Since its inception, social media has evolved massively. It is no longer restricted to social interactions between friends. Now, businesses – small and large – can benefit greatly from its ability to reach consumers and increase brand loyalty (and countless other perks). Social media is now positioned as a must-do in the marketing and branding sector, and if you’re still on the fence, here are five reasons why:
1. Increasing Brand Recognition:
Social media is an insanely valuable tool for organizing your content and increasing online visibility of your brand. Think of your social media channels as an extension of your brand – a tool that allows you to communicate your brand’s voice and mission more effectively and seamlessly. Social media is so essential for businesses because it simultaneously makes your brand largely visible to new customers, as well as more familiar and relatable to existing customers. For example, a Twitter or Facebook user, casually scrolling through their news feeds, could hear about your company just by doing something that they do regularly and casually.
2. Better Search Engine Rankings:
Although SEO trends are ever changing it is the best way to capture traffic from search engines, so it’s worth staying on top of. Being active on various social media platforms, and ensuring you use keywords that describe the nature of your brand, acts as a ‘brand signal’ to search engines which then deem your brand legitimate and credible. This means that if you want to rank high on Google, or any other search engine, for a given set of keywords (that are relevant to your brand) you need to have a strong social media presence (which entails being active on your profiles, engaging with your followers, and posting relevant content that will likely be shared multiple times).
3. Opportunity for Customer Insight:
Social media gives you the opportunity to gain VALUABLE (!!!) insight about what your customers want, need, dislike and love about your brand. You can monitor what your followers are discussing in various forums, as well as what they are commenting on your social media channels, so you can gain brand loyalty and solve any issues your customers may have. You can also see which posts garner the highest level of engagement and then produce more of this type of content so your page is more frequently visited. If you give your customers a platform to express their opinions about your product, you can collaborate with them to create a product (or service) based on exactly what they need.
4. Generate Leads in a Cost Effective Manner:
Utilizing social media as a marketing tool is an easy and cost-effective way to generate leads. Advertising on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and even Instagram provides an amazing and (typically) inexpensive avenue for increasing reach and brand awareness – ultimately working to generate leads. This also works to build a loyal base of customers who simultaneously act as brand ambassadors and advocates through liking, commenting and sharing your social media pages.
5. Improve Market Intelligence and Get Ahead of Your Competitors:
Everybody wants to be ahead of the curve and luckily, with social media, you can be. With social media monitoring you can gain helpful insight on what your competitors are up to, and how they are targeting their demographic. This information will (hopefully) prompt you to make perceptive, informed and strategic business decisions that allow you to stay ahead of your competition. With this knowledge, you can improve your business marketing strategy and even offer something your competitors might be missing.
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