10 reasons your brand needs social media
I still remember early on in my career when marketers were dismissing social media as a valuable tactic, which is funny when compared to these days when I’m shocked when a company doesn’t have a social presence or a bare bones one.
Social media marketing has evolved over the years and now comes with its own strategy and budget behind it. While social can’t be the only marketing tactic a business uses, it’s a wonderful complement to content, email, and PPC marketing, and SEO.
When done right, social media marketing can have impressive impacts on your digital marketing’s overall performance. Let’s cover 10 reasons your brand needs social media in today’s digital marketing world.
10 benefits of social media marketing
1. Branding
You control your social media messages and profiles and can harness the power of branding in your fingertips. You create most of the content for this space and can manage how online conversations are shaping by being proactive and reactive – to others’ content. Your branding efforts can reach new audiences through building influential relationships with other brands and influencers in your industry.
2. Reputation management
Through social media marketing you can earn, rebuild, or keep the trust in your brand you’ve established with consumers. WIth so many social media sites utilizing a reviews feature, you can make sure your reputation is strong and following the right branding and messaging. Reply to online reviews, even if they’re just quick tweets, to show that you’re actively managing your brand online and take your customers’ feedback seriously.
3. User-generated content
Having your own messaging on social media channels is great, but many consumers are looking for social proof or reviews through user-generated content. Customers will trust the words of their peers more than your direct messaging, so encourage conversation and reply to comments to build up your arsenal of user-generated content.
User-generated content can also apply to bigger blog pieces or influencer marketing pieces. Be sure to leverage this content to let your customers do the selling for you.
4. SEO benefits
Social media links and mentions do have benefits for your website’s SEO efforts! Use your targeted keyword terms in your posts, use your brand’s name, and share links back to your own website to improve your SEO.
5. Qualified website traffic
Most users who are looking you up online are more than likely interested in your product. The traffic coming from social media channels tends to be more qualified and quality traffic – people who are more likely to make a purchase or convert.
6. Assist conversions
Social media is a good assisting channel for conversions. While it’s unlikely one Facebook post is going to generate tons of revenue, social media definitely plays a role in assisting conversions. Track your assisted conversions in Google Analytics and see what channels and posts help people convert to replicate that success in the futre.
7. Customer communication
Social media is a two-way street, meaning it’s just as active a channel for your customers as it is for your marketing efforts. Many use social media as a means of customer service instead of calling or emailing your company. Respond to customers’ comments or concerns and try to move the conversation offline. It shows that you’re responsive but doesn’t divulge all the details of the customer’s complaint for all to reference.
8. Partnerships
The world of social media is speedy, and well, social! Spend time building relationships and partnerships with other big brands and influencers and reap the rewards of a bigger audience for free! Share other brands’ content, engage with their posts, and share quality branded content that encourages them to reciprocate.
9. Testing ground
Have a great idea for a webinar, conference, or ebook? Test that type of content with your social following first before investing resources, money, and time into creating something your audience doesn’t care about. You can quickly get data about a certain topic performs and understand if it’s worth pursuing.
10. Recruiting
Finally, another great reason to be active on social media is for recruiting new employees! Show off the friendly faces from your company, highlight individual and company successes, and share why your company is such a great place to work.
Social media has many benefits for your brand and is something that needs to be taken seriously. Like all other marketing tactics, invest time into strategizing, planning, and evaluating your social media efforts. This is not a time to post just to post! Be strategic about what you’re sharing and how it relates back to your business and how it helps you meet your business goals.
