The Importance of Social Media Marketing
In the dawn of the 21st century social media catapulted to the forefront of society and has changed the way many things work, the idea and actions of marketing being a key change. Despite these monumental changes, nearly half of small businesses still aren’t using social media, and many never plan on doing so. Before we can dive into the importance of social media and divulge the key reasons it is so important, we need to truly understand what social media marketing is and what it entails.
Social media marketing is much broader than just using an Instagram account for your business, it encompasses the use of any social media platform and even a website to drive traffic to your company’s products, services, or brand. A general subset of internet marketing, social media marketing includes far more than people assume. As the social age has grown, terms like e-marketing and digital marketing have subsequently been replaced by social media marketing.
Now, why is social media marketing so important? Social media marketing takes a lot of the labor out of marketing. Most all social media platforms have built in analytic tools that are easy for even a novice to use and understand. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook have a business setting for accounts that allows you to easily read and analyze the traction that your posts have. From a breakdown of likes, to an analysis of the “reach”, or how many people that aren’t following you are seeing your posts, these built in tools take a lot of the tracking that used to be all manual labor and does it for you.
Not only does social media marketing make the analytical side of things far easier, it also decreases the cost of marketing. To have an account on social media is completely free, and if you don’t want to hire someone to run the accounts for you there are countless free guides online of how to use social media and how to do social media marketing. Additionally, the physical marketing product costs are gone. Flyers have been replaced by your website, and no longer need to be printed out and physically given to people or spread around.
Social media marketing can also greatly increase your reach and grow your brand awareness. By taking advantage of trends and using hashtags, your accounts could land in front of the eyes of a consumer you would have never thought to target. This, in turn, can lead to an increase in traffic on your website if you have it linked in all of your social media posts.
Social media marketing has an infinite amount of benefits, but how can you use it specifically for your company? The key things to remember when tackling social media marketing are to find an angle that works for your company, pay attention to the data given to you, and be responsive! If you have a family run business with a heart warming backstory, use that in your social media. Share your company story to invite the consumers in and gain attention and traction. Then, use the data given to you by the analytical tools built in to see if it works. If you have an increase in view, likes, and clicks, people are probably liking the angle you are taking. Lastly, be responsive. Something that is often overlooked by the newcomers of social media marketing is how important it is to be active and interactive. Individuals like to feel heard and seen, so if someone comments on your post like their comment or respond back to them! Social media marketing can be used as an extension of your customer service so be sure not to ignore your consumers.
