20th-century marketing consisted of radio, TV, and newspaper campaigns. To be successful in marketing in the modern era, small businesses need to employ marketing in social media, SEM, and SEO.
Internet marketing can be extremely expensive which is why it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. In contrast, social media marketing can be extremely cost-effective with the right strategy.
Here are 10 reasons why your business needs a social media presence even if your business isn’t digitally native.
Read: How to add value in a business
1. Brand awareness
Social media can provide your business with a platform to make announcements and be a channel for your business to have a voice.
If a social media user retweets or likes your post, their friends might be able to see. Over time, this could be a powerful conduit for brand awareness.
2. Customer engagement
The more you communicate with your customers, the more likely they are to buy from you again. Some companies communicate via social media to connect with their customers and when done effectively, customers become more loyal and attached to the brand’s image. An article by Hubspot details the customer engagement programs of various companies.
3. More opportunities for sales
You can include links and references to your services and products in social media posts providing an opportunity for customers to buy your product/service. By having a good social media strategy, you can get many more opportunities from customers who spend lots of time online.
4. Improve conversions
Having a consistent brand image on social media will help create a strong brand. There is a large section of the popular that researches a company prior to purchasing. A strong social media presence will help nudge customers over the line and make a purchase.
5. Increase organic traffic
Increased brand awareness and engagement as well as links on your social media posts will direct traffic organically back to your website at no cost. The more quality content you put on social media, the more inbound traffic you will generate. Having a strong social media marketing strategy can help you increase the amount of traffic that comes through this channel.
6. Cost-effective marketing
Social media marketing can cost your business nothing if you do it yourself. For those outsourcing, there is a cost component that depends on the level of work required by the marketing firm.
Marketing through social media can be extremely cost-effective if you do it yourself using organic posts. It can also be costly like Google Ads if you pay for a PR firm. Leveraging social media influencers can also cost a lot depending on who you get but overall social media is still the most cost-effective marketing channel.
7. Improve SEO ranking
Google’s algorithms take into account social metrics to help rank websites. It’s no longer enough to regularly update your blog, ensure optimized title tags and meta descriptions, and link backs.
Google and other search engines use social media metrics in their rankings using because of the fact that strong brands almost always use social media.
Read: Why your business needs a website
8. Provide social proof
Regularly posting re-assures potential and existing customers that your business is alive and well. Having positive customer engagement and endorsements improves the trust and credibility in your brand, representing social proof.
9. Learn about your customers
Your business can learn a lot from your customers whilst engaging with them on social media. Their complaints and feedback can be used to improve the experience of future customers.
Many businesses are scared of receiving constructive criticism when it this feedback is information is vital for a business’s long term success.
10. Go viral
The best platforms to viral are YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tik Tok and Snapchat. There have been endless real-life examples of small local businesses that thrived after creating viral content. These platforms have algorithms that are designed to reward viral content. If your business can produce quality addictive content, the platform will simply reward your content with more viewers.
