We’re well into 2019, and the world is going in a very digital direction. With almost 50% of the population using social media every single day or 3.2 billion of us, companies cannot ignore the staggering significance of using these platforms to reach their audience. Gaining a social advantage is becoming a challenge for more brands, since competition is fierce, and digital relevance is becoming more complex by the minute. Some companies simply steer clear of social precisely because they feel they could never compete with the veterans in their industry, while others fail to keep up with the times as new trends to need social media and to evolve and shape customer behaviors.
No matter how small your business may be, you need to have a sterling social presence in order to stay relevant, communicate your brand messages to your target audience, and to grow.
However, if that is not enough to get you started, here are more thorough explanations of the many perks to nudge you towards a more structured social media approach and the benefits that you can expect from your efforts.
A stronger emotional bond with your audience
Social networks were invented as a way for us to stay in touch with our loved ones, keep an eye on the news from all over the world, and share our interests.
However, their original purpose aside, they have greatly evolved to include business-friendly features that offer benefits to all parties involved.
When you’re able to “follow” your favorite shoe brand, you’re more likely to come across relevant discounts, buy online as well as offline, and even communicate directly with the brand.
This opportunity to increase brand-customer interaction has inspired many people to truly love their favorite brands. As you post content pieces and news from your company on your efforts to make a difference in your community, your followers can react, comment, and share those bits of wisdom, expanding your exposure and feeling closer to your business.
Direct messaging, customer-generated content, contests, and giveaways on social networks are all brilliant and simple ways to inspire a stronger emotional bond between your business and your audience.
Vital data for all of your other strategies
Social networks are treasure troves of information. You can get to know your ideal customer much better, learn about their preferences, measure the progress of each individual connection you make, and recognize patterns in their likes/comments to tweak your content strategy and all other marketing and branding efforts to ensure greater success.
To make use of all of that data, using platforms such as media portal is necessary in order to collect and analyze relevant information, and track the impact of each campaign you create.
Integrating all of your social network efforts into a single, seamless environment means that you’ll also be able to spot opportunities such as influencer relationships or potential risks to prevent reputation damage.
A unified portal is indeed a key piece of the social media puzzle for small companies that need to allocate their resources to their most essential processes, while you leave these segments of your marketing to reputable digital tools.
More website visits and higher conversions
Social networks have a myriad of free and very affordable solutions that will ultimately increase your website traffic, which in turn has the potential to grow your conversion rates.
These platforms are chock-full of leads that are as good as qualified, and upon making sure you’re really getting more visibility in front of your most qualified leads, you can offer a link directly to your website through social media.
Paid adds alongside engaging content can truly harness the full potential of your social media presence. You, of course, need to strike that fine balance between the two so that you can reap the rewards of both that are specific to your brand.
Some companies rely almost solely on organic content posting, while others invest heavily in paid ads to get more visibility. Just make sure that your posts aren’t too promotional in nature, even if you do regularly add website links to your posts because even leading them to an educational blog on your site can inspire them to make a purchase when they’re ready!
Increased visibility and word-of-mouth
We’ve already mentioned influencers and using digital tools to collect data that will help you find and connect with the influencers that matter in your niche.
No matter how small your business may be, rest assured that nurturing a relationship with an influencer takes time, but it can bring immeasurable benefits to your brand. From improving your reputation and recognition, all the way to expanding your reach to thousands of followers that can become your customers, social networks are indeed ideal for digital networking.
Finally, this growth in terms of visibility and reach will help you generate genuine word of mouth. If your influencers truly trust your brand and use your products, odds are that you’ll become interesting to many of their followers as well.
This turns into a chain reaction of recommendations and reviews that naturally lead back to your business and help you have a much more impactful marketing strategy.
Social media is certainly here to stay and small businesses need to step up their game in order to make the most of their digital presence. After all, digital brands that strive to reach their audience can benefit from these extremely versatile platforms, so it’s time to start investing more time and creativity in your social strategy!