget starting at $1. Here are tips on how to effectively use social media to market your business:

• Frequently rotate ads – People get tired of seeing the same thing every single day, and it also gets super annoying really fast. On social media where engagement is key to success, it’s important to regularly post fresh content. It’s best practice to rotate your ads every 3 to 5 days.
• Track and measure your ad campaigns – It’s important to regularly monitor the performance of both your paid and organic ad campaigns, and see what works and what doesn’t. Doing so will help you make better decisions for your marketing efforts. Most social media platforms offer a marketing insight tool that you can use for free.

3. Improve search engine rankings

SEO is by far the best way to drive organic traffic to your website from search engines queries. While Google is vague in explaining the complexities of their search engine algorithm, social media activity is seen to help improve search engine rankings. Simply posting website content, such as blog posts, on your company’s social media accounts already drives traffic to your website. Apart from online visibility, engagement such as likes and shares not only lengthens content life, it also sends social signals to search engines that your content is credible and trustworthy. Shares from social media are also a good way to get quality backlinks to your website. Here are tips on how to make the most of your social media efforts to boost your site’s SEO rankings:

• Make your content sharable – People are more likely to share your post on social media if sharing buttons are readily available from your website. Most CMS platforms have their own free widgets/plug-ins available to easily integrate social media sharing on your site.
• Practice link building through social media channels – Be sure to always include a workable link in your social media posts that leads to your website or landing page, as well as your social media profiles. It’s also a good idea to reach out to social media influencers and strike partnerships with them to share your posts.

4. Gain customer insight

Social media is the best place to get up close and personal with your audience, and in real time. There is a wealth of information about your audience on social media—who they are, where they’re from, what they’re interested in, what they like, how they feel about your brand, and many more. Through social listening and active engagement, you can gather relevant insights from your customers and use the information to make smarter business decisions. Here are tips on how to use social media insights to improve your social media strategy:

• Monitor key social media metrics – Reach, impressions, likes, shares, and followers—although often considered as vanity metrics—are still important metrics to monitor. By seeing what ads and posts perform best, you can fine-tune your content strategy post about things that your followers are most interested in.
• Monitor comments – Reading comments from your customers is one of the best ways to learn what your customers think and feel about your brand. Invest in a few hours a day to monitor and moderate comments on your social media posts. Pay more attention to negative comments and see what you can do to improve.

Social media is a valuable and cost-effective marketing tool that can help your business in many ways when used correctly. With the increasing popularity of social media platforms nowadays, there’s no telling how big the opportunities are for your business as long as you have a well-thought-out social media marketing strategy in place. If you want to know more about social media marketing, or if you need help with your social media efforts, give Ilfusion a call at 888-420-5115, or send us an email at [email protected].

Categorized in: Articles, Marketing, SEO, Social Media