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Social media is one of the best (free) ways to increase exposure for your brand and engage with your target customer.
Since its inception, social media has become one of the most important spaces for brands and companies to engage with. The power of social media is tremendous with the ability to target and reach specific demographics with content and advertising like never before.
The only drawback to social media marketing is the amount of time that it takes to develop effective and original content. At this stage in the game, your business must have a clearly defined strategy to ensure that you’re maximizing all of your effort and time into streamlined communications that will make a difference to your bottom line.
Here’s how to do it…
Impactful Social Media Stats
Currently, there are more than 4.5 billion social media users
55% of consumers learn about new brands on social media, especially Gen Z and Millennials
78% of consumers are willing to buy a product from a company after having a positive experience with them on social media
The average daily usage of social media per person is about 2.25 hours
Nearly 40% of social media users open Instagram several times per day
TikTok users spend an average of 850 minutes per month on the app
No Cost Barrier to Entry (except for Time)
For businesses with limited budgets around advertising and marketing, social media is a great gateway for placing branded content in front of relevant eyes. Social media does take some upfront time investment. With the right research and strategy, your company can utilize technology to save time and maximize the impact of your social media work.
The ways that social media can positively impact your business outweigh the overall time investment. Younger staff members, interns, or students may be a great resource here as they’ll be able to intuitively create content that resonates with your target audiences.
If your business is incredibly short on staff time (or you’re a very small business), consider creating an airtight social media strategy that targets 2 or 3 specific platforms that your target audience uses the most. Focus on quality over quantity and ensure that you’re posting with a consistent schedule. You can also batch produce content, schedule it ahead of time, and let the posting happen on autopilot for 2 weeks at a time.
5 Benefits of Social Media Content for Businesses
1. Create Relatable and Informal Content
Creating relatable content and real connections with your audience can help to build a strong brand loyalty over time. Social media marketing allows you to take some of the formality out of your advertising and content.
Break down walls by sharing day-to-day operational stories or curate a specific aesthetic for your audience. You can also opt to show how you’re demonstrating your brand values in your social media content. Display your product and how it works or fits into someone’s real life. You could also opt to promote how you treat your employees and customers in an authentic and genuine way.
Authenticity on social media and in your content builds trust. Trust builds receptiveness to your messaging and branding. If your followers feel that you’re communicating in a genuine and human way with them – they are going to be much more likely to purchase your product.
2. Increase Website Traffic
Social media can be a great way to meet your audience where they already are. Your posts and social media ads can be key ways to drive traffic to your website. First, promoting products throughout your content is an obvious way to generate traffic or interest to your website. Take note that your followers will expect content from your social media account beyond promotional. Be sure to curate some additional types of content that isn’t just strictly promotional.
Second, incorporating strong branding across all social media platforms will help to bring a sense of consistency to your business. Ensuring that a link to your website is included in your social media account bio is non-negotiable.
Third, you can incorporate some expert ways to drive traffic to your website. This includes directing people viewing your posts to follow the link in your bio for more information. You can also share links in your stories if you have the follower count or the platform allows for that.
3. Generate Inbound Leads
Social media content is a low-cost way to generate inbound leads that are already lukewarm. If someone clicks through to your website as a result of your content, they are already somewhat familiar with what your business does or offers.
Inviting your potential customers to learn more on your website via longer content (blogs) or free resources (printables or video tutorials) can be another great way to piggyback lead generation from your social media presence. Consider a monthly newsletter for your business with an incentive for a subscription (and an opt-in for marketing emails) to really engage your customer base!
4. Interact with Customers in Real-Time
Social media platforms also give you the opportunity to openly and honestly interact with your customers in real-time. You can resolve customer complaints, engage customers for feedback about products, and provide them with a feeling of being part of a larger community when they’re supporting your brand.
Unlike traditional one-way communication that most media services offer, social media presents an opportunity for two-way communication with your target audience!
Leveraging “live” broadcasting functions on various social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok) is a great way to bring your account to the top of your follower’s algorithm and feed. Make it an open and easy conversation or host a more structured “talk” for your followers. Whatever you’re most comfortable with will work – and you’ll see a spike in traffic both to your social media content and to your website.
5. Gain Insights about your Target Audience
Finally, data is a massive piece of why your business should be leveraging social media. Social media content and engagement generate a huge amount of information about your target customers in real-time. In turn, you can use this data to your benefit by making informed business decisions.
Understanding what types of content are performing best for your brand is also a great way to strengthen and maximize your social media marketing efforts. Double down on the strategies that are working and scrap the types of content or platforms that aren’t worth your time.
Be sure to make reporting and regular data check-ins a part of your social media strategy. It does take some time to gather the insights, but it’s more than worth it!
Follow us on Instagram to learn more about social media marketing and book a free consultation session to learn more about all the ways we can help you!
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