In today’s society, we are living in a global village thanks to the world wide web. We have the ability for instant gratification by a simple click of the mouse.

Means of communication has never been easier and you feel close even if you are half a world away. Social Media Networking plays a big part of this global village. So, what the does it have to do with your business?

 

The answer is Social Media Marketing.

Now, let’s break it down by definition first:

American Marketing Association defines marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

Life Wire defines social media as web-based communication tools that enable people to interact with each other by both sharing and consuming information.

Basically, social media marketing means using your social media platforms to make your products and services known to the public.

Advertising, public relations, promotion, and sales – all cover marketing strategies.

Advertising: What type of advertising does Social Media fall under?

Social Media can fall under above the line and through the line advertising, depending on the marketing strategy used.

ABOVE THE LINE: No target audience and goal is to build and raise brand awareness

THROUGH THE LINE: Wide reach, both targeted and peripheral audiences

 

 

Pubic Relations: Marketing vs Public Relations

Just remember, marketing is more on a sales focus, while public relations positively promoting your brand and building relationships with your consumers.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT…

Why do businesses need marketing?

Simple. Even if you have the best products and services to offer, without marketing, no one would know about it. Wouldn’t you want the world to know who you are and why your products are better than the competition?

But why social media marketing? – we’ll give you 10 reasons why.

1. Cheapest among Above the Line Advertising

If you want cost-effective marketing, the best channel to target is social media networking sites. Compared to Television, Billboards, Radio, and Print Ads, social media marketing won’t burn a hole in your pocket.

Posting on social media doesn’t even cost a thing and putting up advertisements won’t cost all that much either. Considering these options will definitely decrease marketing costs.

 

2. Bigger audience = more exposure

Let’s go back the global village. Now, think of someone that you know that doesn’t have a facebook or any other social media site. Kinda hard to think of one right? This is because almost 3 billion of the world’s population has a social media site. Imagine creating a social media site for your business and linking it to your business website.

Based on the July 2018 survey by Statista.com, there are current 2.2 billion users of facebook. With the right marketing strategies, you have 2.2 billion chances to drive traffic to your website!

 

 

3. Higher Conversation Rate

Since there is more exposure on social media, the chances of a consumer becoming interested in your product is a lot more higher. With social media, you feel that you have a more personal connection with the brand.

The more followers you have, the higher your credibility gets. If customers feel that you are human too, more trust develops between brand and consumer

 

4. Customers want to be heard and listened to

Social Media Platforms allow you to directly communicate to the most important aspect of your business – your customers. With social media sites, customer have a chance to voice out opinions, whether good or bad.

This can help you gauge on how the public sees your brand and feed back can help you improve your services moving forward. Every customer interaction is a vital move for your brand and your customer service orientation.

Good feed back can lead to a higher following, while bad feed back can decrease revenue and brand value. Good relationships with your customers equates to positive branding.

 

 

5. Tracking your website traffic has never been easier

Social media can generate a lot of data about your consumers. With this data, you’ll be able to gauge whether your marketing strategies are successful or not. With Analytic tools like Google Analytics. you’ll be able check and track all your website traffic. These tools will definitely help grow your business.

An example would be re-targeting potential customers by using data extracted from the social media accounts and making your products more visible to those who have a higher probability of purchasing your product.

 

 

 

6. Increasing search engine visibility

I’m sure you’ve heard the term “Search Engine Optimization” or SEO. This is s process of improving the visibility and ranking of your website when people use search engines such as Google.

Search engines always want to provide the best results to its users and search results are returned in a fraction of second.

Remember, just because you have a website, doesn’t necessarily mean that you will appear on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

SEO is an on-going process which requires strategic execution.

If you are patient enough, your website will appear on the first page of google results.

If you want to increase SEO, you need to have the best content and a great user experience.

 

 

 

7. Leads Generation

You have your loyal customers and you have those consumers that can be your potential loyal customers. Leads are all about closing the sale, but of course the end-goal is keeping these customers in your sales funnel for the long run.

Generating Leads doesn’t necessarily mean putting up ads on facebook, instagram, etc.

It can be a gimmick such as a contest, survey, post, viral video and anything you can think of that will drive users to your site.

Treat your social media channels like your own website create custom tabs that will lead customers to contact you.

 

 

 

8. Knowing who you are

Brand Awareness is very important when it comes perception of the brand. With social media, you have the ability to control how you want your brand to be seen in the public eye.

If customers have direct lines to the brand, they are more likely to trust that brand. Building relationships is very essential because these loyal customer can help you increase brand awareness by “word of mouth.”

Likewise, this can also have a negative impact to your brand.

Every post you create always has the potential to become viral so keep this mind.

With increase brand awareness, consumers are likely to stumble upon your brand and discover your story.

Having social media makes your brand active and involved with its consumers. The more customer engagement you have, the better.

 

 

 

9. Knowing where your heart is at

Sometimes, it’s not all about the money. Showing your brand advocacy through social media can showcase that you have your own ways of giving back to society and this will also help build trust.

By creating campaigns, you will also influence your audience to take action.

 

 

10. Become a Thought Leader

Any thoughts? Being a thought leader inside you business can create brand affinity. Though this can take time, if people see your experience and passion for certain views, you can become an influencer.

When consumers have questions, you are the one that they listen to because you have views that differ you from the others.

Having your opinions and content displayed on social media can help increase your chances of becoming a thought leader in the future.

Imagine people coming to you because of your expertise and experience – be an authority of your topic.

 

 

Planning and Execution

Here are a few questions that you should ask when you are creating your social media content:

 

What are you goals?

Everyone should have goals. Determine what you want to achieve. Whether its increased sales, higher website traffic, increase in following, etc.

 

Who is your audience?

Sometimes demographics can play an important role in increasing brand awareness. If you are marketing your brand where its not applicable, social media utilization may not be effective. However, on the positive side, not having a target can also help bring in audiences who might have not been interested in the first place to develop an interest in the brand – this all depends on how you want to brand to be.

Social Media Sites?

Utilization of all social media increases of chances of brand awareness and leads generation. Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and Instagram are just a few examples.

Social Media Strategy?

Marketing strategies be be difficult without the knowledge. We can help you properly execute your goals and build your brand awareness while increasing sales – Strategize Now

Evaluation?

The succession rate of your business with the use of social media can be tracked so you have the ability to see if your strategies have a return on investment. You should be able to measure and gauge the effectiveness of your marketing campaign and whether you generated more sales and revenue over a period of time.