Did you know that 3.96 billion people use social media worldwide? That’s more than half of the population. With so many people using platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest etc., it is fairly obvious that social media can play a vital role in your business’s success. It does take a lot of time and effort to organically grow your business on social media, but it can be very rewarding.
Below are eight reasons why you should utilise social media marketing for your business and some tips on how to effectively approach the subject.
1. Build and improve brand awareness and recognition
Brand awareness and recognition is a key factor when it comes to a business’s success. How are people supposed to buy your product or service if they don’t know who you are? It is known that consumers are more likely to purchase brands that they recognise, this is because positive recognition formulates trust and a good reputation.
By dedicating only a few hours each week to social media marketing, over 91% of marketers claimed that their social marketing efforts greatly increased their brand visibility and heightened user experience. Having a social media page and posting consistently is pivotal in creating a well-known and trusted brand. It should be something that every business owner and marketer participates in.
Tip: To improve brand recognition and awareness, pay close attention to your profile, cover photo and content. Your logo should be shown clearly yet strategically. Also ensure that your content and aesthetic is consistent across your content as this is a direct reflection of your brand.
2. Show authenticity and interact with your audience
Social media is the perfect platform to connect and interact with your audience on a more personal level. Developing a positive relationship with your audience can be one of the deciders as to whether a consumer purchases from you or one of your competitors. Decide what your brand’s personality is. How do you want to be perceived by your audience?
Tip: Have a good think about who your target audience is. What do they value and how do they interact with each other on social media? Your tone and content will be completely different if your target audience are 18-25 year old’s compared to if it were 30-55 year old’s.
3. Increase engagement
Engagement is so important when it comes to your social media accounts. It’s good to have a nice amount of followers but if they’re not actively engaging with your content you might as well have none. Engagement refers to the likes, comments, shares and saves your posts receive. The more your audience engages the more reach it will create – reach being the amount of people that see your content.
Tip: Put the time and effort into creating quality, scroll-stopping content. Research what your competitors are doing and look at what engagement they are receiving. See how you can reach your audience and encourage them to engage with the content. You could do this through asking open-ended questions and solicit feedback about your products, in order to develop a conversation with your audience.
4. Build customer loyalty
Did you know that 53% of customers who follow your business are more likely to be loyal to your business? So once you develop brand awareness and increase your audience engagement you will be able to actively improve your brand loyalty – all you need to do is continue with your quality content and interact with your audience! Easy peasy!
5. Post boosting using #Hashtags
Want a quick and easy but effective way to boost your posts reach? Hashtags are the way to go! Hashtags help to group like-minded people through social media, and if done successfully it can increase your reach dramatically. Stick to 1-2 hashtags per post, if you use too many it can have an adverse effect.
Tip: Ensure you use hashtags on words that will be most effective. In order to do so, research what hashtags are the most searched and relevant to your business on the social platform you are using. For example if you’re using Twitter, look at the ‘Trending’ page. For other platforms there are many online tools to help you find the most effective hashtags.
6. Increase traffic
Social media is a handy tool that can help direct traffic towards your website. If you post something interesting and/or appealing on your Instagram account, a user is highly likely to follow through and check out your website.
Tip: Make sure your website is linked on your social media profile. The more you share and engage the more you will generate inbound traffic.
7. Cost effective
The beauty of social media marketing is that it’s free (unless you pay for advertising). This means that even small and start-up businesses have the opportunity to get into the competitive market, even if they have no budget for marketing just yet.
8. Target Advertising
Finally, the cherry on top – social media offers businesses targeted advertising! This is great for when you’re trying to penetrate a new target audience, or simply trying to get your brand to reach a specific audience segment. You can also use this advertising when trying to expand your reach and promote a service or product.
This cost is usually calculated through a Pay Per Click (PPC) method, where you pay the publisher (Facebook, Instagram etc.) to promote your content at a price ‘per click’. This means each time someone clicks your ad you will be charged a certain amount. This is not the only method of paying for advertisements, you can also be charged based on ad impressions, video views and other metrics. It is recommended to find out what will best suit your business.
Tip: Know your goals and who you’re trying to reach, so you get the most out of your budget. Also try to avoid overly spammy ads, try to produce content that educates and/or entertains.
If this all seems a bit too overwhelming or you would like some guidance on how to get started – Juno is here to help!
Give us a call on (07) 3186 0566 and we’ll talk you through the process.
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