Typically, a small business enterprise has to be cost-conscious when it comes to investing in marketing strategies. When having a limited marketing budget, it is vital to spend it wisely to get the most out of your money.

Marketing using social media platforms is one of the most cost-effective and versatile strategies that a small business can adopt to reach the target audience and boost engagement and sales over time. You can work with a social media marketing company to grow your small business online presence. About 97% of professionals use social media to reach their audience; you can also harness social media’s power.

There are plenty of social media marketing services that you can choose from depending on your requirements.

You must have heard countless times that social media is excellent for marketing, but why? Here are the top reasons why using social media for marketing is essential for a small business.

Your customers are on social media

The most crucial reason for a small business to be marketing via social media is that their customers spend a significant amount of time on these platforms. According to Statista, about 70 percent of the US population use at least one social media platform. In the coming years, the number of global social media users will reach 3.1 billion people.

With this many people using social media every day, it is a perfect opportunity for small business to reach their online audience.

According to studies, about 59% of people visit social media sites every day or most days, and over a third of them check social media over five times a day. It means that not only are your potential customers are there, but there is also a significant chance that they are visiting these social platforms every day.

Connecting with your target audience can become easy if you use the same platform they are using. With the help of social media, you don’t wait for the audience to come to you. Instead, you go to them. If you aren’t using social media, you could be missing out on an excellent opportunity to connect with potential customers and engage new leads.

Consumers tend to be more receptive to brand messages when receiving them through social media

People use social media platforms because they offer a fun and easy way to connect with family and friends and stay connected with what’s happening globally.

Usually, people don’t join social media to look at ads and marketing material from brands. However, it doesn’t mean that they don’t follow and interact with their favorite brands on social media.

According to a study by MarketingSherpa, about 95 percent of adults aged 18 to 34 tend to follow brands. They follow a brand only because they find the information and content in the social media campaigns valuable. Whether they are looking for discounts, enjoying entertaining content, or learning more about the brand, people using social media are more likely to engage with brands.

Social media allow you to show a different side of your brand by being more conversational. It is the reason why people on these platforms are more receptive to your brand messages. The content published on these channels contributes significantly to your brand’s identity and personality, helping you demonstrate your brand voice.

You can make substantial connections with your customers and leads using these channels, rather than only delivering direct marketing messages. It is something that makes people more responsive.

It is not out of the ordinary to find customers and companies discussing an issue or concern about the brand on Twitter, or many bumping into some brands’ Q&A session on Instagram Stories. Marketers use social platforms to get to know their customers and audience better in a more personal way.

Social media marketing help increase brand recognition

Marketing through social media can help improve your brand’s visibility, thus increasing recognition. Your business’s social media handle presents new opportunities to share your message and bring forth your brand’s voice and personality.

You can make your brand more accessible and familiar with new leads and current customers by posting compelling content that can add value to your target audience.

For instance, if a new lead discovers your brand on social media, they may not have heard about your company before, but they must learn more about your brand and the value you provide through the content. The same applies to your current customers. After glancing at your social media content, existing customers should become better acquainted with your business. All this can increase their interest in a repeat purchase.

Marketing via social media help increase inbound traffic

A brand’s social media profile provides yet another way to get more inbound traffic to the website. It makes marketing via social media an excellent strategy to complement your SEO efforts. Every post on social media increases the opportunity of bringing new visitors to your website. Once someone arrives at your site, you will have an excellent opportunity to convert.

It is essential to consistently publish engaging content that adds value if you want to get the most inbound traffic possible. The more quality content your post on social media, the better opportunities you will have to generate new leads and direct them to your website. If you have optimized your website for conversions, then it is a matter of time before these leads start to convert into customers.

Various social media platforms help your business reach a specific audience

Another benefit of social media marketing is that it can help you strategically target different audiences based on the platform on which your brand is active. Instead of just putting your marketing messages out for everyone to see, you can tailor them to a specific audience and work to drive more qualified leads to your site.

List your audience demographic values; the more detailed it is, the better. It can include gender, age, location, interest, hobbies, etc. Knowing these things about your audience will give you a better idea of which social media channel to use to reach them. It will also help you create content that will engage your audience, increasing your chances for conversions. The more relevant traffic, your chances of boosting conversion rates will increase significantly.

It doesn’t matter who you are trying to reach; you will find your audience on various popular social media channels.

The crucial thing to making the most of your social media marketing is choosing the platforms to invest your time, money, and effort.

Social media adverts let you target and retarget ideal customers

While they require an upfront investment, social media advertises can significantly complement the organic campaigns you might be running on your social media pages.

Social media platforms like Facebook have such sophisticated targeting capabilities that it becomes a no-hassle job to drive more relevant traffic and leads to your website. Focusing your effects on a well-targeted group is the best way to get the most out of your marketing budget.

Facebook ads let you identify new and potential leads by defining your ideal customers via the ads platform. Facebook will only serve your ads to people who have exhibited the behavior that matches your ideal customer. With this level of control over who can see your ads, the quality of your website traffic will surely increase, and so will your conversions.

Social media marketing is cost-effective

Using social media is the most cost-effective way of doing marketing without sacrificing results. Most social media results come from investing time in creating and publishing content and having conversations with your followers; only a small percentage comes from your promoted (paid) posts.

According to a HubSpot study, 84 percent of marketers registered increased traffic by putting only six hours of effort on social media every week.

