Social Media Marketing - Advantages
The advantages of Social media marketing are manifold as more & more people are spending time on social media, which makes this platform a perfect place for businesses to reach out to potential customers. Before jumping on the bandwagon it is recommended that one has a full understanding of the various social media platforms & how they can help to grow your business online.
The first step is to understand how Social media marketing can help the business to grow.
1) Advantages for Small Business
If you are a small business in the launch stage, it is imperative for people to know about your business without which you cannot expect sales.
The various benefits of social media vis- a – vis traditional marketing channels are –
- Cost – Social media marketing is much more affordable as compared to the traditional channels. That makes it easier to promote the business as decision-making is quicker,
- Audience Selection – The specific target audience can be chosen based on demography, interest or behavior. The message can be communicated directly to the end customer which helps in better conversion hence better ROI. The audience selection can be very specific ie if you want only i phone users or people who have birthdays in that particular month, the audience can be selected accordingly.
- Control with user – In social media, the control for choosing the copy, running the ad the time period etc is with the user.
- Easily rectified, edited & customized – In case a copy is not working or there is an error, the copy can be rectified, edited & customized which is normally not possible through traditional channel
5. Accurate Metrics – You can measure the exact reach, impressions, views, engagement rate, ROI, with social media marketing which was not possible with traditional marketing as the arudience size was too large & could not be customized as per the desired target audience
6. Learning curve – Based on earlier campaign’s performance, audience selection, you can develop a learning curve which will help you to design better future campaigns
7. Brand Awareness – Social media marketing efforts help establish your brand. Sustained posting with a consistent message in line with the Unique Selling Proposition helps in brand awareness over a period of time.
8. Trust – Persistent presence on the social media platforms & interaction with users through comments & shares ensures that the brand is real & exists which in turn creates a trust factor to help the buyer proceed to the next step in the buyer’s journey. Client reviews on social media also help in building the trust factor which is one of the main ingredients to be successful online.
9. Sales – The ultimate goal of any business is sales & it can be achieved directly through social media marketing channels.
2) Advantages for Large Business Houses
The role of social media for large business houses cannot be underestimated-
For large Corporate houses with already established brand image the advantages of social media marketing are –
a) Brand recall & retargeting- To be visible & to reinforce the brand image, social media is being used by all major brands. Though bigger brands might already be having a brand image, to promote it further & ensure that it does not lose its edge, big brands resort to advertising, paid promotions for social media presence.
b) Thought leadership – Thought leadership is to be an expert in a particular field & be so passionate about it that people would get inspired & follow you. This could include the Company’s vision that drives the whole organization. Some examples include excellence in engineering- BMW, innovation – eg Apple, working for the good of mankind eg Tata etc. Thought leadership strengthens trust, builds credibility, boosts industry presence & helps in brand building
c) Customer Service – Social media is used as a part of customer service by answering the queries or complaints of customers responsibly so that they gain trust while buying your products. Also they come to know that the brand is easily accessible & responsive & will look into their concerns
d) Loyalty Building – Loyalty building can be done by sharing User generated content of reviews & testimonials which makes the brand more trustworthy.
e) Public Relations – Both PR & social media are part of communication from a brand & social media marketing amplifies the message as it is real time and makes the Public relations more impactful & strong. The brand related news releases, e- mails etc have a much wider reach when conveyed through social media platforms.
f) Conversions – If you are looking for leads or sales, social media can help you through paid ad campaigns to reach the target audience & get their details for further processing through forms, webinars etc.
The various Social Media Platforms available depending on the type of business are –
In all the above platforms the content type varies based on format – images, video, audio visual, only audio , time setting -youtube shorts, instagram reels, youtube channels etc.
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Anuradha Dutta
Maple Leaf Digital Solutions