Social Media Marketing - What is all the Buzz About?
Social media marketing is a trend in businesses today. But what is all the buzz about? Does social media marketing help increase conversions? Does it help you meet your marketing goals? How many people are on social media networks? Is it better to invest in social media marketing or search engine optimization (SEO)? This guide will answer all of those questions and more. If you are looking for a company to manage your social media marketing or search engine optimization, contact Profitworks today.
Social Media Marketing 101: What Is It?
Social media marketing is a form of internet marketing that involves creating and sharing content on social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, in order to achieve your marketing and branding goals. Social media marketing includes activities like posting text and image updates, videos, and other content that drives audience engagement.
How Social Media Marketing Can Help You Meet Your Marketing Goals
Social media marketing can help with a number of goals, such as:
- Increasing website traffic
- Building conversions
- Raising brand awareness
- Creating a brand identity
- Improving communication and interaction with audiences
How Does SEO Differ From Social Media Marketing?
Profitworks has worked with a wide range of clients from many different industries over the years. We have found that the ROI (return on investment) of SEO will typically be between +200% to +275%. The social media services for those same clients typically generate at -90% ROI, meaning that the customer does not make back what they spent on social media marketing, let alone make a profit. For some businesses, it makes sense to combine social media marketing with SEO. Still, if you only have enough to spend on one, we would recommend SEO because it always pays out better.
Note: Profitworks typically works with Business to Business clients. Business to Consumer models may have slightly higher social media ROI.
Why Is It Effective?
1. Your customers are on social media - your customers are using these channels daily.
2. Consumers will be more receptive to your messages when marketing through social media - because social media is fun and easy, people trust them without feeling marketed to.
3. Marketing through social media can help increase brand recognition - your business social media profiles present new opportunities to share your content and really present your brand’s voice and personality through compelling content.
4. Marketing through social media increases your inbound traffic - your social media profiles provide another way to get more inbound traffic to your website.
5. Different social media channels help you reach specific audiences - another benefit of social media marketing is that you are able to strategically target different audiences based on the channels that your brand is active on.
6. Social media advertising allows you to target and retarget ideal consumers - with sophisticated targeting capabilities, social media platforms like Facebook help you target your ideal buyers, which allows you to drive more relevant traffic to your site.
7. Marketing through social media is cost-effective - one of the greatest benefits of marketing through social media is that it helps you cut marketing costs without sacrificing results.
8. Search engines pay attention to your social media behaviour, especially links to social content and social signals like likes and shares - not only could your social media presence impact your search engine rankings, but it’s important to note that your social media profiles will most likely show up on the first page of Google when consumers are looking for your brand.
9. Your competition is on social media - no matter what industry you are in or who your target market is, there is a good chance that your competitors are already present and involved on social media channels.
10. Marketing on social media leads to higher conversion rates - according to HubSpot, social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing tactics.
11. Social media marketing helps improve brand loyalty - while larger companies can afford to build big and expensive customer loyalty programs, small businesses are able to rely on other, more affordable methods for building brand loyalty, like social media.
12. Consumers are looking for recommendations on social media - word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful tools that any company has in their marketing toolbox.
13. Social media helps connect your brand with customers you didn’t know existed - marketing through social media can be an excellent outlet for bringing in new consumers.
14. Marketing through social media can help you improve brand authority - marketing through social media helps you build authority for your brand.
15. Social media marketing gives you the opportunity to gain new customer insights - by interacting with leads and current customers on social media, you are able to see what your customers are interested in and what drives them.
Social Media Statistics
- The average internet user has 7.6 social media accounts.
- Between Q2 and Q3 of 2017, the number of social media users skyrocketed by 121 million.
- Mature users aged 55-64 are more than twice as likely to interact with branded content than their younger social media-consuming counterparts.
- 96 percent of social media users that talk about a brand online don’t even follow the brand’s profile.
- Today, more than 3.2 billion images will be shared on social media posts.
- 49 percent of social media users share product information with the hopes of improving the lives of others.
- We spend a lifetime average of 5 years and 3 months on social media.
How To Be Effective In Social Media Management
Before you begin creating social media marketing campaigns, consider your business’ goals. Starting a social media marketing campaign without a strategy is pointless.
Here are some questions to ask when defining your social media marketing goals:
- What are you hoping to achieve through social media marketing?
- Who is your target audience?
- Where would your target audience hang out and how would they use social media?
- What message do you want to send to your audience with social media marketing?
Best Social Media Marketing Tips
Ready to get started with marketing on social media? Here are a few social media marketing tips.
- Social Media Content Planning — As discussed previously, building a social media marketing plan is essential. Consider keyword research and competition research to help brainstorm content ideas that will interest your target audience. What are other businesses in your industry doing to drive engagement on social media?
- Great Social Content — Consistent with other areas of online marketing, content is most important when it comes to social media marketing. Make sure you post regularly and offer truly valuable information that your ideal customers will find helpful and interesting.
Trust Profitworks With Your Social Media Marketing Needs
"Instead of paying per click, they have rebuilt our content to
organically rise to the top of the search page"
Tim - Business Owner & Customer
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Profitworks Small Business Services provides website traffic and website conversion optimization services which increase the number of sales generated from a website. The focus of our services is increasing sales and providing a positive return on investment. To learn more about Profitworks, click here. Feel free to connect with us on Google+, or if you are just interested in getting new customers for your businesses, feel free to click the "Let's Discuss" button below.
