Why You Should Start Utilizing Social Media Marketing Today

Every entrepreneur knows that marketing is part and parcel of running a business. But if you’re not utilizing social media marketing, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity.

Marketing is an essential component of every business strategy, but the type of marketing you choose can significantly impact your success. In this day and age, savvy business proprietors use social media marketing to drive up their engagement, brand loyalty, and sales. Are you among them?

Traditional vs. Digital Marketing

With all the time we all spend online these days, it’s no secret that the internet is an incredibly influential tool. Most of us use it every single day, whether for work, communication, or entertainment. In fact, most people are online for hours every day, making them a captive audience for all kinds of digital marketing schemes.

Traditional marketing mediums— things like TV, newspapers, flyers, radio, billboards, etc.— are still effective, but their power is waning compared to innovative digital marketing strategies.

While some folks undoubtedly prefer these “old school” methods, the truth is that traditional mediums simply can’t compete with web-centric marketing mavens.

Traditional marketing is meant to appeal to a broad audience. It is costly, one-sided, and difficult to gauge its success, while digital marketing is highly targeted, versatile, flexible, accessible, and offers unbeatable ROI.

Customer feedback surveys (“How did you hear about us?”) are clunky and outdated compared to today’s web analytics tools, which tell you exactly where your customers are coming from— without having to ask.

Let’s Get Social

Let’s look at why social media marketing is a tool every business should have in its arsenal.

1. Two-Way Engagement

Perhaps the greatest strength of social media marketing is that it paves the way for mutual interactions between businesses and their customers. Social media marketing is a way to initiate conversations: not only can you open the floor to customer feedback and discussion, but you can also interact with them on a more personal level. Bet a billboard can’t do that!

2. Brand Awareness

Branding is the face of your business: the stronger and more recognizable your brand is, the better off your business will be. Social media marketing can help solidify and strengthen online awareness of your brand and works best when paired with a visible social media presence.

3. Increased Visibility

The combination of brand recognition and digital engagement translates into greater visibility for your brand. You can enhance this visibility even further by utilizing search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is the secret weapon of digital marketers everywhere. Using specific keywords relevant to your audience can drive your page up to the top of the search engine rankings, earning you more clicks and more attention.

4. Improved Conversion Rates

With great visibility comes great power. It’s an opportunity to translate customer awareness into web traffic, engagement, loyalty, and, yes, sales. The more eyes you have on your content, the more opportunities you have to make an impact.

If you don’t have a social media marketing strategy in place yet, what are you waiting for? The opportunities are endless…and it all starts with a click.