Lesson 2: What are the benefits of social media marketing?

The benefits of social media can be defined in many ways. This is because the value of social media is often evaluated from different perspectives. For example, say you have an e-commerce website. Your goal could be to increase hits to your site. So you decide to do SEO (increase ranking on organic search). There are a ton of search benefits from social media. Social sharing and back-links help increase ranks. Also, social media outlets can help increase hits to blogs and other relevant content you have.

But social media can do much more for you than just increase traffic. The key benefits of social media lies in relationship building. Relationships build trust and trust builds sales. Picture being able to talk with your customers one-on-one on a daily basis. Can you imagine the impact that would have? With social networks you have that opportunity.

The key is to know how to find the right people. Then understand their interests and problems. And bang, you add value.

Below is a sum of the main benefits you can expect to gain the from use of social media for your brand. LYFE Marketing, A Social Media Management Company, drives results like these for our clients all the time. And your business can too. All you have to do is put the time and thought into it.

1. Advanced Targeting: The exact audience that your business is targeting is on social media. You can find them based on what they are talking about and the data that is associated with their profiles. This is a huge advantage for brands with a niche or local market. Use social media as a way to find your customers and solve any needs or problems they may have. You will discover more tips on how to find your target audience in Lesson 3.

2. Direct Access to Customers: Social media allows you to connect with your target market, prospects, and customers at any time. In fact, some platforms allow you to import your contacts into your account to connect with them. You can use this as a way to instantly inform your customers on current promotions, special offers, new products, and more. And best of all its free. This is a great way to up sale your current base.

3. Brand Awareness – Social media allows you to market your business to thousands of people around the world at any moment. There is no limit to the demographic, location, or type of consumer that your brand can touch. Every time someone shares one of your post, your reach grows larger. For example, if your tweet gets shared by 20 people who average 500 followers, then up to 10,000 people have the ability to see your post! That’s pretty good.

4.Lower Advertising Cost – Let’s face it. It cost more to print flyers than to make a post on social media, making social media management pricing plans all the more cost-efficient. There are Facebook ad campaigns that reach more people than billboards. YouTube, which is the second largest search engine in the world, can be more cost efficient than network TV ads. Social media allows brands to be laser focused and spend less on advertising.

5. Increase Relationship Capital – For the first time in history, brands have the opportunity to build relationships online through social media. For brands on social media, it means to build a bond within the market you are targeting. People tend to buy from brands they know and trust. You must first look to connect with your customers on a personal level and look to sell lasts.

6. Unbiased Reviews on Brand, Product, or Service – Consumers today are leaving more online reviews than ever before. They will either show their love or hate for your product or service. Either way, it provides honest feedback for your brand to consider. Whether good or bad, by monitoring what is being said about your business is a great way to improve. Show your customers you care about them.

7. Build a Community – With social media you are able to build an entire community around your brand. Think about it like this. If there was a soft drink that tasted better than Coke, would it alarm them? Probably not. Why? Because Coke has an entire community of brand advocates. Coke has millions of people who support their brand every where. It would take years to win them over. Now, your brand has the opportunity to create that same sense of brand loyalty and community.

8. Word of Mouth: Social media can be a great tool to create massive word of mouth about your brand. Great content can go viral in reaching millions fast. Also, the right promotions and contests can get the word out pretty quick. For example, our client Clearon Bleach, a bleach product in Walmart, wanted to get more college students talking about their brand. To do so, they hosted a “Clearon Giveaway” in which they gave away a $50 gift card twice a month to the person who used the #ClearonGiveaway the most. The results were tremendous and they were able to reach over 75,000 people each giveaway. Below is an example of tweets from the exact audience Clearon was aiming to reach.

10. Increase Leads & Sales – Yes. Social media marketing can increase sales. It is your job to decide how. There are people who are tweeting right now about a specific need they have. Brands who engage with this audience daily may can convert leads. A percentage will turn into sales and the source will be apparent. Perhaps you have a great website, but you just need qualified traffic to convert them into sales. Social media can help generate the traffic you need.

Each benefit of social media described above are all different factors that play a role in your campaign results. But knowing the benefits of social media will not be enough. However, knowing allows you to plan for success. Now you can implement the right strategies for your business to reap the results you want.