The year is 2020, and mankind has been around for about 200,000 years. We have reached a level where gaps across countries and continents have been bridged by the advent of the internet. This connectivity has also greatly helped us in recent times during the pandemic. I can take part in lectures, watch a product launch livestream, and shop for my needs all online. Likewise, gone are the days where the expansion of a company was limited to a country. Today if your business is not international, then you are not leveraging the internet to its full potential. This article aims to give you a good understanding of why and how you can use social media marketing.
In the first quarter of this year statistics show that there were 4.5 billion Internet users. This is more than half the worlds population. Out of this, 3.5 billion use social media, and users spend an average of 3 hours on social media daily. Humans are filling their urge to interact physically by using social media. Sharing, liking, and reposting posts from their friends and liked brands plays a big part in this landscape. The way a business appears on social media is as important as any other first impression. Spending a few hours every week can boost your businesses recognition for absolutely no cost.
Benefits of Social Media Marketing
A study was conducted with businesses that made and maintained social media accounts utilizing a few hours a week. It was found out that 90% of them had generated a surge in exposure right after. Here’s why Social Media Marketing is so good:
- Cost Effective – Social media has turned out to be the cheapest form of marketing. For instance, it literally costs nothing to create social media accounts on almost all social media platforms. Furthermore, paid promotions have a greater return than any other marketing medium like TV Adverts or Newspaper Banners.
- Increased conversion rate – With the increase in exposure with a social media presence, businesses have new ways to channel people to their webpage. A higher traffic to the webpage of a business means more potential customers. Since many older people use services like Facebook to search for products, this could result in a new untapped audience.
- Greater Brand Awareness – A company that does not have a presence on any social media will be limited to real life exposure only. While real life exposure is great, it just cannot match the audience provided by social media. Every shared post will lead to more people familiarizing them with your products and thus possible buyers.
- More incoming traffic – All the above factors contribute to an influx of people visiting your website. This number will be greater than the number of people who search for your business on google or Bing.
- Improved rankings on search engines – Many marketers have seen better results on search engines after about an year of activity on social media. While it does not directly increase rankings like Search Engine Optimization, it enhances them.
- Quick customer service and satisfaction – By being active on social platforms, you give the customer a stage where they can direct questions at the company. This enables your organization to have a voice. By replying to comments and posts, you appear more human and friendly in the eyes of customers.
- Improving Brand Loyalty – Customer service and brand loyalty go hand in hand. If your business is very interactive on social media, then naturally customers tend to be more loyal to you. In an age of intense brand competition, this is a quintessential feature.
- Become a leader in your field – In each segment of the market there are a few companies that are regarded as leaders in that segment. Proper use of social media by posting well written and insightful content can propel you to the position of leader.
- Gather data about your audience – One of the most valuable advantages of social media is the ability to walk in the shoes of your customer. By analyzing the activity of those who follow you, a good idea about interests and opinions can be formed.
- Possibility of your cause going viral – The hive mind that is social media often spurts up content that becomes viral. It could be a meme, an advert or poster and the adage “Any publicity is good publicity” comes to mind.
As the digital divide gets smaller and smaller, more and more people will start using the internet. Add to this the fact that social media is infallible in times like pandemics and lockdowns. It becomes apparent that it is not a tool to be doubted or underestimated. Humanity is slowly heading to a largely virtual existence; one can only wonder what the future will hold for us. Whatever that may be, here’s to the race of constantly discovering new methods to use social media and the internet.