There’s no doubt that you understand and know how big of a deal social media is in this day and age. Social media usage grows in numbers on a daily basis. 

There are billions of people on social media that you can market to. 

Keeping your business active on social media helps your business build brand awareness and brand sentiment, measure brand sentiment, create a sense of community with your followers, sell products and services, advertise products and services and much more. 

From Facebook to YoutTube, there are dozens of popular platforms to grow your business on. 

When creating a social media strategy you need to also make sure you understand: 

1. Content: anything and everything that you post 
2. Context: making your post relevant to the consumer in a place they can see it
3. Hashtags: # → makes your content easier to discover
4. Shares: Engaging way for people to share your posts, blog, etc. 
5. Engagement: how people interact with your posts 

There is so much value in social media marketing and utilizing all platforms to make your business stand out.  

If your company does not see the need for social media marketing let us give you 8 reasons why your business needs to have a social media plan.

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CREATE BRAND RECOGNITION 

Creating brand recognition is one of the most marketing important goals your business should have online. Consumer’s like to buy from brands they recognize, know and trust. Using online platforms can get your brand in front of people faster and more widespread. Keep your logo placed strategically throughout your platforms so people see it often. Put it in the corner of your photos, in your profile, one blog post, etc etc. All visual elements of your brand need to be well represented. People will begin thinking about your brand, even when they aren’t looking at it. 

MORE INBOUND TRAFFIC

Without utilizing your social channels, your typical traffic would be limited to your regular customers. With social media you can expand your reach and inbound traffic to a greater spread of people. With more inbound traffic, you are building meaningful, lasting relationships with your customers. Social media platforms are a melting pot of a variety and diverse groups of people. By pushing your business on social media you can effectively open your business to a wider variety of consumers. 

TELL YOUR BRAND’S STORY 

Using social media is a great way to share your business’s mission, journey and story. Sharing your brand’s story with your consumers can create an effective impact on your brand and the way customers view your product or service. Share stories of people who use your product or service. Whether it is one story or multiple, they can be simple or extensive depending on what you think will be most effective toward engaging your audience. 

HIGHER CONVERSION RATES

A conversion rate records the percentage of users who have completed a desired action. They are calculated by taking the total of users who CONVERT (ex. Click on your advertisement) then divide it by the overall size of the audience and that is figured into a percentage. With increased visibility, your business can and will gain more opportunities for higher conversion rates. If you increase your postings of blogs, images, videos and even comments on other platforms, it will lead people back to your website. (Tip: Make sure your website and contact information is up to date on all of your platforms so your customers are lead to the right place online)  

Putting your brand in areas online where people can share, like, and talk about it, can only improve the conversion rates on your already existing traffic.

BETTER CUSTOMER SATISFACTION 

Networking and communicating with your customers online creates a sense of community with them. You are creating a voice for your company, which in turn allows your customers to interact with you. They will know that if they comment or share any of your posts, they will receive a personalized response rather than an automated message. Being attentive to your customers online provides customer satisfaction that sets you apart from your competitors. 

BUILDS CUSTOMER LOYALTY 

It costs zero money to post on social media. So what could be better than building customer loyalty for free? Consumers are constantly interacting with brands they love and use. 

“53% of Americans 12+ who follow brands in social media are more loyal to those brands.” — convinceandconvert.com 

If customers are following you, then most likely they are using your product or service. Loyal customers also increase traffic to your website as well. 

(Tip: Ask open ended questions to get engagement. Do giveaways that require the follower to share, like and comment on the post. Offer Facebook promo codes.) 

IT’S (mostly) FREE 

While traditional advertising has many benefits, it is not free. Whereas using social media is completely free. It costs you zero dollars to create social media profiles on different platforms and post organic content. If you’d like to go the extra mile and promote your posts further, paying for promotion will help increase exposure. Boosting posts are typically affordable as well. You can set your budget and go from there. There is also an option to stop the ad at any point if you don’t see any gains from it. 

INSTANT ENGAGEMENT 

Sometimes with advertising and marketing, it can take weeks for an ad to run. With social media your posts, ads, etc are instant with a click of a button. You can create and post as many times as you want. You can have the ability to share with your followers a sale or special event as soon you finalize plans, right at the tip of your fingertips. 

(TIP: Share business information, events, news blog posts, tips, ideas and coupons)