13 Benefits Of Social Media Marketing

Social media has grown massively through the years. As it does, more and more marketers are seeing results and are increasing their budgets.

If you’re still on the fence about how much social media can benefit you, let’s talk about the benefits of social media marketing and how it has helped brands increase their bottom line.

Advantages Of Social Media Marketing

for Your Business

1. Increase Brand Awareness

As of January 2022, there are 3.96 billion social media users across all platforms, and with users ranging from teens to middle-aged and older, you are able to target a vast age range. Using social media to your advantage can put you on the radar of people across the world.

@GoPro on Instagram

Launching in 2004, GoPro was named the 18th “Coolest Brand” by the Centre of Brand Analysis. Their growth was largely due to their successful social media campaign where they used user-generated content to sell a lifestyle of adventure. Today, GoPro has grown to be the top-of-mind brand for durable action cameras that you can use to record sports and adventures.

2. Establish A Memorable Brand Identity

Because of a general distrust in advertising, it has become more important for brands to use a relatable voice and persona for social media. An effective brand voice sets you apart from competition and inspires users to engage.

A great example of this is Wendy’s and its roasts on Twitter in 2017. Their sassy persona allowed them to stand-out and differentiate themselves from fellow fast food giants, McDonalds and Burger King. It also encouraged users to interact, excitedly anticipating (and sharing) what they have to say.

3. Nurture An Engaged Community

A community is a group of like-minded people who come together because of a set of common interests and challenges. As a brand, building a community around what you offer can help you secure growth and loyalty.

@Minecraft on Twitter

For video games such as Fortnite and Minecraft, the ability to play with friends and customize many elements in the game encouraged shared experiences and showcasing personal creations on social media. This allowed players to continuously interact with the brand and with each other.

4. Promote Pages, Products, And Updates

With an engaged community and following, you’ll have yourself a captured audience. These are the people who want to hear from you and are expecting to receive new information from your brand.

Instead of having to work with publications and other media outlets, you can use your social channels to promote your website and products and share new updates. You’ll have full control of how you want to communicate. Plus, you can iterate with low costs.

5. Get Feedback

ARK: Survival Evolved is a video game that made $10 million in sales in its first week and sold one million copies in its first month. One of the key ways that its creators built an eager fan base was by listening to and replying to their followers’ feedback. 

Using an internal scorecard, the creators evaluated the suggestions’ feasibility, community interest, and team enthusiasm, among other things. And when the suggestion passes their criteria, they build them into the game –which was how a large number of their features came about. This made the community feel seen, heard, and most importantly, valued.

6. Improve SEO

Improving your website’s SEO will involve many factors –one of them being backlinks. You can use your social media account to promote new articles from your website, which can then increase the possibility of readers linking it to their own works.

@CMIContent uses Twitter to promote content on their website

There are also times when Google adds social posts to search results. With proper keyword usage and context, you can use this as an opportunity to drive traffic to your vital channels.

7. Instant Customer Service

With the rise of instant messaging and social media, the expectations of consumers when it comes to brand transparency and customer service have skyrocketed. Among the top customer service metrics, the timeliness of responses is one of the most important.

Social media can give you an avenue to provide quality service to your customers and provide them with solutions at the soonest possible time. This can increase brand loyalty, trust, and revenue.

8. Stay Updated On Trends And Industry News

No business exists in a bubble. To stay alive and relevant, you’ll need to evolve along with the times. New technologies, trends, and platforms, take the world by storm overnight. To be able to anticipate these massive changes, you’ll need to constantly keep an eye out for disruptions.

For example, marketing before the 2020 global pandemic would have involved Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn at a minimum. In 2022, Tiktok was added to the list, especially after its downloads skyrocketed when many were forced to isolate.

Being aware of trends and changes will allow you to respond accordingly and take advantage of new opportunities.

9. Gather Consumer Data

In the age of traditional media, it took a lot more work to understand consumer engagement with advertising. When you mount a billboard, for example, it would be challenging to know which passer-by took a keen interest in it. Even more challenging would be finding similar psychographic and demographic characteristics which will help you streamline your next efforts.

With social media, you can use your analytics to see which demographic engages the most with your content. This will give you a better idea of their interests, pain points, and goals. These pieces of information can make your future content more relevant and effective for your audience.

10. Target Specific Audiences

Social media curates content and ads according to your interests. This helps ensure that you receive information relevant to your needs and goals.

As a marketer, you can take advantage of this through social media ads. Using information that the platform has collected from its users, you can choose the demographics and interests of the people you want to reach. With the right targeting approach, you’ll be able to bring your product or service in front of the right people. You can also tailor-fit your voice and language to connect with your most profitable niche.

11. Connect To A Global Audience

A beautiful attribute of social media is how effectively it can connect people from around the world.

In 2020, the world clamored for justice and equality using the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter after the murder of George Floyd. In 2017, the #MeToo movement empowered women to speak up against sexual assault following the exposure of numerous allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

As a brand, you can use this power to spread your own message across the world –and hopefully, to affect change and create a better world as well.

12. Join Relevant Conversations

Taking a stand on socially and politically charged issues may be risky for many brands. But in a study in 2019, it was found that 64% of consumers said that they will be more willing to buy (or boycott) a brand because of its position on a relevant issue.

In 2018, Nike tweeted its support for Colin Kaepernick when he stood up (or rather, knelt down) against racism in America. “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color,” he said. This garnered strong reactions –both those of support and those of hate.

With Nike taking a stand, it likewise received love and backlash. But overall, the sports giant’s sales increased by 10% after the release of the ad, reporting an income of $847 million.

13. Showcase Expertise And Thought Leadership

Thought leadership is the sharing of experience and wisdom regarding a particular field. For brands, this is a good way to build credibility which can translate to community and better conversion rates.

Productivity guru Tiago Forte uses his Twitter account, @Fortelabs, to promote his business and share his ideas.

Social media allows you to publish several pieces of content for free. This gives you an opportunity to showcase the depth and breadth of your knowledge in your area of business.

Social media is a free marketing channel that can give you exponential rewards, when done right. Building it properly will take patience, creativity, and analytical skills before you can fully take advantage of social media advertising. 

Use a creative project management tool, such as Workamajig to organize and coordinate your social media marketing efforts. Workamajig was built for those in the creative and marketing industry, so they have exactly what you need and want in a project management tool. It’ll help you organize and manage your social media campaigns which will in turn allow you to build a stronger relationship with your audience, a memorable identity for your brand, and ultimately grow your business in a profitable way.