Benefits of Social Media Marketing

Social media is often an under-appreciated and undervalued marketing practice. Business owners generally understand the need for having a social media presence but can fail to recognise just how beneficial it can be to their conversion rates. Social media marketing is a great way to market your products and services to a wider audience. Social Media marketing  helps to support and reinforce your messaging across other marketing channels, whilst also providing you with the possibility of reaching a greater target audience. Social media campaigns allow businesses the opportunity to get in front of customers on both a local and global front, at a relatively low cost. Having an active, engaging social media presence can do wonders for your business, from increasing your brand awareness to driving traffic to your website. According to We Are Social, as of January 2020 more than 3.80 billion people are active on social media . Taking this into consideration, this article will outline 3 benefits of having social media integrated within your business’ marketing strategies. 

Constant Communication

Social media marketing has altered the way businesses communicate with their customers. Traditional marketing practices like print and direct mail, despite being extremely beneficial and vital when creating your marketing strategy, need to be complemented with blended digital marketing in order to market through reciprocal channels of communication. Social Media Marketing allows businesses to communicate with their customers in real time. This is incredibly effective as it enables business owners to connect with their audience during critical moments. Online communication has not only altered the way businesses market their product offerings but it has also adjusted how we, as consumers, interact with businesses online. With everything just a click away, consumers’ brand expectations have also changed.  The ease of access that social media provides and the direct way to communicate with a brand means that social media has taken over from traditional methods of communication, such as filling out a contact form or waiting for a customer service agent to pick up the phone and answer your query. The impact of social media has given rise to alternative ways of communicating, where information is relayed with ease and conversations are accelerated. Integrating social media marketing into your marketing strategies opens you up to the possibility of constantly being in touch with your customers and target audience. Why is this key to your business’ success?

Customer Feedback:

With the inclusion of social media in any business’ marketing strategy, you are afforded the opportunity to receive invaluable information and opinions from your target audience about your products and services, in real time, and at a relatively low cost. Previously, businesses would have to conduct research in order to get this kind of information, which was both costly and laborious.   However, with the help of social media, business owners can get real and direct customer feedback instantaneously.  The benefit here is that not only are you receiving valuable insights from your customers on how they perceive your brand, you are also strengthening your brand credibility and loyalty through positive consumer feedback. This will benefit your brand as the more consumers trust you, the more likely they are to share their experiences with other like-minded customers, expanding your brand awareness and customer base.

Customer Service:

It is believed that as social media becomes more and more important in consumers’ lives, attitudes and expectations around customer service have dramatically changed. 48% of consumers expect a response to a social media question or complaint within 24 hours or else they become irritated and unsatisfied with the brand. The customer experience plays a vital role in the success of any business. How well your target audience experiences the brand affects your brand loyalty, sales, customer retention and consumer advocacy rates.  Delivering excellent customer service and quick response rates to customer queries through social media will help to increase your customer satisfaction and improve your customer’s experience with your brand as a whole, this in turn nurtures the customer relationship. Consumers expect brands to respond on social media to their queries, and, according to a study in The Harvard Business Review, brands that do not meet these customer expectations negatively impact the customers beliefs and satisfaction level with the brand.

Boost Brand Visibility

Regardless of what your business has to offer, social media is an excellent sales tool to incorporate into your business and increase your brand awareness. We consider it to be a vital part of your sales funnel as 55% of consumers research a product prior to purchase on social media and 78% of people state that their buying behaviours and decisions are influenced by a businesses social media content. As the popularity of social media grows and social media sales become more prominent, the need to have social media integrated into your business’ marketing strategy will become increasingly important for e-commerce. Why?

Brand Awareness

Reach beyond demographic and geographical boundaries with social media marketing. Build and maintain customer relationships. Social media gives businesses the opportunity to constantly communicate with their target audience whilst increasing their brand awareness and reaching more customers on both a local, and global, level. Creating a strong brand on social media has a range of benefits for any business such as establishing an identifiable brand, to increasing your share of voice within the market.  Our Nettl team are incredibly talented at creating brand guidelines and powerful marketing strategies for clients, reach out and brainstorm your next brand move with us. Use social media to promote your products, service and brand content in general, to make it easier for people to see, find  and share your brand with others, on a global level. This allows you the potential to improve and build your brand awareness through sharing your own content.

