Social media marketing (SMM) is essential for businesses of all sizes to engage with consumers. According to Hubspot, 92 percent of all marketers showed that social media efforts have increased exposure for their businesses, and 80 percent indicated their social media marketing efforts increased traffic.
If executed well, social media marketing can provide these key benefits for your organization:
1. Increased Brand Recognition
Social media platforms are relatively new mediums to convey your brand’s voice and produce quality, value-added content for consumers. Creating a strong voice increases visibility and makes you more accessible to new consumers.
2. Better Search Engine Rankings
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a major topic of conversation within digital marketing. Focus on creating valuable content using different variations of keywords and creating long-tail keywords to use throughout social media posts. Social media platforms provide multiple opportunities for quality content and search engine optimization.
3. Personal Customer Experiences
At the heart of social media is communication. Like phone or email, social media platforms provide a channel for your brand to communicate with consumers and publicly display engaging customer service. Through compliments, critiques, and calls to action, a brand can strengthen its relationships with customers by being attentive and thorough with posts and responses.
4. Improved Loyalty
A study by Convince&Convert concluded that 53 percent of Americans who follow brands through social channels are more loyal to those brands. By engaging in social media, your brand networks with consumers to create better relationships, leading to greater brand loyalty and, ultimately, growth in sales.
5. More Opportunities to Convert
Any social media following conveys the potential for new and returning consumers. By following your social media, people are showing interest, which can then be leveraged into new or returning business. If used to their fullest potential, social channels can be used to find new leads for your company, and interaction with these prospects can lead to sales. By using social prospecting, you can learn to identify potential prospects and turn connections into conversions by drawing them to your site.
Social media is an excellent tool for connecting and engaging with consumers, and social prospecting is another channel to identify and engage prospective leads.
To learn how to use social media to turn connections into conversions, download our free social prospecting workbook.