It is pretty common a notion that in the modern marketing scenario, if you own a small business and looking for a platform to reach out to more customers, social media is the best way out.
Registering in social media sites have become more of a necessity nowadays, and almost everyone you know has a social network profile (which can be the result of anything from staying connected with friends and relatives to finding a new job!). Through social media you can reach millions of people from every corner of the globe without shelling a single penny from your pocket. And that’s why it is the fastest, easiest and the cheapest way to reach your target audience.
Although social media marketing is a comparatively new marketing phenomenon, which was nowhere in the scene till early 2000s, it has now become an integral part of marketing mix. Long gone are the days when it was an unwieldy job for an organization to establish a prominent online presence. Now, you can simply create a page on social networking biggies like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+ and relax.
What is Social Media Marketing?
To define social media marketing, first we need to know what social media is. It’s a platform through which anyone with access to the internet can interact with others online. You don’t have to be a star to be able to participate and involve in this interaction, which was, once upon a time a necessity for publicizing your thoughts to a huge audience.
Social media marketing – also known as SMM – is all about putting social media platforms in use in order to popularize your business, build contacts and draw the attention of fresh customers through social sharing of videos, images and other forms of content with marketing intentions.
Why should you use social media for marketing?
Let us be honest with you – we simply cannot put together all the little reasons for ‘why one should go for social media marketing’ because there are too many grounds for the same. However, since we are here to answer your queries, we would rather focus on how it could be the right choice for a small business. Here are the primary reasons:
Wider Reach: Social media helps you to reach your target audiences and influence them to share it with their friends and relatives in different social network sites. In a way, it serves the purpose of word-of-mouth marketing.
Building Brand Identity: social media lets you showcase your brand in every possible way through different types of content (images, blogs, videos, infographics, memes, etc.) thereby establishing brand awareness and trust among your prospective customers.
It’s Popular: Social media is the buzzword of modern marketing strategies. It is an equally popular among people belonging to different age groups and demographics. Moreover, it is highly likely that similar businesses like yours will have their own page, making it easier for you to follow them and move on in the cut-throat competition.
It’s Free & Open To All: There’s no rocket science involved in using social media as a marketing platform for your business. To begin with it, you need not cough off a single penny or be a technical or marketing expert. Popular social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube and Reddit offer free signups. Overall, you just need internet connection and some knowledge of doing business.
Highly Active Users: Social media users are very active in nature. A recent survey revealed that almost 60% of the Facebook users log in to their account at least once a day. Similarly, more than 400 million tweets appear on Twitter each day! Frequent activity of users ensures high chances for you to be visible to them.
Personal Interaction with Customers: Through social media you can interact with customers personally. You offer them a virtual window for enquiry and suggestions through a social media page. Once you respond to their queries and opinions properly, they will end up shopping with your business. You can also update your customers through this platform about your business’ latest products or any development, thus making them feel close to your brand.
An Easy Way to Share Newsletters: Sharing email newsletters across social networks have become very popular among small businesses. This step can expose your content to a huge group of new audience, especially if you are trying to stay in touch with existing customers and at the same time reach new ones.
So, you see, social media marketing is the best way to tap the nerves of prospective customers as you can easily involve and interact online with them through different platforms. All you have to do is get those 1,310,000,000 registered Facebook account holders and over 500 million Twitter users around the globe know you and your brand. Here share some quick facts that every social media marketer should know.
If you don’t have a social media image, you are missing out on a huge – read enormously huge – opportunity to expose your brand in the world of digital market.
