The importance of social media cannot be emphasised enough. With the average person having five social media accounts online and spending about 1.4 hours on these networks everyday says a lot about its significance for businesses
If you’re still not convinced, here are 8 reasons why your business needs to be social media NOW.
1. Improves competitiveness
Even if you’re not following a social media strategy, your competitors are; which means you’re shooting yourself in the foot here. People look online to find information about products, to interact with brands and make a purchase. If you’re not there where they’re looking for you, chances are that you’re losing out on a lot of traffic. One more thing to remember is that merely being present on social media won’t cut it. You need to be active, network, and post regularly to maintain engagement with the mass. It helps distinguish your brand from your competitors’, create awareness about your products/services and boost interest among your target market for your products.
2. Wider Reach
2/3rd of the online population is on social media which is 2.1 billion out of the 3 billion online users. This kind of reach was unimaginable a few years back when marketers had to make do with traditional platforms. The reach that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc offer provide infinite (not quite literally) opportunities for a business to grow.
3. More focused targeting
If you’ve noticed, platforms like Facebook have an option where you can choose whom to target based on gender, age, geographical location, interests, etc. This kind of selective targeting can be immensely useful especially while posting ads on social networking sites.
4. Cost effective
Paying for your ads is an option on social media while it is mandatory in media like print, TVCs. Even if you decide to pay for ads on social media, they are more cost effective than traditional marketing platforms for three reasons- they’re almost free, they have a wider reach and are available for viewing 24/7!
5. More expressive than traditional marketing methods
You can use a combination of different visual options like videos, images, words which can be applied across all digital platforms whereas in traditional marketing methods such as print, radio, etc., there are limitations with respect to the content you create.
6. Instant customer feedback
Direct interaction with target and current customers allows feedback for improvement, and relationship building on a personal level. With great feedback also comes great responsibility. It is equally important to respond to customer feedback immediately and address their problems. Negative comments travel just as fast as positive ones (often faster) so redressal of issues is key to maintaining a positive image of your brand. This requires you to spend a significant amount of time responding to comments and messages on your social media accounts but it’s definitely worth the trouble!
7. Network with influencers
This is an excellent way to amplify your brand message or your product awareness. When industry experts or celebrities talk about your brand, it brings you more attention and more attention means an increased possibility of revenue generation. However, this needs to be done very carefully and has quite a bit of dos and don’ts involved.
8. Better insights on target market
Through analytic tools available on social media platforms, you’ll get a clear picture of who your customers and target audience are, which will help you position your brand, create campaigns and re-target them based on analysis. Then there’s of course, the aforementioned real-time feedback which helps you better understand the preferences of your present and potential customers.
Social media marketing, when done right (strategy and content wise), gives you incredible opportunities to develop your business. Now that you have no excuses for not having a social media presence, get on there and make the most out of it!
