Social media offers businesses many possibilities when it comes to business use – from proactive publishing and targeting ads more specifically, to publishing relevant news stories or running targeted promotions – the possibilities for use are almost limitless.
Social media is home to real people. These communities chat, give advice, offer support and ultimately influence purchase decisions – which makes it essential for businesses to engage with these social communities on an ongoing basis.
Increased Sales
An effective social media marketing campaign can have significant, tangible effects on your business if planned and executed according to its goals and objectives.
Social media marketing can go beyond sales promotion to build customer loyalty. People tend to appreciate brands they can trust and that show an interest in them; this is particularly relevant among younger generations who have grown accustomed to communicating through social media platforms.
Responding to customer comments or inquiries demonstrates their commitment to their customers and value their feedback, building brand loyalty in the process and helping keep a business top of mind resulting in repeat purchases and referrals.
Increased Customer Loyalty
As businesses compete to attract customers in an increasingly crowded business landscape, customer retention is essential. Social media offers unique and exciting ways for companies to increase brand recognition and retain existing ones; instant prize draws or high-stakes competitions are two such tools they can utilize social media for promotion of products or services.
One of the most effective approaches is employee advocacy. When employees feel proud to represent their work, their friends and followers tend to listen – in fact, one study by Fleishman Hillard revealed that people trust peer recommendations three times more than official marketing messages from companies.
Retargeting on social media can also help recover lost sales from those who added items to their cart but didn’t buy, increasing revenue without incurring additional advertising expenses.
Increased Brand Awareness
Social media marketing (SMM) can be an essential element of a company’s overall marketing strategy, helping build brand recognition, generate website traffic and produce leads. Unfortunately, however, many organizations fail to harness all of the power offered by their SMM programs.
Today’s consumers expect to connect with the people behind their favorite brands, as well as interact with customer service through channels they prefer.
Glossier uses Instagram to humanize their brand while building trust among customers and strengthening relationships between themselves and their audience.
Marketing and sales teams of any business should work towards an alignment on their SMM strategy, which may involve creating a policy with which executives, legal teams, and other senior stakeholders can all agree upon. It is especially vital for regulated industries that their marketing and sales teams align on SMM strategies so that the company is able to communicate with audiences while complying with all necessary guidelines.
Increased Engagement
An effective social media marketing strategy enables businesses to craft content that speaks directly to the interests of their target audience, giving consumers more chances of finding relevant information in their area of interest and increasing conversion rates.
As it is not unusual for users to discover new businesses via social media feeds, LinkedIn provides built-in communities for users to interact with each other to ask questions, give advice and receive support; those providing the most value within those communities often emerge as leaders.
As well, businesses that frequently post useful content on social media pages are more likely to build trustworthiness with their audiences. Even something as simple as sharing an article about how to use their product could result in potential customers noticing your business and increasing customer awareness and loyalty.
