1.     Social media marketing is an effective way to connect with customers and build relationships.

You have a direct and unfiltered relationship with your customers on social networks. This is very difficult to achieve through any other medium. Think about it: in a brick-and-mortar store, you only get to interact with a few people. During this contact, you have very little control over how they interact and where the conversation goes. On social media, you have much more control over the case. You also have a much wider reach.

Many customers were hoping for this kind of availability. More than one in three users will look for a social media profile before deciding on a brand or product. What's more, 49% of people check the opinions of others on social media before making a purchase decision.

The opportunity for a great connection is here. To get it right, you need to think through exactly how you want this connection to look. This way you can simplify your messages for your audience. And this is extremely important: if your messages don't communicate with your customers, or you don't have quick responses to audience comments or questions, your online presence will... turn around quickly.

2.     Social media can help businesses build a relationship with their customers by providing them a platform to share their opinions and feedback.

It's just numbered here. Again, almost half the world is on social media. If you want to apply the word to a wider audience, going on social media platforms is like using the world's top megaphone.

But does your business need a megaphone? When answering this question, think about your product or service and consider your options here. If so, then maybe a ton of additional awareness isn't what you need. That said, if you want to start online orders or offer a virtual service, this might just do the trick.

Getting this part right is all about really understanding your audience and targeting accordingly to ensure your content is in front of the right people, in the right place, and at the right time.

On Facebook specifically, you can join groups or create ads that target people based on factors like age, geographic location and search history. For example, if you offer professional hanging services, you can target people in your area who have been looking for paintings or frames. Pretty cool if you have the audience details broken down.

3.     Social media marketing can help businesses reach a wider audience and attract new customers.

The proof is in the numbers: nearly 90% of marketers say their social marketing efforts have increased exposure for their business, and 75% say they've increased traffic. So if you're trying to spread the word and get more eyes on your site, this is a great place to start. This can be as easy as posting regularly and making sure you respond quickly to your online engagement.

This means you don't just want any traffic, you want qualified traffic. These are people who want to work with you or buy your product or service. Traffic qualification, like building awareness, is about understanding your customers so you know who they are and how to reach them.

 If you have a real relationship with your customers and "speak their language", your traffic will grow faster and more consistently.

4.     Social media marketing can help businesses track customer trends and understand customer behavior.

If your customers love a product or find themselves unhappy with your customer service, they're sure to let you know on social media. It's perfectly acceptable for people to engage with brands on social media and share their likes, dislikes, and everything in between.

Because of this, you will get much more engagement on social media than anywhere else. It can be a valuable tool to help you see what's working and identify areas for improvement quickly and efficiently.

How? Just check out the comments to see what people think. When you offer a particular service, like professional DIY help, do you get a lot of interest? If you post about a particular product, do people comment that it doesn't work? Pay attention to this conversation. You can drive the dialogue by asking direct questions and you're sure to get a lot more answers than you would with a traditional survey.

5.       Social media marketing can help businesses create and launch new products and services.

Where there are more qualified people, there is more money. To be clear, this is about more than just quantity. It's about building an audience of people who love your business and buy from you regularly.

By having a regular presence on social media, you have the opportunity to continue building relationships with this audience. This can help you stay front and center for customers who might otherwise have completely forgotten about your product or service after their initial purchase.

This can be a game-changer: 66% of returning customers spend more money on brands they love while acquiring a new customer can cost a whopping 5x more money than keeping an existing one. So maintaining existing relationships can mean better conversions.

But again, you need to evaluate whether you can actually maintain your social media presence to achieve this. To increase conversions, you need to:

  • Understand your customers' interests
  • Create regular posts that relate to those interests
  • Respond quickly to comments and direct messages
  • Get involved in the wider industry.
  • Follow best practices like using customer referrals to increase sales or adding a link to your Instagram bio.
  • If you can't do these things, it may not be worth your effort.
  • Acceptance of the contest
  • If you have a competitor hot on your heels, your social media presence can help you stand out from the crowd.

For example, say a customer is debating where to go for dinner. They look online and see that one of the bidders has amazing pictures on social media, while the other restaurant has no online presence at all. They are likely to choose a restaurant with pictures. The food looks delicious and the comments are positive - so they are sold immediately.

Something like this happens every day. This is why social media can be incredibly effective in tipping the scales in your favor. This is especially true if you have a social cause or brand personality that you want to get out there to connect with your customers.

6.     Social media marketing can help businesses increase brand awareness and improve customer loyalty.

Advertising costs can spiral out of control and it is much more difficult to reallocate funds or reduce allocations with things like flyers, billboards, and magazine ads. On the other hand, social media ads can be much less expensive and much more effective. And people are clicking: 92% of Instagram users say they followed a brand, clicked on their website, or made a purchase after seeing a product/service on the platform. Similarly, globally, the average Facebook user has clicked on 12 ads in the past 30 days.

In other words, people look at and click on ads that interest them. That said, those costs can skyrocket without proper messaging and targeting, so you need to hone in on those aspects to get that part right. This goes back to really understanding your customers and making sure you're putting out the most relevant content for them. Do your research and don't just guess.

7.       Social media marketing can help businesses improve customer engagement and increase conversion rates.

Social media is fast and cheap. In many cases, it offers free passive advertising just by appearing in your audience feed. The trick is to take advantage of the freeways of engagement that social media offers (rather than focusing on paid ads). These could be things like hashtags and live stories, although these modes don't provide a very high ROI.

That said, it could be as simple as organic engagement through social media platforms. Organic engagement, as the name suggests, is when your audience finds you naturally. This means you are not paying attention. And it can work: 96% of B2B marketers are using LinkedIn to increase organic engagement and are finding success.

They may take longer to produce results, but you can save a lot of money by getting the right message to the right people at a consistent pace.

8.     The benefits of good company culture:

If you want to build company culture and engagement, social media is a great place to do it. And that is not possible anywhere else. After all, a study by the American Association of Advertising Agencies found that only 4% of consumers believe that marketers and advertisers practice integrity. This means they don't believe what the "official" ads say. Yuck.

You don't have the same barrier on social media. This means you can break the ice and build trust with your audience:

Give people the opportunity to become part of your community.

Expand your team

Remember, it's not just about the people who buy from you. . Well, classic ads and job boards are much less popular today than they were 10 years ago. You can attract people on social media who may not even be actively looking for work. You can also get a better idea of ​​who they are and if they align with your company and its values. Click here for more information.