How Social Media Marketing Can Take Your Business to The Next Level 

Is marketing on social media sites worth it for small business trying to make a name for themselves?

If those small businesses are looking to increase their reach to nearly half (50%) of the world’s population and that too for a fraction of the cost it would take to do so via traditional marketing avenues as well as other online marketing methods, then the answer should be a resounding, “Yes!”

In today’s online environment, more of the world’s population is following business brands online than any other online presence, including celebrities.

One of the main reasons why major brands have a social media presence on at least 2 or more of the major social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is that building brand awareness on these sites (a.k.a. social media marketing) is unmatched by any other form of paid or organic marketing strategies and methods.

Simply stated, no other web presence can match a popular social networking site’s reach, engagement potential, cost-effectiveness, and speed all at one go.

Do you want a fast, inexpensive, and a highly-engaging way to reach your target audience?

If so, then social media marketing is for you…

Benefits of Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

Brand Awareness

Many small businesses who are just starting out, whether a brick-and-mortar shop or an e-commerce site, are first and foremost looking to make a name for themselves.

This is best done by having a social media presence.

Why?

Because most people on social media discover new brands each and every day. In fact, roughly 60% of Instagram users discover new products just on that platform alone.

Being able to reach such a large number – remember, almost half the world’s population – who have never heard of or seen your products or service before is reason enough to at least look into including social media marketing as part of your overall digital marketing strategy.

Trust

Another major benefit of social media marketing is its ability to establish a business as a leader within their industry, which ultimately separates them from the rest of the pack.

Providing your followers with regular and insightful information pertaining to your niche or industry establishes your brand as a thought leader and this ultimately establishes trust between you and your following.

Trust easily converts into sales!

According to the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer, 63% of people trust those they feel are technical experts within their field and over 42% of people who trust businesses solely on their word alone.

The key to building trust with social media marketing, however, is to provide your audience with content that is engaging, relevant and insightful. In other words, provide them with what they want first by driving them to an information piece on your blog or YouTube Channel rather than sending your social media traffic straight to a sales or product page.

Growth

Brand awareness and trust are great for producing a loyal following but if that was all social media marketing was good for, it would not mean much to small businesses.

The good news is that social networking sites like Facebook & Twitter are also great for driving business growth.

How can they do this?

Through traffic, leads, & sales…

Every online marketer knows that if you can master traffic and conversions, you have mastered the art of digital marketing. Social media marketing makes driving traffic and generating conversions simpler than other forms of online marketing by providing the following:

1 – Posts & Ads that drive traffic to a relevant blog post on your website.

2 – Social chats that engage readers and followers while at the same time supplying them with a relevant piece of content on your website.

3 – Social media lead advertising options which are designed to provide a very low-commitment way of generating leads for businesses.

4 – Social media data can be used to advertise to those who are later on in the sales funnel – Awareness, Interest, Decision, Action.

*** By setting up pixels for your social media accounts, like a Facebook pixel on your website, you can actually tailor your social media ads to each person who has taken some specific action on your site related to one of the phases in your sales funnel which will increase your chances of higher sales conversions.

Customer & Audience Engagement

If you want your audience to engage with you, you will have to engage with them.

Social media platforms are not like traditional media venues where the only communication between the brand and their audience is the brand speaking to the audience (one-way street). On social media networking sites like Facebook, your audience is allowed to post comments and questions and likewise, you can also reply back to those comments and questions.

Just be sure to make your replies relevant to the questions or comments your audience posts as this will add value to the conversation and also build more trust between them and your brand.

Examples of the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Social Networking Sites Has Had on Businesses Across Various Industries

While a lot has been said so far about social media marketing and its ability to build brand awareness, trust, growth, and engagement for businesses, no real-world examples have been given thus far.

Well, there are plenty of them and here are just a few to give you an idea of just how successful social media marketing can be for brands in different industries and of all shapes and sizes…

Absolut Vodka (Brand Awareness)

The company garnered a 5-point increase in brand awareness with the following Instagram campaign promoting its limited-edition Spark bottle:

Absolut Vodka Limited Edition Spark Bottle

Renault Europe (Leads)

The following lead-generation Facebook ad increased Renault Europe’s test-drive bookings by giving interested parties the chance to book one with just a tap of their screen.

Renault Europe Lead Generation Ad

*** By the way this specific touch-screen booking feature cost the company 8-times less per lead than another one of their ads which sent interested parties to a test-drive form on their website. They gained the leads faster with the touch-screen ad too.

Trust

Hootsuite’s CEO, Ryan Holmes, continues to gain a massive following on LinkedIn by supplying his followers with pertinent information on social media, social media marketing, and entrepreneurship.

Ryan has over 1.5 million followers on LinkedIn alone due to this strategy.

Conclusion

Given the above information, it is pretty safe to say that if you are a small business who does not have a presence on a top-tier social media platform then you probably don’t have an online presence at all, even if you do have a website floating out there in cyberspace.

Similarly, if you are engaging in other forms of digital marketing and not using social media marketing as part of your advertising strategy, then you are missing out on a whole lot of potential followers, leads, and customers – approximately half of the world!

If you are on social media and continue to provide content, advertisements, and answers to your following so that your brand will grow, your small business will one day rank as one of the leaders within your industry or niche.

For a complimentary 15-minute marketing consultation with D2 Branding, call us today at 918-520-8012 or visit our website at www.D2Branding.com.

Learn more about how D2 Branding marketing agency in Tulsa, Oklahoma can help your business grow!