By Ross Young
Is social media marketing important? You bet it is.
The thing with social media today is that practically everyone uses it in some way, shape, or form. Some people live their lives on Instagram; others stick to LinkedIn for professional development.
No matter how you look at it, social media is firmly integrated into the modern lives that we all lead.
Your job as a business owner is to use social media to your advantage. There's little merit in taking a scattergun approach to social media, and maintaining a presence on every channel for the sake of it is unfeasible.
The trick is developing a bespoke social media marketing strategy that works for your business (something we can help you with, by the way!).
When you crack social media, your business will reap huge rewards, no matter your industry or niche.
So, read on to discover why social media marketing is essential and how to utilise it to drive your business forward.
But first – what is social media marketing?
Okay, before we get ahead, we want to clarify what social media marketing means.
Essentially, it's promoting your business effectively through social media channels, be it Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter or a combination of these platforms.
You're probably aware that there are so many ways to promote your business via social media – you can opt for social media ad placements or partner with influencers, for instance. We prefer growing your community organically with engaging, entertaining and informative posts using graphics, photography and video when available.
No matter how you go about it, you must develop an effective strategy that helps you reach and engage with your intended audience.
The purpose of this article isn't to explain the different approaches to social media marketing (this will be a topic for another time), but if you would like some guidance on developing an effective social media strategy for your business, do get in touch with us, and we can lend you our expertise.
Is social media marketing important? Five benefits to your business
It's time to look at some of the benefits of effective social media marketing to your business. When done correctly, promoting your brand on social media can positively affect the following:
1 Brand visibility
People use social media to assist with practically every aspect of their lives, from looking for product and service reviews to discovering the latest news.
Granted, there's much noise on social media, but it's essential to position your brand on certain platforms to increase your company's visibility.
You don’t have to post daily to get your voice heard. However, scheduling two or three posts a week can make a massive difference to the discoverability of your company. As we explore below, you open the door to a vast potential client base when you're active on socials.
It's much easier and likely more cost-effective if you hire a freelance social media manager.
2 Client engagement
Social media marketing allows you to engage with your current and potential clients directly in a human way.
You can respond to customer enquiries in real time and generate feedback that could prove invaluable for your brand.
But crucially, engaging with your clients on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram helps you build relationships and strengthen the bond between you and your customers. This is a highly effective way of building repeat custom in the future and is one of the best things about effective social media marketing.
3 Visual storytelling
One of the most attractive things about social media to businesses is that it allows you to tell your story in a way that makes sense to you and appeals to others.
You can let your personality shine through via the posts you share on your socials, showcasing that people can trust your brand and what you stand for.
We think of social media platforms as opportunities for brands to tell their stories visually, interweaving personable and friendly posts into their feeds alongside those promoting the latest products and services.
Speaking of which, your sales pitches should be no more than 20% of your posts. Entertain and educate in most of your posts to increase engagement. Then, when you do need to sell in a post, it’s likely to have a better response. Nobody wants to be sold to all the time.
4 Product promotion/launch
Social media marketing is perfect for creating a buzz around your latest product or service launch. Many effective social media marketers partner with influencers (micro or even macro) to help raise awareness about their new products and services, which is undoubtedly one way to capitalise on the power of social media.
We also believe that social media is a great place to receive helpful feedback about your products and services, and it's also handy for offering promotions and special offers to your followers as a reward for their loyalty.
Product promotion via social media is a great way to add to your bottom line when integrated as part of an effective social strategy.
5 Lead generation
Fundamentally, every social media platform is a network. This lets you engage with potential partners and customers, which can then contribute to lead generation and conversion.
Professional sites like LinkedIn are perfect for this, but you can generate leads on all social media channels. The quality of your content matters when looking for new business on social media, so be sure to incorporate quality content creation into your comprehensive social media marketing strategy before starting.
Look at our own Instagram channel or Magic Word Media on LinkedIn to see how we do it.
A note on paid social media advertising
The digital world is constantly evolving, and many businesses see value in investing in paid social media campaigns.
These exist in many forms: increasing your company's discoverability with paid social media ads or partnering with influencers to showcase your latest products and services.
While you can retain much of your social media advertising in-house, it's important to allocate a budget to your strategy to ensure that you can achieve your social media goals, whatever they might be.
Ask us about Google ad campaigns, for example, to see if it’s worth you investing in social ads.
Ready to take your social media marketing to the next level?
So, is social media marketing important? It's crucial! But the good news is that you don't have to go it alone.
At Magic Word Media, we help many businesses tell their unique stories on social media and remove the hassle and stress associated with content creation.
Our marketing team transforms how you communicate with current and potential customers and ensures you can utilise social media to promote your brand.
We generate fabulous results. Don’t just take our word for it; see some of our clients’ kind words at the bottom of this post.
If you're struggling with your socials but realise the potential that social media marketing has, reach out to us today or call 01473 526424. We'd love to talk you through how we can help.
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Magic Word Media is fantastic. Their relaxed and efficient approach suits our business. We've seen brilliant results and positive comments about our social media material. They have lots of fresh ideas, and it's like having a social media manager onsite 24/7" - Tom Evans, General Manager of Hintlesham Golf Club
"Sophie has helped my business enormously; we continue to see growth across our platforms. She is a tremendous asset and a master of digital marketing. If you want to grow your social media, Sophie is the person to help you" - Mariel Roe, Co-founder of Properly
"Magic Word Media provides exceptional blog writing, web content and social media management for Magnus Group. We also use them for digital PR. Excellent service and communication" - Olly Magnus, CEO of Magnus Group