Why Your Business NEEDS Social Media Marketing
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outbound marketing? Or that 84% of B2B marketers use social media in some
form? No matter what you sell and who you sell it to, using social media as a
marketing tool can help you grow your brand and pad your wallet.
At this point in the game, not having an active social media presence is kind of
like pulling out a flip phone at a business meeting and then not understanding
why your boss keeps giving Brad all the new accounts.
But some people still own flip phones, and some people dig in their heels and
say, what is social media marketing going to do for me? Do I really need it? Yes.
Yes you do — and here are some of the most compelling reasons why:
The Importance of Social Media for Web Traffic
1. Social media posts can be used to drive targeted traffic. Creating
a new page on your site is like taking a really great selfie. You want the
world to see it and bask in its brilliance, but you don’t want to beg for
attention (or worse, pay for it). That’s why for selfies and landing pages,
well-placed social media posts can make all the difference. We’ve seen a
single link on Reddit drive over 20,000 visitors in one weekend and links
submitted to StumbleUpon can take a page that was consistently earning a
handful of visitors a day and increase that number to hundreds. Who
wouldn’t want to capitalize on that?
2. Using social media for business boosts your site’s SEO. Search
engine crawlers know which pages are consistently earning traffic and
which are just floating out there, forgotten and ignored. A killer content
strategy for SEO is the most important part of earning top spots in search
engine rankings, but driving traffic to your optimized pages will cause them
to climb much faster in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Quick case study: Astroglide is one of TCF’s clients, and in less than a year we
got the website to rank in the top 100 SERPs for 15,000 new keywords – as a
result, traffic to the website has increased dramatically. A solid and consistent
presence on Facebook, Twitter and other social channels was a BIG part of that
success.
Social Media is THE BEST Tool to Connect with (and Learn from!) Consumers & Industry Leaders
3. If you’re doing it right, social media will lead to real relationship
building. Part of what makes things like Twitter and Instagram marketing
so cool is the interaction you get to have with your customer base — you
can read their tweets and status updates to get insights into their daily
lives (and maybe adjust your marketing strategy as a result). What
products are they buying and why? What are they doing on the weekend?
What kind of posts do they love to share, and from what websites?
You can also use social media as a tool for connecting with complementary,
non-competing businesses, thought leaders and tastemakers in your space,
as well as journalists who cover your industry. Sometimes, becoming
besties starts with a simple retweet.
4. Users are receptive to your messages. People view Twitter and
Facebook as social networks, not marketing machines. As a result, they’re
less likely to see what you post as an advertisement and will be more
likely to hear what you have to say. This translates to serious web traffic
when you link to your site and posts that market themselves as your
friends and followers share what you’ve posted.
5. Social media ads allow targeting and retargeting. One of the
reasons social media is important is because of the highly customizable
nature of social media ads. Facebook ads, for example, allow you to target
users by things like location, education level, industry and even purchase
history and the pages they’ve liked. You also have to the option to install a
Facebook pixel on your site and use it to retarget the users who visit you —
these people are far more likely to convert into solid leads and sales!
6. Social media can help you get noticed at events, and even generate earned media coverage. Whether your business is sponsoring a charity fundraiser or attending a major trade show, there’s no better way to leverage your presence than with the help of social media. In fact, we once sent a tweetduring CES that lead to a client getting a feature article written about them in Wired magazine (check out our guide to marketing your business at trade shows and events to learn how you can achieve similar results).
The Importance of Social Media Marketing for Brand Image
7. You can respond to problems immediately. If there’s a problem with
your product or service, you want to know about it right away. With the
feedback you get in the process of social media marketing, you’ll be the
first to know when there are issues – and you can take steps to resolve
them right away. Studyafter study has shown that consumers appreciate
companies that respond to customer complaints (and don’t hesitate to rant
online to anyone who will listen when companies don’t take the time to
make things right).
8. A strong social media presence builds brand loyalty. A report
published by Texas Tech University found that brands with active social
media profiles have more loyal customers. It’s easy to imagine why: when
you’re engaging and interacting on social media (not just tossing your
posts out onto the web hoping someone will stumble upon them) you
become less like a corporation and more like what you truly are — a unified
group of people who share a vision.
The Right Social Media Marketing Strategy Can Help You Slay the Competition
9. Your competition is getting social, so you should too. Did you
know that 91% of brands are using more than one social media platform?