Even if you plan on using social media advertising as a significant part of your overall social media marketing strategy, you will find that social media marketing is cost-effective. Depending on your campaign’s scope and goals, it is relatively economical to run paid ads on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Despite budgetary limitations, you will still effectively use these platforms to reach and convert new leads.

Marketing through social media can help improve your search engine ranking

If you are operating an online business, then you know about the importance of search engine optimization. It wouldn’t be incorrect to say that you are already focusing on improving your SEO. It is also crucial to know that search engines use social media presence as a ranking factor.

Successful brands typically maintain a healthy social media presence. So, a strong social media presence can work as a signal to search engines that your brand is trustworthy, credible, and valuable. Though the search engines are continually changing the ranking factors, it is safe to say that having an active social media presence will only help your brand’s organic reach.

Not only does the social media presence impact your search engine ranking, but it is also vital to note that your social profile is most likely to show up on Google’s first page when people look for your brand. If they find your social media profile to be inactive upon clicking, they might decide to check out your competitor. It is vital to consistently publish engaging content on your social media and check your profile details periodically to make sure nothing is outdated.

Your competitors are on social media

Regardless of your industry or your target market, there is a significant chance that you will find your competitor already using social media. It shows that there are ample opportunities for your brand to grow on these platforms. However, it also suggests that your potential customers might already be talking and interacting with the competition.

It is vital to start working towards building a social media presence if you want to remain competitive in the online space. Social media allows a business to show their personality and present a useful outlet for demonstrating industry expertise and knowledge.

You need to post better content than your competitor to attract more relevant online traffic.

Social media marketing results in increased conversion rates

According to a HubSpot study, social media has a 100 percent higher lead-to-close rate than marketing tactics. Every social media post and interaction can generate a lead allowing you to convert an interested person into a happy customer.

Through social media, you can build a reputation among your leads and customers and regularly post valuable content. It will help you improve trust and credibility, leading to more conversions.

One of the vital social media elements that result in more conversations is presenting a more human component of your brand. Because social media is a platform for people to socialize, brands can also show their human side via light and often conversational content, which allows a company to show its personality, humor, and warmth.

Marketing via social media help improve brand loyalty

Though big companies can afford to build expensive customer loyalty programs, small businesses rely on more affordable methods for aspiring brand loyalty.

Social media can be an effective way of building fruitful relationships with customers and leads that result in greater customer satisfaction and loyalty over time.

A study by Texas Tech University shows that brands that engage with their current customers and target audience on social platforms enjoy higher customer loyalty.

Engaging with your current and potential customers on social media let you build a strong customer relationship. This tactic can also set you apart from your competitors by showing the audience how your brand is different, reinforcing that you care about your customers.

By interacting with your audience via valuable, compelling content and conversations, you can turn a happy customer into a vocal advocate for your brand.

Customers look for recommendation on social media

Word of mouth marketing is one of the most powerful tools any company can have in its marketing toolbox. Not only is it free, but it plays a more significant role in building trust with potential customers. In practice, social media has emerged as a new outlet for the word of mouth marketing.

Brands new encourage their customers to leave reviews on social media platforms, recommend it to their friends and family on social media, or provide testimonials.

There is a good reason for it; customers usually prefer to buy from brands with good recommendations. The recommendation need not necessarily come from a friend or family member or co-workers. People are as likely to trust online reviews as a personal recommendation.

The data also suggest that customers are actively looking for recommendations on social media, and it can significantly impact their buying behavior. It makes it more critical to actively encourage your customers to leave reviews on social media and recommend your products to others.

In this way, social media can generate valuable word of mouth publicity that helps increase sales.

Social media help your brand connect with consumers you don’t know existed

Most companies rely on SEO and PPC ad traffic to generate new leads. However, social media marketing can also be an excellent way of bringing in new customers.

From what you have read so far, it is clear that social reviews and recommendations go a long way in helping a brand connect with customers you didn’t even know existed. However, there are more ways to use social media to tap into new markets.

One such tactic to find new market opportunities via social media is called social listening. You can do this by following specific keywords and checking trending topics in your industry. It will show you who is participating in these conversations. It can provide you new leads and opportunities while also exposing you to industry influencers.

Social media marketing can also improve your brand authority

Using social media as a marketing tool will help you build authority for your brand. It is an essential part of effectively positioning your brand as a market leader. If you share valuable content on social media, you will get opportunities to demonstrate your expertise to potential customers.

It will eventually lead to others sharing your content or mentioning your brand in their posts, which further builds your brand’s authority. The more social media users talk about your brand, the more valuable it will become.

The social media buzz will draw a new audience towards your brand to know about your company, and they might start following your brand for updates and insights.

Marketing via social media can help you gain new customer insights

Social media provides you an opportunity to gain new insights into your customers like no other platform. By interacting with current and potential customers, you can see their interests and what drives them.

If you periodically follow what your customers are talking about on social platforms, you can better understand their needs and desires. By effectively using social listening, you can figure out your customers’ most significant concerns and challenges, and with that, you can create more content around those topics.

You can also use social listening to know what customers are saying about your brand and use that information to make appropriate changes to increase customer satisfaction.

Final Word

Social media allows a brand to understand its customers’ online behavior better. It can also help you to in case conversions. If you run social media ads, platforms like Facebook and Twitter provide insightful analytics to show which of your ad campaigns work and which ones require more work.

While it is easy to get started with social media, getting the desired results requires time and patience. If you don’t want to hire a dedicated staff member to manage social media, you can leverage professionals’ expertise at a social media marketing company. You can choose from various social media management services according to your requirements.