Social Media Examiner recently released their 2016 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. The report shares insight from over 5,000 marketing professionals and takes a closer look at social media marketing. One of the questions they asked during their initial survey was related to the benefits of social media marketing efforts.
So, what are the top 10 benefits of social media marketing?
We’re glad you asked! Here’s closer look at what other marketers see as the biggest benefits:
- Increased exposure.
Social media presents an amazing opportunity to get your name and brand in front of the right audi ence – and an audience that may not have otherwise come across your brand. While organic (free) reach can sometimes be enough, putting a bit of money behind your social posts can really boost exposure. The great part about social advertising is that you can get extremely granular with your target audience across all types of demographics, interests, geographies, age ranges and more. - Increased traffic.
At BARQAR Marketing, one of our goals isn’t just to have a great social presence, it’s to drive traffic back to our clients’ websites where people can actually take action. To ensure this is happens, take a close look at your website analytics and look at social media referrals. We often find that companies are surprised social referrals are so low. But upon a closer look at their social presence we find several of these mistakes:
– They don’t share any content that links back to their own website.
– All of the content they share is from other websites (articles, photos, etc.) which is only driving traffic away.
– A low frequency of posting.
– Posting just text instead of adding attention-grabbing images too.
– Having a low number of followers and not proactively building their social following(If you run into any of these challenges just let us know and we can share some additional suggests for you). - Developed loyal fans.
A recent study by SproutSocial reported that 74% of consumers rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions. Put simply, loyal social fans turn into loyal customers. The key is giving something of value to attract them to your social presence, and then continue adding value. - Provided marketplace insight.
Online marketing gives you the chance to measure nearly everything. You can measure impressions and reach (branding potential), clicks and interaction (engagement), traffic from different sources, conversion rates, and hundreds of other variables. You can test different messages to see what resonates with your audience. You can even monitor your competitors to see where they get the most engagement. It allows you to get amazing access to the market so that you can improve your services, offerings and delivery. - Generated leads.
Of course the end goal of any type of marketing is to generate more quality leads. Social let’s you get your message in front of the right audience when their defenses are down. Because of the relative low cost, you can drive more impressions as well and increase the likelihood that you’ll be in front of the right decision maker, at the the exact right time. - Improved search rankings.
Google, Bing and Yahoo are in the business of advertising. To generate ad revenue they need to offer relevant search results so users continue to use their search engine. To help them gauge relevance, search engines look at social signals. The more social engagement your brand and your content get, the more relevant you are in the eyes of search engines. This social engagement helps drive more traffic to your website and improve your search rankings. - Grown business partnerships.
Social allows you to connect with key business decision makers without having to go through the gate-keeper. I’ve seen countless examples of people reaching out to key executives through Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook to get immediate response. - Established thought leadership.
Where else could you get your message, article, whitepaper or research in front of more of the right people! One of our favorite areas to share thought leadership pieces is on LinkedIn. If you write a great or blog post, share it as a personal status update, publish it as a LinkedIn post, and share it in relevant LinkedIn Groups. You can potentially reach hundreds, or thousands of people you otherwise would never reach. - Improved sales.
Building on #5, social not only helps drive more leads, but helps close more business. - Reduced marketing expenses.
There is a misconception that social media is free. In it’s more limited sense it could be free. But putting some time, resources and money behind it can greatly amplify your reach, engagement, and ROI. The great news though is that it’s still one of the most cost effective ways to reach your audience.
Contact Buffalo’s Social Media Marketing Experts
Looking to take your social media marketing to the next level? Contact the experts at BARQAR Marketing. With over 40 marketing professionals at your disposal, we will help you develop a strategic and cost-effective marketing strategy.