Every business needs a social media presence.
Whether you run a small local shop or a large national company, social media plays an essential role in any online marketing strategy.
Social platforms help you reach customers, increase brand awareness, and boost your leads and sales. More than three billion people around the world use social media every month, and that number continues to grow. Therefore, investing in social media marketing is a smart move.
In this post, we will look at 6 reasons why social media is important for your business’s future.
Most popular social networks worldwide as of July 2021, ranked by number of active users(in millions)
1. Attract Attention and Build Awareness
The first part of a sales funnel is awareness. People must know and recognize your business before they’ll be willing to panies trying to promote their brands. How can your company create relevant content in such a crowded space?
In the above survey; articles, videos and images proved most successful at engaging customers and breaking through the noise.
“These content types are effective in getting cut-through in newsfeeds, so it’s important to not only use them, but to invest in them so the quality is there,” Smart Insights CEO Dave Chaffey said.
This is where original content intersects with quality design. Between GIFs, memes, Facebook Live and more; a content strategy has to be carefully thought-out and executed. What message do your customers want to see? How are they going to identify with your brand? What will get them to click on your post or comment? The content must elicit engagement because that’s how you stand out from your competition.
Define your goals and use them to develop a social media strategy for brand awareness. Do you want new customers to discover your services? Do you hope to bring more local shoppers into your stores? By keeping your strategy specific, you can determine which social media channels are the best fit for your business.
2. Communicate Authority
Customers are increasingly savvier and more discerning about which businesses they support. Before making a decision, they’ll do a quick search to browse your website and social media channels.
Will they find an empty storefront, abandoned social media accounts and outdated blog posts? Or will they find a rich source of engaging information?
Setting up robust profiles that you update frequently with relevant content will build your brand’s authority and make a positive first impression, showing that your business is trustworthy, knowledgeable, and approachable.
Look for ways to demonstrate your expertise as a thought leader in your industry—like writing informative articles or describing your company’s mission. By creating rich content that showcases your expertise and your values, you build trust in potential customers.
3. Show Authenticity
Customers aren’t interested in businesses that publish dry, corporate-style social media posts. Instead, let your brand’s personality shine through. What does your brand voice sound like? How does it represent who you are?
While brands need to be polite and empathetic to their audiences, they also need to find a voice and take a stand.
Practice getting your tone right. Whether it’s casual and funny or formal and friendly, be true to who you are, not who you think you should be. Followers want to see real people behind your social profiles. Show them.
4. Encourage Engagement
Sometimes a simple social media post, such as one promoting a pair of shoes, receives several likes, comments, and shares. People might even ask strangers in the feed if they have received their shoes, how long shipping took, if they’re happy with their purchase, etc.
Social media opens the door to instant interaction, relationship building, and customer loyalty.
“It’s really important that companies have the right organizational structure to support social media,” said Josh Krakauer, founder and CEO of Sculpt. “A customer support team and a product development team tends to be extremely effective.”
But social channels evolve, releasing new features all the time. This rapidly changing environment can be intimidating for some business owners.
But remember: you don’t have to do everything. Play with new ways to connect with your audience, and give yourself permission to learn as you go. One day, you could post a series of Instagram Stories to give customers a behind-the-scenes tour of your office. The next, you could host a quick Q&A session via Facebook Live video streaming. Over time, you’ll get a better idea of your followers’ preferences.
You can create engaging video content for social media with a simple setup—good lighting, a smartphone, and a tripod. Also, do a test run before you go live to make sure your internet connection or hotspot has enough speed to avoid delays and interruptions.
5. Grow Affordably
Although social media isn’t a place to be overly salesy, it is a marketing channel so you can make sales if you spot an opportunity. Sponsored info on timelines, videos with CTAs, cross-channel retargeting and shoppable posts are ways to make sales straight from your social media profiles.
Marketing costs add up, and not every business can afford huge campaigns. But you can get a lot of value for your dollar with social media advertising. Your business, regardless of size or budget, has an opportunity to grow your audience and reach your objectives through ads on social platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Even if platforms such as Instagram are primarily geared towards engagement, there are established ways to increase sales on them.
Most businesses are data-driven, but social media isn’t a set-in-stone science. For example, you can scroll by an ad that has a picture of a huge scoop of melting chocolate ice cream topped with a mound of whipped cream. You may not think twice about it, but three days later, you may stop by Baskin-Robbins because you were craving a scoop of chocolate ice cream. Social media can contribute to the buyer’s decision-making process like that.
“Social media, unlike other kinds of advertising, can be notoriously difficult to track,” said Steve Pearson, CEO of Friendemic. “Most consumers say it takes many touch points in their customer journey before a purchase. A lot of those are undoubtedly on social media and online review sites, but customers aren’t necessarily citing those when they walk into a business as the last touchpoint that brought them in today.”
When building an ad campaign, know who you’re trying to reach and what goal you want to achieve so that you don’t waste any of your budget on unhelpful advertising. Avoid overly salesy ads, and opt for content that educates or entertains (or does both at the same time).
6. Provide Support
Social platforms have successfully broken down barriers between companies and their customers. Now, instead of calling a customer service line, many people turn to Facebook or Twitter to solve problems or find information.
Develop your reputation as a responsive, caring brand by offering support through social channels:
- Create a system for tracking customer comments, questions, and complaints on social media.
- Respond as quickly as possible to questions and concerns.
- Go out of your way to be positive and helpful.
- Listen to criticism and make customers feel heard.
- Know when to resolve public conversations in private messages.
Social Media is Essential for Businesses
Social media is a crucial part of your business marketing, and it doesn’t have to be stressful to manage. Take the first step: create a profile and start engaging with your customers.
As social media intertwines more with our daily lives, more consumers will go to new and upcoming social platforms for purchasing decisions. Those who have a strong social media presence and branding will increase conversion rates, while those without active social media campaigns could lose potential customers. Which company do you want to be?
Social Media Stats:
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/importance-of-social-media-marketing-in-business/
Importance of Social Media
