Charlotte is our passionate project manager with experience working on a wide variety of projects including website design & development, branding, digital marketing, and social media marketing. Based on her years of experience working with social media marketing, here are Charlotte’s 10 benefits of social media marketing.
1. Easy Start-Up
The beauty of social media marketing is that all you need is an account on the platform of your choice, some money, and a strategy. You don’t have to deal with vendors. There are no meetings where your media rep is trying to upsell you on the latest deal. You can manage your social media marketing efforts from your office, couch or even airplane with half-decent WiFi. Most platforms are extremely user-friendly but have sophisticated chatbots and support services making them accessible to just about anyone.
2. Lower Media Costs
Since the rise of social media, the advertising and marketing world has been flipped on its head. Brands are no longer willing to pay the exorbitant price tags on more traditional forms of advertising and marketing. Now any business with a social media account and a small amount of money can run a campaign. We’re talking as little as $5 for a boosted post on Instagram. Of course, $5 won’t get you too far but it begins to make the world of social media marketing attainable for just about anyone.
3. Lower Production Costs
Social media marketing hits the double whammy at low cost: low media costs and low production costs. Yes, the option is still there to spend money on high-quality images and professionally-produced videos if you want to, but it’s not the norm. According to Forbes, “If you can lend just one hour a day to developing your content and syndication strategy, you could start seeing the results of your efforts.”
Some social platforms, for example, Facebook and Instagram, have the ability to cross-post content because of shared ownership. This means that you can produce one piece of content and post it to another platform without any additional production or reformatting. The value for social media marketing is more in the creative strategy than the content production.
4. Larger Audience Reach
With lower costs, you can increase your presence on multiple platforms to increase your reach to your target audience. Brands also take advantage of the versatility of content opportunities to increase reach. For example, simultaneously using video, static imagery, carousel (swipe through) posts, and stories, you increase your chance of reaching more members of your target audience.
5. More Inbound Traffic
Having a presence on multiple social media platforms provides additional ways for a consumer to land on your site. Someone who knows your brand will know how to search for you or may even know your URL. However, someone who is a stranger to your brand might be learning about you for the first time through a social media post. The goal is to intrigue these first-time consumers enough that they will click through to your site to learn more.
The beauty of platforms like Instagram is that the consumer doesn’t even need to leave Instagram to visit your site. This is beneficial both to the brand who is receiving the traffic, and the consumer who isn’t inconvenienced by moving away from the app to learn more about your brand.
6. Increase Brand Recognition
The more a consumer is exposed to your brand, the more they will recognize it. By having a presence on multiple social platforms and targeting the same audience, there is a great chance you’ll be remembered by the social media user. You can also take advantage of remarketing campaign tools that will specifically target people who have already engaged with your content.
7. Higher Conversion Rates
With the ability to expand your reach through social media marketing, the more opportunities for converting consumers. One key feature that plays into higher conversion rates is remarketing through paid social media marketing. When someone engages with your post (clicks, swipes through images etc.), that individual will be targeted to see more of your content. So instead of being at risk of losing a consumer who engaged with your brand but never sees your posts again, you can reach that same individual again and increase the chance that he or she will convert.
8. Boosted Brand Loyalty
The more a consumer is seeing and relating to your content, the more they become loyal to your brand. A post they find interesting will encourage some level of action from the consumer. They may see your posts, click through a couple of times, begin following your brand and then engage with posts.
You can gain a loyal brand following by curating interesting content that your target audience wants to align themselves with, and consistently reaching this group.
9. Increase Consumer Insight
One of the most valuable aspects of social media marketing is the ability to collect data on specific posts and larger campaigns. Taking a deep dive into the analytics can be extremely helpful in understanding your consumers. How your followers engage by liking, sharing, commenting, and reposting will indicate the type of content that generates interest. When you gain a deeper insight into your consumer base, the easier it will be to curate content to continue reaching, engaging and expanding your consumer base.
10. Simplified A/B Testing
With a fluid budget, testing different types of content is as simple as creating multiple campaigns.
One strategy is to test different types of content on the same audience in order to help you gain insight into the best way to engage that particular audience.
A second strategy is to test the same content on different audiences to observe how particular groups of people respond to certain content. Once you have these insights, you’ll be able to create interesting content that will continue to engage your audience.
Want to learn more or chat social media marketing with Charlotte? Drop us a line!
