Why Social Media Marketing is Important to Your Business
Over the years, social media marketing has come into its own and is now a vital element of every forward-thinking marketing plan. One of the biggest advantages of social media marketing is that you can engage in a two-way conversation with current and potential customers.
Social media marketing can be engaging, targeted, flexible, affordable, and trackable if done correctly.
The "Introduction to the Power of Social Media Marketing" online course is an overview of social media marketing covering:
Why social media marketing is vital to businesses today
Who uses social media
How social media marketing is different from traditional marketing
Where social media fits into your overall marketing strategy
So, what is social media marketing, and why is it so important for your business today?
Social media use is about social community. Social media platforms are networked around relationships, technology-enabled, and based on principles of shared participation.
People like to be in a social community for sharing, socializing, and conversing.
Users develop a social identity when they add a profile, photo, and other information about themselves.
They maintain a social presence by sharing how they're thinking and feeling through their status updates or posts.
It's all about connections, whether they're called friends, followers, or fans, and having a way to communicate and share content and ideas.
Social media marketing uses social media platforms (or channels) to influence consumers towards your company website, brand, and products and services. Social media marketing aims to spark a conversion such as the purchase of a product, subscription to an e-newsletter, or some other desirable consumer action.
Social media marketing uses social media platforms or channels to create, communicate, and deliver offerings that provide value to the organization and influence consumers to take a desirable action.
As social media marketing has accelerated over the last few years, the organization's objectives have also expanded. The top priorities for businesses using social media marketing are:
Brand awareness and brand building
Acquiring new customers
Introducing new products and services,
Retaining current customers
Brand promotions
Improving employee engagement
Many businesses are "doing" social media marketing, but they're not always using it strategically. To use social media effectively to market your business, you should seek an efficient and effective path. You need to have a business vision and a plan! Avoid random directions and approaches. Don't just do a thing, and a thing, and a thing. Instead, apply a SMART strategy for social media marketing success.
See "How to Set SMART Social Media Goals and Strategies" to help you clearly define what you are trying to accomplish.
As you consider social media marketing, learn the difference between paid media, owned media, and earned media. You can learn more about each of these, with tips and suggestions for each, in our FREE "Introduction to the Power of Social Media Marketing" online course. Most businesses who effectively use social media for marketing their businesses combine all three: paid media, owned media, and earned media.
Social media use, as you would expect, has grown dramatically over time. When the Pew Research Center began tracking social media use back in 2005, only 5% of American adults used at least one social media platform; by 2011 that share had risen to half of all Americans. And, today, more than 7 out of 10 people use some social media. That means that businesses have the opportunity to reach nearly three-quarters of American adults through social media marketing; excellent news and provides a wonderful opportunity for you to reach potential customers!
Next Blog Post
In an upcoming blog post, I'll share with you what people are doing on social media and which social media platforms people are using.