Wondering why social media marketing is important for every business?
There are thousands of ways to market your business, but there are only a select few that are effective.
What’s the point of spending advertising dollars for years on end if it’s not giving you revenue in return, right?
On the highest level, you may have noticed a shift in how businesses advertise from traditional to online marketing.
Online marketing offers a lot of capabilities that traditional marketing methods such as billboards, TV commercials.
And, others simply can’t provide due to their nature.
Out of all the online marketing platforms, social media is by far one of the top-performing outlets to gain traction for your business!
You may be wondering, why social media marketing?
There are many reasons as to why social media marketing…
…is the #1 channel online to market your small business – 50 in fact!
And we’re going to share all of them today.
The sheer volume of social media users alone sets it apart…
…from traditional marketing methods.
3.03 billion people are active social media users.
Check out some of these platform user numbers to see which…
…social media channels have the highest number of users!
Unlike some of the older marketing methods, like newspapers.
For example, social media is continuing to grow.
Social media users grew by 121 million between the second and third quarters of 2017.
That means there is a new social media user every 15 seconds!
Knowing that your marketing outlet is growing gives you peace of mind when investing in it.
You can rest assured that it is more than likely not disappearing anytime soon.
Therefore, you can trust that your ad dollars spent and time invested will be for nothing and will stretch far.
Not only are there billions of users on social media, but your business has access to them!
Social media provides a direct line of communication for them to speak with you and vice versa!
What other traditional or modern-day marketing methods give you the capacity to instantly reach your target market…
…from all over the globe and communicate with them?
This connection is key to growing your brand and capitalizing on the benefits of social media.
When we talk about having a direct line with social media users, we don’t just mean the ability to speak with them.
Social media users can follow your brand’s profile on any given social media account.
And they will continue to see your posts and updates from then onward.
This allows your brand to consistently stay in front of your target market.
5. Follower growth can actually help grow your business
If you conduct follower growth methods correctly.
Then you’ll be building a following of targeting users who are likely to show interest in your services or products!
This is where followers become more than just a vanity metric.
Whether it’s a direct conversion or word-of-mouth brand awareness.
There is value held in building a strong following, and it’s one of the many reasons why social media marketing is different from other channels!
When people first learn of a brand or business that they are interested in.
One of the very first things they do is either look up your website or look up your social media accounts.
This is why social media marketing is so crucial to maintain! When someone clicks over to your Instagram feed, are they going to be inspired?
Is your Twitter page going to have enough insightful information or wit to make them want to hit “follow”?
Or are they going to leave without taking any action because it is bare and outdated?
Keeping your social media up to date and in line with your branding allows followers to understand exactly who you are and what you’re all about.
7. Build a relationship with your followers
Remember when we said followers are no longer a vanity metric? We meant it!
Outside of obvious results that come through such as direct sales or conversions, social media follower growth allows you to build a relationship with your followers…
…and this may be more important in the long run than immediate sales!
If you have 10,000 followers, for example, you also have the friends and families of those 10,000 people that…
…could be receiving personal recommendations of your company from their loved ones who follow you.
Word-of-mouth referrals are priceless when it comes to the growth of a small business, and a strong following encourages that.
8. Establish trust between your company and customers
When you build a relationship with your followers, you build trust with them.
Sharing live, current updates about your business and industry on your social media accounts allow your following to feel like they know your brand well.
It’s the transparent (and instant) back-and-forth accessibility that shows why social media marketing is so different from other channels!
With social media, you’ll get the chance to talk directly to current and prospective customers. You can create a voice and improve your brand image.
You see, customers are more appreciative of a brand if the reply they get is not an automated one.
Take the time to read their comments or questions and send a personalized reply.
A personal message from a brand they follow will surely come a long way.
When you’re transparent with your followers, they are more apt to trust you and ultimately buy from you.
Plus, building trust with your followers is an easy way to make repeat customers out of them in the long run!
9. Learn more about your target audience
Whether you’re a new startup or a seasoned business, there’s always more to learn about your target audience!
It’s important to remember that your target market is not just “male or female ages 24-55.”
They are real human beings that have feelings and likes, and they’re showing exactly what those “likes” are on social media!
Social media allows you to learn more about what kind of content they like to see and ultimately what kind of service or product they want to buy!
While we’re on the topic of likes, let’s talk about what engagement can do for your business!
When you have an effective social media content strategy, people are more likely to remember you (and ultimately buy from you) if they engage with you.
And when they do engage, it makes your content more likely to show up in other people’s search feed and newsfeed, causing even more growth.
One feature that social media possesses that other channels don’t is the hashtag.
Hashtags are clickable, searchable words that you can incorporate in your social media post either in the caption or comment section.
If you own a pet store, you can use hashtags like #puppiesforsale #poodles, etc. to get more relevant eyeballs on your content and brand.
Hashtags have made it easier than ever to quickly search and find content on a certain topic.
And, it’s one of the reasons why social media marketing is known for “viral content.”
“Going viral” is a term almost exclusively associated with social media. And it means your post has gained excessive attention on social media, fast!
You may think viral content is only for high school meme accounts, but you’re wrong.
