11 benefits of social media marketing

Social media is a great way to both consume and broadcast content. It can be used for taking inspiration from amazing digital marketing Instagram accounts, as well as sharing incredible digital PR campaigns to your followers. Read on for 11 ways that social media marketing can benefit your business.

1) Increased brand awareness

In January 2022, over 4.6 billion people used social media. So, if you’re not using social media to grow your business, think how much coverage you’re missing out on. Popular sports brands Nike has over 240 million followers. You might not go viral straight away, but high-quality, regular posts will slowly but surely grow your follower count. This will heighten brand awareness – especially if you’re producing sharable content. A winning social media strategy is the first step to raising awareness of your brand and appealing to new customers, so why wait?

2) Humanise your brand

Using social media to create a personable brand presence is a great way to build trust with your customers. An example of this is Duolingo’s clever approach to Tik Tok marketing. The brand utilises a friendly, humorous tone of voice to appeal to the platform’s audience, who are primarily Gen Z. It’s important to get your tone of voice spot on in order to best represent your brand’s priorities and values. This carries across really well on social media and humanises your brand, encouraging more positive opinions of your company.

3) Stay on your audience’s mind

A study done in 2021 found that 70% of Facebook users visit the social media platform daily, as well as 59% of Instagram and Snapchat users. What better way to target your audience than on an app they check every day? Some users even check social media multiple times a day, so you have many opportunities to make an impression.

4) More website traffic

Social media platforms can be used to promote all of your fantastic content. To boost traffic to new blog posts, promote uploaded articles on social media straight away for more exposure from different channels. Sites like Twitter and Facebook allow you to link to websites and articles in posts. Instagram is slightly different in that you can’t link to a website on your grid posts. However, there’s room for a link in your Instagram bio, plus the option to add clickable links on Instagram stories.

What makes social media better for reaching new people is hashtags. When users click on a hashtag and your link pops up, they might click it if it has relevant info. Therefore, you’re gaining traffic from users who aren’t necessarily followers of your brand.

5) Generate leads

Social media marketing is the most effective form of lead generation. There are lots of options to add contact information that can be accessed by the click of a button. This means it’s quick and easy for customers to input their information. Instagram also offers other call-to-action buttons, such as a booking system directly from your userpage. Not to mention, Facebook offers great lead generation opportunities – you can read some tips for Facebook lead generation here.

6) Influencer marketing

Partnering with influencers is a great way to receive recommendations from figures that your audience trust and respect. Video content by influencers on Tik Tok or YouTube is especially good for conversions, as lots of people actively search for product recommendations and reviews. They’ll often make a purchase directly after watching, so it’s a good idea to ask influencers to link directly to your product in the video description.

We’ve seen how Stranger Things smashed their marketing through brand collaborations – and you can do this too. Try reaching out to smaller brands or influencers for collaborations that will benefit you both. Not only is this method cost-effective, you can maximise your brand’s visibility and reputation. Sometimes, influencers might advertise your goods and services in exchange for a freebie, so be prepared to reward them for their efforts.

7) Try your hand at viral marketing

Going viral can make your business explode in unimaginable ways – but it’s a milestone that’s not always easy to achieve. When your content hits just the right note, there’s a chance it could explode across the internet, reaching millions of people. This exposure is great as lots of people will have the shared experience of viewing your content, so they’ll be more tempted to buy in order to fit in with their peers. If you want to take a shot at going worldwide, read our 7 steps to going viral.

8) Audience engagement

While social media and SEO can work together in your content and descriptions, there’s much more that social media can do. Replying to users’ comments, and even proactively commenting on their posts, is a great way to boost your visibility. We’ve seen a rise of this recently with brands’ Tik Tok accounts commenting on videos, but this can be used on other platforms too. If your social media account is engaging with your audience, it feels much less like talking to a brick wall for your customers. The last thing you want is to lose your audience, so it’s important to keep them engaged with regular content and interaction on socials.

9) Customer service

If a customer has a question or an issue with your service, it can be frustrating to communicate over email. Various brands have created social media accounts purely for customer support. This is seen often for clothing brands like Missguided and Zara, who have dedicated customer service accounts alongside their main business account. 75% of Twitter users have used the platform to engage with a brand, so you will undoubtedly benefit from having a strong Twitter presence. Don’t waste time – read our post about how to create a great business Twitter account.

10) Gain audience insights

Social media platforms often come with helpful analytics tools, especially if you have a business account. You’ll be able to see who is interacting with your posts, as well as what days and times your content is performing best. Not only this, most social media platforms will provide you with information about your followers’ age, gender, and general location, which makes marketing easier. Another benefit is that you can see which posts gain the most likes and shares on social media, which is a concrete way of knowing what content your audience is interested in.

11) See what your competitors are doing

An effective competitor analysis is key for any business, and social media is a useful tool for checking out your competition. Taking a look at what your competitors are up to on social media is crucial for keeping up to date with what’s going on in your industry.

A more unorthodox approach that dating app Thursday used was to directly mention their competitors in their promo – Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge. By calling out the big 3 names in the dating app business, Thursday created a disruptive and successful PR campaign.

Our social media marketing team has mastered strategies for any platform you could think of – from Pinterest to Tik Tok. Get in touch with us to discover how the right social media marketing can boost your business.

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