by Adobe
Last week we discussed that there are many advantages to social media marketing, including brand recognition, audience engagement, and increased website traffic. Businesses failing to use social media marketing successfully are missing out on what could be a valuable part of their overall marketing strategy.
In this blog, we’ll cover the next 5 benefits of SMM:
6. Study the competition
7. Improve SERP presence
8. Boost website traffic
9. Attract top-of-funnel leads
10. Earn greater ROI
6. Study the competition
You can gain insight into where you need to improve and what not to do by looking through your competitors’ social media posts. This can help you get a sense of how they position a product within the market or which trends they’re keying in on.
For example, say you own a coffee company and the holiday season is approaching. You’ve noticed your sales have been slower than usual. You can check social media and see that similar companies are serving coffee in festive cups for all of December. You can borrow from strategies you see on social media and add your own unique twist. Because so many social media metrics are easily seen — how many likes, shares, and views a post gets — you’ll be able to quickly get an idea of what’s working for competitors and what isn’t.
7. Improve search engine result page (SERP) presence
Google is constantly pulling information from social media platforms — such as Instagram images, Facebook pages, and tweets — into its search engine results. By successfully marketing your brand on social media, you increase your SERP presence as well. Keeping an eye on what’s new and trending can help you cater your social content to the needs of the public while adding your brand’s unique flair.
Think of the questions your audience may have and how specifically they would phrase their questions in a search engine. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook allow you to make edits after posting, so if more relevant questions and keywords arise, you can make changes as needed. Blog content is another great way to draw in audiences, and it can be posted easily on social media for your followers to find.
Paying attention to social media can show you what your customers are interested in and where your brand could improve to meet their needs.
8. Boost website traffic
Ideally, your social media post should send your readers somewhere, and that place will most likely be your website. Think about your sales funnel for social media. A lead views your content on a social platform, follows a link to your website to learn more, and — hopefully — decides to make a purchase from your site.
Ecommerce conversion is a whole other topic, but social media marketing can at least get the audience to your site.
Social media content helps with increasing your company website’s traffic. By posting high-quality content from your website or blog to your social media platforms, you can easily attract readers each time you publish. Engaging in interactive chats on social media is a great way to get your brand’s name out there, reach new audiences, and demonstrate your skills while directing people to your website.
In order to secure loyal customers, you must go beyond self-promotion. All of your social media platforms should include your company website in your profile so people can easily access more information about your business.
9. Attract top-of-funnel leads
Social media can be an excellent way to get your brand or products in front of new audiences. While these audiences may not be ready to buy yet, hopefully they’ll enjoy your posts enough to check out more of your content. Social media has made it easier for potential customers to explore your brand in a simple, low-commitment way.
Social media is a powerful lead-generation tool for businesses, and a lot of platforms offer advertising formats to gather leads. A great example of a brand using social media to attract leads is when McCarthy and Stone published Facebook ads that helped people who wanted to learn more about their real estate projects do so in seconds. These ads produced 4.3 times more leads than the previous year, and they were half the cost of more traditional real estate campaigns.
10. Earn greater ROI
Both organic and paid social media marketing can produce high returns on investment. Organic social media marketing refers to content your company posts online without paying anything. Popular posts, especially those that go viral, can have a huge reach without a lot of spending. Organic social media content is a cost-effective way to promote your business as social media platforms are free.
Paid social media marketing is still a good option, though. Buying ad space on social platforms can reach a different audience than paid ads on search engines, and it can put your brand in front of new customers and still deliver great ROI.
However, many social media users will quickly scroll to another post if your content looks like spam or seems like an ad. While there’s nothing wrong with using social media to advertise, if you wish to go that route be sure to pay for it to look professional. When your post has a transactional call to action, such as “Purchase today” or “25% off,” it should clearly be an ad — and not an organic post.
Improve your social media marketing today
Remember, there are many benefits to social media marketing, from brand recognition and audience engagement to customer service, competitor or industry analysis, and generating ROI. Consider which benefits sound most helpful to your brand, make a list of the top three, and prioritize the order of importance to get started right away. Next week, part 3.
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