One of the first posts we published for one of our clients went viral, putting them on the map in their industry almost instantaneously (see below).
Over 3 million people reached, over 1.7 million video views, and almost 40K social engagements, all from one post;
Is your brand getting that kind of exposure with one post?
13. People remember 80% of what they see
A lot of social media accounts are visually heavy, especially platforms like Instagram and Pinterest.
This benefits you because consumers remember more of what they see as opposed to what they read or hear!
14. Facebook now sees 8 billion average daily video views from 500 million users
The fact that people remember more of what they see probably plays a part in why videos perform better than static images on social media…
…and why social media marketing continues to grow.
In fact, Facebook now sees 8 billion average daily video views from 500 million users; is your video one of them?
15. There are platforms for all target audiences no matter the age
Skeptical that your target market won’t be on social media?
Depending on the gender and age of your target market, they’re definitely more likely to be on certain social media channels than others.
Check out the chart below to see where your target audience falls.
Whether you’re utilizing organic or paid social media marketing efforts, it’s still one of the cheapest ways to grow your website traffic.
And what’s more is if you’re doing it correctly, it means you’re growing relevant and targeted website traffic!
17. It doesn’t just stop at traffic; we’re going for conversions!
Social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest.
And, more have advertising platforms that allow you to send traffic to your site to increase conversions!
Facebook and Instagram specifically have ad campaigns called “Conversion Campaigns” that target people within your target audience…
…who are likely to convert, not just likely to click.
This may sound redundant, but you’d be surprised at how many marketing outlets say they’re “increasing conversions” without any valid, trackable proof.
When you set up all of your tracking pixels correctly, you can track exactly how many sales came from your social media ads.
This is key when looking at your ads to know where you should invest more of your money and where you should drawback.
19. You can track other parts of the sales funnel leading up to sales
What’s equally important to tracking sales is tracking everything that leads up to it.
For example, if you’re sending traffic to a landing page to capture emails.
You can track how many people clicked to the landing page but didn’t fill out the form.
This allows you to segment your audience and send different audiences the appropriate ads.
It also lets you see may be where people are falling out of your sales funnel, allowing you to strengthen your marketing efforts where needed.
So far we’ve talked about a lot of the capabilities and opportunities of social media.
But we also want to reassure you that real results come from these functions.
Take a look at our clients’ results on how social media increase sales for starters.
It’s not all talk; real small businesses are making real results through social media!
The world of social media involves many different platforms.
We usually advise making your brand present on as many as you feel your target market is on.
Each platform offers different functions, tools, and features that make it a different experience for the user, and it gives you the chance to reach…
…any and all of your target audience that is active on social media!
In fact, let’s start diving into some of the different advantages of the various platforms.
22. Facebook adds 500,000 new users every day
As you may have noticed from the first graphic in this article, Facebook is the largest social media platform out there.
So it should come as no surprise that it’s one of the fastest-growing too!
To put it in perspective, 6 new Facebook profiles are made every second on average.
23. 76% of Facebook users check it every day
As if the sheer user volume of Facebook wasn’t enough, we’re not just talking about bare, un-used accounts! 76% of Facebook users check it every day.
That means at least roughly 1.57 billion people are checking Facebook every day with the chance of seeing your brand too.
24. There are 60 million active business pages on Facebook
If you’re a small business and you do not have a Facebook business page, you’re missing out!
There are 60 million active business pages on Facebook because it’s effective and helps them reach their customer base and grow their business.
One of Facebook’s strong points is that it is used by hundreds of thousands of third-party websites, apps.
And, more as a simple login method for consumers.
It’s an easy alternative to creating an account with the traditional email and password login;
Users can now just use their Facebook account to login, and 53.1% do!
All of this data is trackable, and it helps Facebook (and therefore you as an advertiser) understand more about your target audience.
26. There are 800 million monthly active users on Instagram
Instagram is owned by Facebook, so it only makes sense that Instagram is also one of the faster-growing platforms!
There are currently 800 million monthly active users on Instagram.
Giving you a whole separate platform to reach customers you may not be reached on Facebook or other channels.
27. Over ⅓ of Instagram Users Have Used The App To Purchase A Product Online
This one is a big one! Over ⅓ of Instagram users have used the app to purchase a product online.
This reassures us that people aren’t just using social media to like photos of their mom’s cat.
They’re on social channels engaging with brands and making purchasing decisions.
28. There are 4.2 billion Instagram Likes per day
Speaking of engaging with brands on Instagram, there are specifically 4.2 billion Instagram likes per day, and you’re missing out…
…if your company isn’t accounting for some of them!
Instagram likes also specifically get saved in a user’s settings under “Posts You’ve Liked.”
So, every time your post receives alike, your post is getting saved to that person’s gallery of liked photos to remember later.
29. Over 95 million photos are uploaded to Instagram each day
Instagram is continuing to grow, and it isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
Over 95 million photos are uploaded to Instagram a day; this contributes not only to the growth of the platform but to the growth of small businesses!
Many Instagram users post about products they’ve tried and tag the company.
Your customer’s image uploads are just as important as yours, especially if they are tagging your company too.
