Just how connected are you to social media, personally? We’re willing to bet you’re probably one of the three billion worldwide users who is connected to an estimated average of approximately seven different networks. But just how connected is your business to social media? More specifically, how connected is your business to social media marketing?
Sure, you might have a Facebook page or a LinkedIn profile but so do your grandmother, her neighbor, and her neighbor’s granddaughter. How are you optimizing your business’ social media presence? Are you letting your profiles lie dormant? Are you leveraging social media marketing as a strategy? Or are you ignoring this domain altogether?
If you’re ignoring social media marketing altogether, you’re not alone. Some 23 percent of small businesses in the U.S. have no effective plans to use social media for business purposes. However, keep this in mind: recent reports from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate that 50 percent of all U.S. small businesses will fail by their fifth year of operation.
We’re not suggesting there’s a direct correlation between social media oversight and business failure. But we are suggesting that by not taking advantage of every marketing tool at your disposal, your business could become just one more casualty in a highly competitive market.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
It’s easy to just think of social media marketing as paid advertising you may see in any given network’s feed. While both effective and significant, paid advertising is actually a very small part of any social media campaign.
Social media will help your business by establishing a brand identity through direct engagement with an audience, either potential or current. With over 3.48 billion social media users worldwide, and growing daily, that’s a wide potential for engagement. Social media isn’t just a profile, and it’s not just content generation. Establishing a presence for your business on social media means putting a human face on your product or service. A face that is relatable and approachable. Without that fundamentally human quality, you may be little more than an empty commodity lacking any substance or depth. If you’re not prioritizing social media for your campaign, then it’s time for you to put your best face forward.
Why Do You Need Social Media Marketing?
Social Media Marketing Is Easier Than You Think
It doesn’t have to cost much to launch a digital marketing campaign for your business on social media. In fact, it costs nothing at all. It does, however, take time and effort to use social media effectively. The amount of time and effort you expend can be as dependent on your business as it is on your audience. You don’t have to start by launching an expensive campaign to use social media marketing effectively. But you do need to know which audiences are using which particular platforms, and for what purpose.
You can begin by generating regular posts and reviewing your engagement level, either informally or more officially through analytic tools. What garners the most engagement? What are some of the common traits your audience shares? How do they reflect current social media trends? Getting answers to questions like these will help you know your audience better, and they’ll help you learn more about your business in return.
Social Media Marketing Increases Inbound Traffic
Any digital marketing campaign will prioritize inbound traffic as a primary goal. The ultimate goal of inbound traffic is generating sales. Increased social media marketing has been proven to be particularly effective in obtaining both.
- Fifty-four percent of all consumers report using social media to research a product or service prior to purchasing.
- With an average of less than one post per day, brands are reporting a median engagement rate of 0.09% on Facebook across all business segments. That’s just Facebook. Businesses on Instagram are reporting engagement rates of over 1.60 percent.
- Seventy-three percent of marketers have indicated that social media marketing has made a decisive impact on their sales.
- A 2017 report from Curalate has indicated that 76% of consumers surveyed purchased a product seen in a social media post, even when shared by an unaffiliated party.
Those are just four out of hundreds of countless statistics gleaned in the past three years alone.
Social Media Marketing Encourages Brand Loyalty
Yes, you want new customers, new leads, and new blood. However, without customer loyalty, you wouldn’t have a brand identity at all. Whether you like it or not, your customers define your brand. Your customers’ age-range their lifestyle habits, and their income bracket – all of these are critical components in summarizing your product narrative. You cannot even hope to get a firm grasp on any of your key demographics without customer engagement. We’re not claiming that social media marketing is the only way to gain actionable insight about your target audience. It’s simply the most efficient one.
Social Media Marketing Presents a Significant ROI
Maybe you actually do have the time to handle all aspects of a social media marketing campaign yourself. In that case, your initial investment will be minimal if not free. And it provides a significant return. Forty-eight percent of 2.32 billion Facebook users reported that their last purchase was influenced by a Facebook ad. However, only 45 percent of companies indicated that they’re satisfied with their current marketing strategies.
You need to know what to expect from your digital marketing campaigns. That includes social media as well. But how effective is an outside agency? Their price may be a fraction of the cost you might find from traditional advertising, but do they have a proven history? Can they break down engagement, cost and predictions in a way that’s coherent and easy to understand? Or are they only making empty promises built on estimates and hype?
At No Joke Marketing, we know the difference between social media marketing proofs and empty claims, and we can help your business distinguish between them as well. Visit us today at No Joke Marketing to get started.
