Do I Really Need Social Media?

Social Media – it’s more than just a Facebook post promoting your weekend sale. Social Media marketing can be your businesses’ first impression on a consumer, so it’s important to make it a lasting one. Because social media marketing can be a challenging technique to master, businesses often forego it altogether. “It’s too hard to wrangle something that changes so frequently” we’re told daily…

We’ve compiled our top 6 reasons why you NEED social media marketing for your business.

1. Your Market is on Social Media
While there are exceptions to every circumstance, most businesses are looking to reach a market that can be found on social media. Social media marketing includes platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter. While not everyone should be using Facebook or Instagram as their primary source of social media marketing, they could be very influential on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Find your audience in the platforms that your customers frequent, and leverage your positioning.

2. Social Media Marketing Allows Targeting and Retargeting
When placing ads and running campaigns through social media, businesses have the option to target their ideal market very specifically. A day spa in League City can target their ads toward women, ages 30-55, living within 15 miles of the spa. They can also add a variety of interests that their marketing has expressed interest in, allowing for a more optimized and successful campaign.

Additionally, marketers have the ability to retarget social media users who have previously viewed or interacted with ads relating to your business or users who have previously viewed the website – strengthening their lead status and increasing the possibility of a conversion.

3. Social Media Increases Traffic to your Website
As your business grows on social media platforms, website referrals from these platforms will grow as well. Brands with strong social media presences, who post and update their pages regularly, will have a stronger SEO ranking and steady website traffic. Simple things like including a call to action in your social media content will give your followers the opportunity to visit your website easily.

When combined with retargeting campaigns, consumers will be visiting your website regularly. As your site is visited more frequently, Google will determine that your website is a site that people are looking to visit, boosting your SEO and increasing your website rankings. This is an ongoing process that requires regular content updates and a bit of patience, but the benefits of using social media marketing to boost your website traffic are invaluable.

4. Consumers Prefer to Do Business with Brands They Interact With
When your business has a presence on social media, it opens up a line of communication with the consumer and allows for greater transparency and brand authority. The ability to communicate with a brand before a purchase, to ask questions about the product or buying process, allows the consumer to extend trust to the brand. Should something go wrong, the ability to share about a poor experience allows the brand “right a wrong” and reinforce the trust that they’ve previously earned.

A recent study by Sprout Social determined that consumers hold an expectation of 4 hours when waiting for a response from a business. The same study shared that unfortunately, the average brand response time is 10 hours. We like to think of the crime show “The First 48” when referencing brand reputation management. As soon as a consumer reaches out, your business is in a race against the clock to develop an appropriate response and extinguish any potential fires against your brand.

However, not all social media interaction needs to be damage control. Think of the infamous Wendy’s twitter account, which currently holds a following of 2.8 million. Their account is upbeat, witty and can almost always provide the Empire team with a laugh.

5. Social Media Marketing is Cost-Effective
Depending on the platform you choose to advertise with, social media marketing is easily one of the least expensive forms of marketing. Organic posting promotes your business and builds your brand at no cost, and the paid advertising typically only requires a small daily budget. More costly online marketing alternatives are Google Adwords, Geofencing and Retargeting, Display Ads through 3rd party sites. Because most consumers are already on social media, it’s easy to capture their attention and drive them to your website without spending a tremendous amount of money.

6. Your Competition is Already on Social Media
No matter what industry you are in, be aware that your competition is on social media. Whether they are managing a page or the consumers are doing it for them, there is an active online presence for the company that your potential customers are going to – what are you doing to address it? If nothing else, your presence online should exist so that potential customers have the opportunity to compare to brands and decide that yours is superior. With regular content updates, a mass of positive reviews and a shining personality in each post, your business will stand out from the competition.

It makes sense to market where your competition is… ever notice the CVS that is always conveniently located across the street from Walgreens? Or consider that fast food locations always seem to be scattered along the same stretch of road – this is no accident. Where your competition is, customers are also. Place yourself in front of them!

Determining which social media platform can be a challenge. We recommend evaluating your target market and thinking about where they’re most likely to see your message. The Empire team is happy to assist with developing a marketing strategy and the necessary social media tactics to help your business grow!

Originally posted from League City Chamber MOMENTUM Online Magazine – November 2018