Reasons why social media is important for your business marketing.

The size of your business does not matter when you are evaluating if your business should be on social media. In this era, you HAVE to be on social media, you need a social media presence, period! Especially if your business is B2C, social media is an essential piece of your business marketing strategy. The best part about it is that you can build social media for FREE. That’s essentially free marketing for your business. Content that people can share without you having to pay a dollar for it?! Sign me in!

The most valuable platforms to-date are Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. And you know that they all have different ways to engage and add valuable content. Social media is all about engagement and conversion rates but let me give you some important reasons why your business should be on social media.

1. The number of users on social media surpasses 3 billion. This plain and simply means all of these users log on multiple times a day and could potentially be exposed to your business.

2. Helps you connect with customers on different levels. Whether is providing support and exceptional customer service through direct messages, comments or chats, having social conversations around certain topics to address target audience pain points or identifying the tone and language your audience uses…the opportunities are endless.

3. Increases brand awareness. By providing your audience with entertaining and informative content you will get attention. This will increase brand recognition, visibility among potential customers and user experience. This is your chance to get in front of people and turn them into customers. Let us not forget, that with more than 3 billion users out there it is very crowded for businesses to get noticed, that is why is so important to create relevant and engaging content like written articles, videos, images, offers and promotions, infographics and more.

4. Share original content and show authenticity by letting your brand personality shine on everything you share. How does your brand voice sound like? How does it represent who you are? You can be professional and fun at the same time, convey messages as genuinely as possible and be true to who you are, not who you think you should be.

Here is an example of the great job Starbucks has done at using their voice:

5. Communicate authority and create brand loyalty. Usually, before a customer makes a decision, they will try to search the business and browse on the different platforms and websites. How many times have you searched a restaurant you will visit for the first time to see how the plates looks like and the rating, etc? So, what will your customers find when they search you? A rich source of information? Or nothing at all? Be intentional about your content that way you will build a strong brand with a positive first impression on social, this shows that your business is trustworthy, knowledgeable and approachable.

6. Encourage engagement since social media is great to create interactions, build relationships and customer loyalty. Posting great content can be a conversation starter for your followers in the comments. Engagement will allow you to get a better idea of your follower’s preferences as you publish different content.

7. Grow affordably. Social media is not to be focused strictly on sales, but it is still a marketing channel and you need to take that opportunity to make sales when it shows up. Marketing budgets vary and you might not have a huge budget to start a social media campaign, but there’s a lot of value for your dollar with social media advertising. Facebook and Instagram are huge platforms to get the best out of every dollar you spend. Tip: When building a social media ad campaign, know who you are trying to reach and what goal you want to achieve so you don’t waste money on unhelpful advertising. Opt to advertise content that educates or entertains rather than sell.

8. Enhances SEO rankings as social media presence is becoming a huge factor in calculating search engine rankings. It is not enough to optimize your website, but social media platforms are taken into consideration as well now. This speaks for your brand value, integrity and consistency. What is SEO you ask? We will talk more about that soon!

Was this information helpful to you? If you need help setting up your social media platforms for success let me know!