Increased Sales

Engagement is one of the most powerful marketing tools to utilise when attempting to increase your lead generation & sales. Move your target audience through the buying cycle effectively by really utilising social media. Not many business owners respond to their customer’s direct messages, despite, as mentioned above, consumers now rely heavily on social media as a form of information.  Respond to direct messages and comments on posts personally and in a timely manner to show your customers that you are responsive and attentive to their needs. This in-turn results in brand loyalty and returned business. Using social insights to get a better understanding of your target audience, you can begin to understand their issues and help to resolve them. Creating fresh content that is consistent and inviting will also assist in expanding your lead generation and sales. According to Forbes, 72% of millennials purchased a product from a brand as a result of observing an engaging post on social media.  Similarly, a number of social media platforms now offer a “call to action” button on posts which helps to motivate the consumer into entering the sales journey.  As you can see, when you engage your customers on social media, it is relatively easy to increase your sales and keep your customers interested in your brand through engaging content, branding and memorable marketing campaigns that leave them enticed and wanting more.  

Increase business traffic:

One major advantage to having a social media presence is that it is supplemental to your website and physical store. Social media marketing helps to redirect customers to these locations to learn more about your offerings. Not all of your traffic, whether that be digital or footfall to your physical store, will come through search engine and direct mail campaigns. Social media platforms offer businesses a new avenue for consumers to interact with their brand. Every piece of content that is issued is a brand new opportunity to reach new and existing customers and get them into your sales funnel. It is important to realise that social media is a great addition to your marketing strategies as it allows for more diverse inbound traffic for your business both online and offline.

Website traffic

As mentioned above, social media is a brilliant side-car to your business’ website. It is a cost-effective means which provides your business with the capability of contending in an incredibly competitive digital sphere.  However, it is important that your social media profiles and website work in tandem to build a stronger online presence for your business. Include links to your business’ website across your social media profiles to drive traffic to your website from your social media, and visa versa.  Expand your business’ market reach and redirect your audience towards your most valuable content or products and services that you are promoting on your website. It is believed that 60% of business owners have seen an increase in traffic to their website as a result of their social media profiles.  This in itself shows that social media is a marketing tool that you cannot avoid having linked to your website.  If your website needs a bit of a refresh to embody your brand as a whole, why not get in touch with your local Nettl studio and a member of the team would be delighted to help you? Believe it or not, social media can have an indirect impact on your SEO. This is where having your website and social media accounts linked can be advantageous for your business’ search engine optimisation. From our article about SEO, What is SEO? How it works & growing your online presence, we understand the importance of quality backlinks for your website’s ranking. The links that are shared across your social media profiles give away to greater brand exposure.   Despite not directly contributing to SEO ranking, social media can influence a brands recognition, organic visibility, local search engine optimisation and brand reputation through links and shares as it helps to generate social signals to indicate that your content is liked by your target audience. The more interactions you have on social media the more opportunity consumers have to see your content and link to it. The acquisition of these backlinks not only offers a boost in SEO but also an increase in referral visits to your site, which is a win win! Get in touch with your local Nettl studio to learn more about SEO. 

User Generated Content and Partnerships

Social media is designed to garner and nurture relationships. Connect with your customers through a more “social” means of communication to build quality relationships and recurring business. Through backlinks, shoutouts and word of mouth referrals, social media is a brilliant way to promote your business and increase your sales at a relatively low cost.  According to Forbes, 84% of millennials are likely to be influenced to purchase a product or service based upon user generated content that is shared on social media by a stranger. A major factor explaining this lies in the fact that 92% of consumers are more inclined to purchase from a brand that has been recommended to them by someone they know and trust.  This helps to explain why social media is a crucial asset for any business. As social media becomes increasingly more popular, so does influencer marketing. Consumers are now taking recommendations and product advice from their favourite Instagram models, youtube stars and bloggers before making a purchase, with 86% of women making a purchase as a direct result of an influencers recommendation. Their reliability gives businesses the opportunity to leverage influencers’ audience for their own content marketing and brand promotion. Partnering with an influencer who aligns with your target audience, not only increases your brand awareness but it also provides your business with the opportunity to tap into an entirely new audience which would not have been possible through traditional marketing practices.  To conclude, we can see that social media is an ever growing marketing giant. The benefits of including it in your marketing practices are endless and although it may not be the main source of your businesses annual turnover and conversion rates, it is a marketing tool that you cannot forego. It affords you the opportunity to take your business from the local level to the global within a matter of minutes of setting up an account, whilst also improving your brand awareness. If you are in need of some help planning and improving your brand, website, or digital marketing, be sure to get in touch with a member of our team and we would be happy to help!