Establishing an online presence takes a lot of work, but doing this is more important than ever before. With everything being digital nowadays, you can’t afford to be without a strong showing on the internet.
One of the best ways to get your business out there is to take advantage of social media. Given that billions of people use these platforms, your target demographics are right there just waiting for you to call out to them.
That’s not the only reason why social media marketing is vital for your business, though. There are four more that are just as compelling.
You Can Learn More About Your Audience
Tracking down your target demographics on social media is just the first step. Once you start building up a following of the people your business appeals to, you can begin to learn more about them.
Given that people spend approximately over two hours on social media every day, the amount of information that’s on there is seemingly endless. As a result, you can use these platforms to really get to know people, which is valuable for any small business hoping to build a dedicated customer base.
From identifying your audience’s passions, their pain points, and how they like talk with each other, you can tailor your marketing and communication to really appeal to them. The more effort you put in here, the likelier these people will stick with you in the long run.
You Can Build Relationships With Customers
Customers like to feel appreciated. They want to believe that businesses genuinely care about their concerns and that if there’s anything that can be done, they’ll do it.
The great thing about social media is that people can prove whether or not that’s the case because the platforms provide a means of communication. Gone are the days when the only way to connect with a business was by sending an email or calling on the phone, two methods that rarely receive an instant response. Nowadays, if someone has a query or concern, they can send a message through a company’s social media page and get a reply almost immediately.
This is ideal because it allows you to build positive relationships with your customers by getting back to them quickly and coherently. Obviously, it can have the opposite effect if you take too long to respond. Plus, sites like Facebook tend to let people know how quick you are to reply, so being too slow could definitely hurt your reputation. As long as you don’t make people wait around and communicate with them on a human level, though, this can really work in your favour.
You Can Strengthen Your SEO Rankings
Almost everything you do online impacts your business. From what you post on social media to the links you include on blog posts to how quickly your website loads, it all matters. They all relate to search engine optimisation, of which there are various types that can help in different ways.
When trying to decide what type of SEO is right for your business, it helps to know the differences and benefits of on-page, off-page, and local SEO. Social media marketing fits into the second of these categories as something that’s done away from your website, which still impacts how it performs in search results. If you conduct yourself properly on your social media platforms, building connections with people and proving yourself to be a trustworthy and credible business, it’ll do great things for your SEO. That can prove useful if there are other areas of search engine optimisation that you’re either lacking in or don’t want to invest your time and money into.
You Can Control Your Reputation
A good reputation can make the difference between whether your business sinks or swims. Unfortunately, with the way people conduct themselves online nowadays, your reputation can go south in the blink of an eye. All it takes is for a few slightly annoyed people with too much time on their hands to say bad things about you, and everything can be ruined.
In situations like this, you might be tempted to ignore the problem and pretend it doesn’t exist. However, that will only make things worse. The right way to handle negative feedback involves acknowledging the critiques, apologising for what you may have done wrong, and revealing how you will fix the issues. You may have to swallow your pride a little, but by doing this, you prove that you care about offering excellent service. Instantly, that turns things back in your favour and prevents a bad review from spiralling out of control.
For all its faults, social media is one of the greatest marketing tools at our disposal today. If you’re not taking advantage of everything it has to offer, then you’re missing out. It could be the key to taking your small business to the next level.