Why should you use social media marketing? (via: NUVI.com/Blog)

Our world has gone social. If you’re like most Americans, social media is probably one of the first things you check when you wake up in the morning and one of the last things you do as you go to bed. When you want to check in on your family that lives across the country, you will probably look on Facebook before you think of calling them to catch up. One thing you may not be thinking about is how social media is a critical part of marketing for your brand. Social media is not just a place for sending funny cat videos to your friends; it’s where your brand should be engaging with customers. Here are a few reasons why you should be using social media marketing and how to get started.

If you’re not already there, you’re behind

Social media users expect brands to have a presence on social media. If you’re not marketing in some way on social media, then it’s as if you don’t exist to millions of potential customers…

On top of not existing, your competition is already there. They are gaining social media traffic and conversions that you are missing out on. The longer you aren’t on social media, the more of your potential engagement is lost and taken by your competitors. If your competition isn’t there (and they will be soon), then great news for you. You get to be the one taking away their potential engagement. Boom. How about that for easy gains on your competitors!

Social media marketing is cheap and successful

Social media marketing is the cheapest form of advertising. In fact, during Super Bowl LI, many companies opted to use social media marketing rather than investing all their money in commercials. And for those companies that opted to pay the $3.5 million for a 30-second ad, here’s what Joe Pulizzi of CMI says they could have got instead:

• 47 Issues of Your Own Custom Magazine.
• 16,000 blog posts developed at an average of $225 per post.
• 1,167 white papers developed at an average of $3,000 per white paper.
• You can get your very own Chief Content Officer to serve for you for 23 years (at an average salary of $150,000) or a fantastic managing editor for about 40 years (at approximately $90,000 per year).
• 233 to 411 webinars (depending on promotion needed).
• 14 full-scale customer events for about 250 people each time, including about 30 speakers, multiple tracks, food and entertainment.
• 50, 175-page books developed for your brand…including ghostwriting, editing, distribution setup and more.

And the greatest part about it is that social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close than outbound marketing. So why would you not want to use social media marketing? Only if you like spending more money and getting fewer results.

Gain better customer insight and improve your relationship

A strong image on social media will build brand loyalty. When you have a strong social media following, users tend to view you as a more credible brand. On top of that, brands that have active social media profiles have a more loyal customer base. By setting goals and tracking your social media, you will gain the trust of current and potential customers. You will be able to understand what they want and when they want it, making it easy to cater to them and improve your reputation and customer relationship.

How do I start social media marketing?

Now that you understand that you clearly need to be marketing on social media, you’re probably wondering where to start. First thing’s first, you need a plan. While social media will help your brand tremendously, your content has to be good. You can’t just write garbage and expect diamonds in return. The first step to quality social media marketing is creating quality content.

Once you’ve got rockin’ content, social media marketing tools can help you track your progress and know what is working and what is not. Here are a few:

Social media listening

It’s important to see what people say about your brand on social media. You want to know if they like you, or if there is something that you need to change. Social listening tools help you to understand the social conversation surrounding your brand.

Social media analytics and reporting:

Analytics tools help you understand your social media engagement. These tools can do things such as tell you what your most popular posts are, track how many followers you’ve gained or lost, and so much more.

Social media publishing:

Posting to social media is not as easy as it sounds. You have to post the right content to the right mediums at just the right moment in order to maximize your reach and engagement. This can be tricky. Publishing tools can help. You schedule out when you want to publish a piece of content and the tool does it for you.

Social media marketing should be a vital component to your marketing plan. Have you found a social media strategy that works for you? We’d love to hear about it.

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