30. 90% of Instagram users are younger than 35
If your target market is under 35, then Instagram is probably the best platform for you to invest in.
Recent studies are showing that younger generations are harder to market to because they’ve grown up with advertisements and are immune to them.
Reaching them organically on a platform they like to use is slowly becoming the best way to market to them.
31. There is a total of 330 million Twitter accounts
Moving on to Twitter, we can say that Twitter is making a bit of a comeback from its expected downfall a few years back!
Twitter is great for businesses that can or need to provide live updates.
Unlike Instagram, Twitter does not require an image to publish, but you still can, and it helps engagement!
32. 500 million people visit Twitter each month without logging in
That’s right, the 330 million Twitter accounts we just mentioned previously don’t even include the 500 million people who scroll through…
…Twitter each month without logging into an account.
A person from either one of these two groups has the opportunity of seeing your brand and tweets on Twitter.
33. There are 500 million Tweets sent each day
There are 500 million Tweets sent every day; that’s 6,000 Tweets every second.
This proves that Twitter is still a relevant, active platform that initiates conversations your business can be a part of!
34. 65.8% of US companies with 100+ employees use Twitter for marketing
Twitter marketing for small to mid-sized businesses can help you generate more brand awareness for your business and ultimately your sales!
Searching through relevant hashtags related to your business can help you find and engage with people in need of your services!
35. 77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand when their Tweet has been replied to
Twitter may rank as one of the top social media channels when it comes to instant and direct communication between brands and consumers.
Whether you’re solving a customer complaint or engaging your customers with fun, humorous tweets.
77% of Twitter users feel more positive about a brand after they’ve been responded to on Twitter.
Wendy’s is notorious for their wit and dry humor in their tweet responses!
36. Pinterest has 200 million active users each month
If your target market consists majorly of females, or artistic, creative people, you may find them among the 200 million active Pinterest users.
37. LinkedIn has 500 million members
LinkedIn is great for B2B companies, and their pool of 500 million members makes them one of the largest social media platforms for that specific niche.
38. Over 3 million companies have created LinkedIn accounts
While over 3 million companies have created LinkedIn accounts, only 17% of US small businesses use LinkedIn.
This gives you room to start growing and advertising in an otherwise unsaturated market.
39. Snapchat has 187 million active daily users
Snapchat is one of the newer social media platforms, but that hasn’t stopped its popularity.
While Snapchat and Instagram rival each other over similar functions.
Snapchat still has 187 million active daily users and is great for reaching younger audiences.
40. People now watch 1 billion hours of YouTube videos every day
Remember when we said videos are the most engaging forms of content on social media?
This is why actively promoting your videos on YouTube has a strong advantage!
With 1 billion hours of YouTube videos watched every day, you can trust that your business has a chance of getting noticed.
Especially if you put some advertising dollars behind it.
41. More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices
No longer do you have to be stationed in front of TV, desktop or even laptop to watch videos.
Consumers can be watching your videos on a subway train from their phone, and convenience is key…
..when making your customer base take the desired action.
42. YouTube is owned by Google
Because YouTube is owned by Google, you have access to the extended capabilities of Google in terms of ad campaign set up…
…and targeting options paired with the innate benefits of social media.
43. Increase event attendance
We understand that not all end-goals can be realized online, such as event attendance.
Which is why social media marketing is so important to help you raise awareness for these events.
Or, even capture RSVPs if you run the right ad campaign!
44. Retarget your website traffic
If you’ve performed any effective marketing for your business, you know retargeting is key to closing consumers who didn’t convert upon the first click!
Why social media marketing is so important is because you can retarget website traffic who may or may not have initially come from social media.
But you can re-grab their attention on social media nonetheless to get them back in your sales funnel.
45. Retarget your email subscribers
You can also retarget your email subscribers on social media to help stay in front of them on your social media accounts.
Not just in your email marketing efforts.
46. Make a lookalike audience out of your email list
Facebook and Instagram also allow you to create a lookalike audience of your customer email list; this is where…
…Facebook finds brand new users for you to advertise to who “look like” your existing customer base based on behaviors and similarities Facebook sees!
All of the engagement and video views we’ve talked about so far in this blog can also be retargeted.
This is why social media marketing is set apart from other channels; you can exclusively retarget your social engagement to capitalize on it.
48. Utilize dynamic retargeting
If you have e-commerce on your site, you’ll definitely want to invest in dynamic retargeting on social media!
This is where your ads are automated based on which products clicked on on your site.
It will show them that specific product again, and you usually see high conversion rates at a low cost on these ads.
Yes, you read that right! While many social media marketing results can be realized online.
You’ll also see that brand awareness comes full circle in generating more in-store traffic as well!
If you build your big-picture marketing strategy right, all of the efforts should work together, and that includes social media efforts.
For example, social media can be used to build email lists to fuel your email marketing campaign and so much more!
So while social media has a lot of its own rewards to reap, make sure you’re capitalizing on its ability to fortify your other channels.
Conclusion
Those are the top 50 reasons why social media marketing is the #1 channel to market your small business!
Schedule a meeting today to manage your social media marketing efforts!
