Why is Social Media Marketing Important?

The Rise and Rise of Social Media

Social media is one of the most important innovations of the 21^st century. Today, social media is an indispensable part of our daily lives. The social media has transformed the world into a small global village because of the way it has impacted communication and exchange of information globally.[i] Despite its potential, there were initial doubts about the viability of social media. These doubts were more pronounced among the business community.[ii] With time, business organizations were able to overcome their fears something that culminated in widespread adoption of social media as part of the outreach strategy. There is no longer debate about the importance of businesses having strong online presence and incorporating social media marketing in their marketing plans. The use of social media in marketing peaked during the Covid-19 pandemic.[iii] Social media marketing became one of the most efficient ways for businesses to promote and sell their products. Experts predict that this is the new normal meaning that social media will continue to play a critical role in marketing for business organizations.

10 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Important for Your Business

1. Tell Your Story in Your Own Words

Paul Ryan, the former Speaker of the US House of Representatives, famously stated that “Behind every small business, there is a story worth knowing”. This quote is true to every business venture, whether small or big. There is a reason as to why you as the business owner started offering the products and services that you sell. Some stories are personal and can only be told to those that you have connected with at a personal level. Social media platforms provide a perfect opportunity to interact with your audience and get to tell your story.

2. Build Your Brand Awareness

The business environment is increasingly becoming competitive. This means that it is easy for brands to fizzle out in popularity. It is therefore essential for businesses to expand their brand reach by targeting new audiences. Social media marketing can help your business to not only create your brand awareness but also expand it.

3. Know About Your Competitors

Any marketing strategy is incomplete without competitive analysis. It is through competitive analysis that entrepreneurs are able to know what their competitors are offering and then strategize to offer better products, services and experience to their customers. Social media presents you a chance to learn more about your competitors by viewing their public social media profiles.

4. Implement Social Listening

Social media listening helps you understand what is being said about your business, product or service on the internet. [iv]Social listening is important because it helps you to assess the reputation of your business, product or service. Social media gives candid feedback that you need to leverage your strengths and improve on your weaknesses.

5. Build a Community of Followers

Social media population is immense and is growing by each day. Businesses can create a stable following across social media platforms. The followers in turn have their network of followers. This means that any information about your business, product or service that they share will reach new audiences. Your social media followers will form your core customer base.

6. Generate Qualified Leads

Unlike traditional marketing campaigns where target audiences may never be interested in the product that you are promoting, your social media posts have great potential of reaching potential customers. Your social media followers and users who engage with your content are indications of interest in your products or services. They therefore make a qualified demographic and this can lead to increased sales. This is perhaps the greatest importance of social media marketing and the reason as to why you should embrace it.  

7. Learn More About Your Customer’s Behaviour

There is no better way of learning more about your customers’ behavioural patterns than on social media. Social media platforms enable you to gather information about tastes, preferences and interests of your target audience. This is important because it helps you to craft a more effective marketing strategy to attract the potential customers.

8. Evaluate Performance of Your Marketing Plan

Social media networks have tools that can help you track the performance of your content. This can help you understand the products and services that are popular by looking at the level of engagement and reach.

9. Budget Can Start Off Low

There is no doubt that social media engagement and reach is wide. Other forms of digital marketing would require huge budgets to replicate the performance of your social media marketing. Social media marketing waives the need to sell ads and use ad tools to promote your products and market your brand. All that is needed is consistency and strategy in posting. For this reason, the budget of social media marketing is usually minimal and this is an advantage you simply cannot ignore.  

10. Increase Your Profit Margins

Effective social media marketing can reach thousands of customers and attract thousands of potential customers at the same time something that can translate to increased sales. You can achieve this without spending anything on advertisement. The fact that social media marketing budget is minimal as compared to returns on investment is good news to the profitability of your business.

We Know Social Media

If you want to leverage the opportunities presented by social media marketing and attract new customers while maintaining your existing customers, feel free to contact us for an obligation free chat. Our passionate social media team has all it takes to formulate a successful social media marketing strategy for your business.

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[i] Elham Khalid, ‘The role of social media in health and scientific awareness’ Dentistry and Craniofacial Research. (2018). Available at https://www.imedpub.com/proceedings/the-role-of-social-media-in-health-and-scientific-awareness-4563.html

[ii] Alyssa Gregory, ‘Top 4 reasons why companies are scared of social media’.(2009)  Sitepoint. Available at https://www.sitepoint.com/why-companies-are-scared-of-social-media/

[iii] Andrew Mason, John Narcum and Kevin Mason, ‘Social media marketing gains importance after Covid-19’. Cogent Business & Management, vol 8, Issue 1, 2021.

[iv] Ben Lutkevich and Sue Hildreth, ‘Social listening (social media listening). Tech Target. (2022). Available at https://www.techtarget.com/searchcustomerexperience/definition/social-media-listening