Why Social Media is Important to Business

Jayson DeMers Explains:

Social Media Management Company, Media Management Co, Race World MediaThe Top 10 Benefits Of Social Media
Marketing
To some entrepreneurs, social media marketing
is the “next big thing,” a temporary yet powerful
fad that must be taken advantage of while it’s still
in the spotlight. To others, it’s a buzzword with
no practical advantages and a steep, complicated
learning curve.
Because it appeared quickly, social media has
developed a reputation by some for being a
passing marketing interest, and therefore, an
unprofitable one. The statistics, however,
illustrate a different picture. According to
Hubspot, 92% of marketers in 2014 claimed that
social media marketing was important for their
business, with 80% indicating their efforts
increased traffic to their websites. And according
to Social Media Examiner, 97% of marketers are
currently participating in social media—but 85%
of participants aren’t sure what social media
tools are the best to use.

This demonstrates a huge potential for social
media marketing to increase sales, but a lack of
understanding on how to achieve those results.
Here’s a look at just some of the ways social
media marketing can improve your business:

1. Increased Brand Recognition. Every
opportunity you have to syndicate your content
and increase your visibility is valuable. Your
social media networks are just new channels for
your brand’s voice and content. This is important
because it simultaneously makes you easier and
more accessible for new customers, and makes
you more familiar and recognizable for existing
customers. For example, a frequent Twitter user
Jayson DeMers Contributor could hear about your company for the first time
only after stumbling upon it in a newsfeed. Or, an
otherwise apathetic customer might become
better acquainted with your brand after seeing
your presence on multiple networks.

2. Improved brand loyalty. According to a
report published by Texas Tech University,
brands who engage on social media channels
enjoy higher loyalty from their customers. The
report concludes “Companies should take
advantage of the tools social media gives them
when it comes to connecting with their audience.
A strategic and open social media plan could
prove influential in morphing consumers into
being brand loyal.” Another study published by
Convince&Convert found that 53% of Americans
who follow brands in social are more loyal to
those brands.

3. More Opportunities to Convert. Every
post you make on a social media platform is an
opportunity for customers to convert. When you
build a following, you’ll simultaneously have
access to new customers, recent customers, and
old customers, and you’ll be able to interact with
all of them. Every blog post, image, video, or
comment you share is a chance for someone to
react, and every reaction could lead to a site visit,
and eventually a conversion. Not every
interaction with your brand results in a
conversion, but every positive interaction
increases the likelihood of an eventual
conversion. Even if your click­through rates are
low, the sheer number of opportunities you have
on social media is significant. And as I pointed
out in my article, “The Four Elements of Any
Action, And How To Use Them In Your Online
Marketing Initiative,” “opportunity” is the first
element of any action.

4. Higher conversion rates. Social media
marketing results in higher conversion rates in a
few distinct ways. Perhaps the most significant is
its humanization element; the fact that brands
become more humanized by interacting in social
media channels. Social media is a place where
brands can act like people do, and this is
important because people like doing business
with other people; not with companies.
Additionally, studies have shown that social
media has a 100% higher lead­to­close rate than
outbound marketing, and a higher number of
social media followers tends to improve trust and
credibility in your brand, representing social
proof. As such, simply building your audience in
social media can improve conversion rates on
your existing traffic.

A Startup’s Marketing Playbook From Twitter To
‘Ellen’
5. Higher Brand Authority. Interacting with
your customers regularly is a show of good faith
for other customers. When people go to
compliment or brag about a product or service,
they turn to social media. And when they post
your brand name, new audience members will
want to follow you for updates. The more people
that are talking about you on social media, the
more valuable and authoritative your brand will
seem to new users. Not to mention, if you can
interact with major influencers on Twitter or
other social networks, your visible authority and
reach will skyrocket.

6. Increased Inbound Traffic. Without social
media, your inbound traffic is limited to people
already familiar with your brand and individuals
searching for keywords you currently rank for.
Every social media profile you add is another
path leading back to your site, and every piece of
content you syndicate on those profiles is another
opportunity for a new visitor. The more quality
content you syndicate on social media, the more
inbound traffic you’ll generate, and more traffic
means more leads and more conversions.
7. Decreased Marketing Costs. According to
Hubspot, 84% of marketers found as little as six
hours of effort per week was enough to generate
increased traffic. Six hours is not a significant
investment for a channel as large as social media.
If you can lend just one hour a day to developing
your content and syndication strategy, you could
start seeing the results of your efforts. Even paid
advertising through Facebook and Twitter is
relatively cheap (depending on your goals, of
course). Start small and you’ll never have to
worry about going over budget—once you get a
better feel for what to expect, you can increase
your budget and increase your conversions
correspondingly.

8. Better Search Engine Rankings. SEO is
the best way to capture relevant traffic from
search engines, but the requirements for success
are always changing. It’s no longer enough to
regularly update your blog, ensure optimized title
tags and meta descriptions, and distribute links
pointing back to your site. Google and other
search engines may be calculating their rankings
using social media presence as a significant
factor, because of the fact that strong brands
almost always use social media. As such, being
active on social media could act as a “brand
signal” to search engines that your brand is
legitimate, credible, and trustworthy. That
means, if you want to rank for a given set of
keywords, having a strong social media presence
could be almost mandatory.

9. Richer Customer Experiences. Social
media, at its core, is a communication channel
like email or phone calls. Every customer
interaction you have on social media is an
opportunity to publicly demonstrate your
customer service level and enrich your
relationship with your customers. For example, if
a customer complains about your product on
Twitter, you can immediately address the
comment, apologize publicly, and take action to
make it right. Or, if a customer compliments you,
you can thank them and recommend additional
products. It’s a personal experience that lets
customers know you care about them.

10. Improved Customer Insights. Social
media also gives you an opportunity to gain
valuable information about what your customers
are interested in and how they behave, via social
listening. For example, you can monitor user
comments to see what people think of your
business directly. You can segment your content
syndication lists based on topic and see which
types of content generate the most interest—and
then produce more of that type of content. You
can measure conversions based on different
promotions posted on various social media
channels and eventually find a perfect
combination to generate revenue.
These are the benefits of sustaining a long­term
social media campaign, but if you’re still
apprehensive about getting started, consider
these points:

Your Competition Is Already
Involved. Your competitors are
already involved on social media,
which means your potential social
media traffic and conversions are
being poached. Don’t let your
competitors reap all the benefits
while you stand idly by. If, somehow,
your competition is not involved on
social media, there’s even more of a
reason to get started—the field is
open.

The Sooner You Start, the
Sooner You Reap the Benefits.
Social media is all about relationship
building, and it tends to grow
exponentially as your followers tell
their friends, and their friends tell
their friends, and so on. The sooner
you start, the sooner you’ll be able to
start growing that audience.

Potential Losses Are
Insignificant. Realistically, you
don’t have anything to lose by getting
involved in social media. The amount
of time and money it takes to create
your profiles and start posting is
usually minimal, compared to other
marketing channels. Just six hours a
week or a few hundred dollars is all it
takes to establish your presence.

 

4/24/2016 The Top 10 Benefits Of Social Media Marketing ­ Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the­top­10­benefits­of­social­media­marketing/print/ 5/5
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