Why Social Marketing Is Important In 2021

Why Social Media Marketing Is Important

An estimated 3.6 billion people are on social media. No other platform in human history has connected people like social media. While social media has become an invaluable tool for social networking, it has also provided businesses with the opportunity to digitally advertise their brand and products. 

Little wonder about 97% of marketers use social media, just as 78% of salespeople use social media to outsell their peers. But the benefits of social media extends beyond increasing sales. Unfortunately, about 50% of small businesses are not active on social media. As a social media marketing company, The Real Social Company has helped countless businesses transform their brand performance through social media marketing. Knowing why you need social media marketing will nudge you to take advantage of this beneficial marketing channel. 

• Improve Brand Recognition

Customers always want to associate themselves with brands they recognize. That’s why we feel more confident to buy a Nike shoe or eat from a McDonald's. Hence, gaining brand recognition is one of any business’s most important marketing goals. 

Social media marketing allows for effective brand building because social media offers more exposure. Think about this: more people (especially the younger generation) are more likely to interact with social media than traditional media like broadcasting. With social media marketing, you can easily get your brand in front of people even when they’re not thinking of you or your product. Seeing your brand creates a familiarity that makes them more confident to patronize you down the line. 

• Cost-Effective

Advertising on traditional media can become very expensive. According to data by Adage, a 30-second spot broadcast nationally averages around $115,000 in 2019. This inhibiting cost is the reason only big brands disproportionately make use of traditional media. 

But thanks to social media marketing, this barrier has been shattered. Creating a profile on almost all social media platforms - including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube - is free. Without a dime, you can even start promoting your business on these platforms. However, paid advertising gives you the ability to get your brand/product more quickly to lots of people. But the good thing is that you define the budget. 

• Tell Your Brand's Story

Behind the face of any business are people working hard to achieve specific goals. Social media offers the opportunity to share your brand’s mission and stories with your followers. It’s a great way to inspire them through past successes and failures. Moreover, social media is a great way to give a peek of what goes on behind the scenes to your audience. 

People want to connect with other people - not just a faceless company. By sharing stories, you get to connect with your customers on a personal level. 

• Connect With Your Audience

Social media has made it super easy for brands to form meaningful engagements with their audience. And as you probably know, better communication breeds trust, which, in turn, increases conversion. 

By setting up a two-way communication with your audience, you can discover what’s important to them. Social listening helps you monitor social conversations around certain topics. Hence, you get to know exactly what your audience is struggling with, and you can create content to address those pain points. 

• Improve Brand Loyalty

We all know people who will always choose Pepsi over Coca-Cola - that’s brand loyalty. The great thing about a loyal customer is the repeat purchases he/she makes. But more than that, loyal customers become evangelists for your product, convincing others on why they should try out your product. 

When you have a vibrant social media presence, you can easily find customers that are a great fit for you and foster a strong bond with them. This, in turn, helps to increase customer retention as you develop a loyal customer base. 

• Better Customer Satisfaction

It’s no coincidence that companies with a loyal fan base prioritize customer satisfaction. Only a few people will remain loyal to a brand that treats them like shit. Thanks to social media, it is now easy to know the experiences your customers have interacting with your brand. 

For instance, via a Twitter feed, a disgruntled customer can make a complaint and tag your company. You can then acknowledge them and offer ways to solve their complaint. In general, through posts and comments, you can obtain invaluable insight from your customers, which can be used to improve their experience with your brand. 

• Redirect Traffic to Your Website

When you share helpful content via social media, you give users a strong reason to click through to your website. Since it’s unlikely that all your traffic comes through search engines, social media channels allow for more diverse inbound traffic streams. 

However, it’s important to post high-quality content using a predefined schedule. This ensures that you do not over-post, thereby becoming that overbearing marketer, who typically turns off customers. 

• Enhance SEO Ranking 

Social media presence is becoming an important metric in ranking calculations. Hence, optimizing your website and updating your blog regularly is no longer enough to secure the coveted top spots in search engine rankings. That’s why you need to pay closer attention to social media. 

When you post high-value content on social media, your followers are more likely to share the post with others. For those that choose to write similar content to what you’ve shared, they can easily link back to your original post as their source. Search engine algorithms use backlinks to determine the relevance of your posts, which contributes towards a better ranking.

Wrap Up

This post touched on some of the importance of social media marketing. Here are some other benefits of social media marketing worth mentioning:

• Learning about your competitors.
• Learning about the buying patterns of your ideal customers.
• Increasing your overall ROI.
• Promoting your services and products.
• Using social proof to connect with potential customers that are like your existing audience. And many more.

You should, however, note that these benefits can also be reaped if social media marketing is done right! Working with a reputable firm like The Real Social Company can help your business realize its fullest potential through social media marketing.

www.therealsocialcompany.com