This isn’t something you want to fall behind the competition on, because
it’s much harder (and more expensive) to play catch up than it is to get in
on the game early. If your competitors get to your potential customers
first, they’ll earn their loyalty and you’ll have a hard time winning them
over. If you’re active and engaging on a variety of networks, you can gain
those friends and followers first and your competition will be playing catch
up instead of the other way around.
10. The social media marketing arena is a (fairly) level playing
field. Some brands may have bigger ad budgets than others, but all
companies start off on pretty equal footing when it comes to social media
marketing. The people and brands who thrive and go viral in are those with
the most clever, attention grabbing tactics (and the most ridiculous gifs)
and the most useful, link worthy content. In short, they’re providing value
to their target audience while also showing personality and being
entertaining. If you want to get lots of traffic and really increase your sales
online, you’re going to have to outwit, outnetwork and outwrite your
competition while offering superior products and customer service. Isn’t
that what business is all about, anyway?
11. When it comes to jacking news, social media is king. Sometimes
your brand is mentioned on a cable TV show. Sometimes it’s not, but you
know just how to slide your product into the story to aim the spotlight in
your direction. Facebook, Twitter and even Reddit marketing give you a
front row seat to the news that’s becoming viral right as it’s happening.
Jump in at just the right time and you’ll earn some major media attention
— and that’s something you just can’t do with a traditional ad campaign.
The Importance of Social Media Marketing for Sales and ROI
12. Social media marketing will get you more sales. Did you know
that 70% of business-to-consumer marketers have acquired customers
media to help make purchasing decisions?
Not surprisingly, when you stay in front of your customer base, they’re
more likely to buy from you when they need the products you sell. Social
media marketing doesn’t just keep your company’s name in front of
potential buyers, but it also gives you the opportunity to constantly give
them incentives to buy. Try sharing coupon codes, with a unique code for
each social channel – you may be surprised at which social network drives
the most sales.
13. You’ll find customers you didn’t know existed. If you set up
streams to follow keywords in Twitter (Hootsuite makes this simple), you
can find people who are looking for the products you sell and direct them
to your site. Using Twitter for marketing is great that way – telling people
who want your products how to get them from your company is just an @
away.
14. Customers you didn’t know existed will find (and buy from)
you. In the process of marketing with Facebook, you’ll probably join a ton
of groups related to your products, industry and customer base. By posting
links in these groups, you’ll help influence customers to check out your
site. Answering questions on Quora is another option. Post a link today, and
two weeks/months/years later you might see a sale from it.
You Can't Beat the Price (or ROI) of Social Media
15. You heard that right — it’s free. How can you argue with that? If
you handle your own social media management, running a social
networking campaign is as cheap as it gets. If you hire a social media
management or online PR agency (like us), it will cost around
$3,000-$7,000 per month, but it’ll be an investment that you’ll be likely to
see a return on. If you’re intimidated by interacting with people online or
your writing skills leave something to be desired, hiring an online PR
agency is definitely the way to go. Posting poorly written content or
conveying the wrong kind of messages on social networking sites can
seriously affect your digital PR presence.
16. The ROI on social media ads is unbeatable. The average cost per
click on Google Adwords is between Rs 50 and Rs 85 and depending on the
keyword targeted, you can end up paying Rs 3000 or more for a single click.
Through targeted boosted post, we’ve been able to send traffic via
Facebook and Pinterest for as little as Rs 2 per click. Why pay ten or
twenty times as much for each visit when social media ads make earning
that traffic quick and easy?
Simply put, social media marketing is part of doing business in the new
millennium. If your business isn’t already active on social networking sites, now
is the time to start.
Why is Social Media Important?
Why is social media important to businesses? Because your brand doesn’t really
exist online if you’re not represented across all social channels – and regularly
interacting with your followers, journalists who cover your industry, thought
leaders and tastemakers, etc.
Here’s one very important reason you may not have considered — it’s fun!
Hosting a Twitter chat to celebrate a new product launch, getting your geek on
while you A/B test Facebook ads, or sharing pop-culture polls for your followers
to weigh in on — these are all activities that build brand awareness, boost web
traffic and lead to loyal customers. But unlike many traditional marketing tactics
with the same goals, these tasks are actually fun in addition to driving real value
for your company.
Are you ready to rocket ahead of your competitors and take the social media
world by storm? Enroll with us? Pull out that flip phone and give us call. We’ll
get you on the path to success.
Fill up the form: https://goo.gl/cRKO1x
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