Benefits of Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing should be an essential part of any digital marketing strategy. As social media platforms continue to gain traction as one of the quickest and most personalized ways to engage your audience, not having any elements in your day-to-day interactions could hurt your conversions and revenue streams. There are several benefits of social media for business. Understanding the advantages of social media marketing and taking the time to learn social media marketing will not only be advantageous for your organisation and keep your team connected to your audience.

SEE ALSO: Social Media Marketing Companies

According to Statista, investments in social advertising went from 16 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 to nearly 31 billion U.S. dollars in 2016. Additionally, 97% of global businesses use social media marketing, with $17 the biggest benefit is increased exposure. Currently, 32% of global companies use social media marketing to strengthen their customer loyalty, with 58.7% of those organisations indicating that clickthroughs are one of the most important metrics to measure success.

Strategically leveraging social media marketing channels provides various benefits for businesses, including increased brand exposure, improved loyalty, marketplace insights, thought leadership opportunities, amplified reach, and higher conversion rates. Developing a strong social presence should be a priority.

Learn Social Media Marketing: What, Why and How

What are some additional benefits of social media marketing?

1. Increased Brand Recognition

Companies use social media marketing as an accessible channel to increase their visibility and gain additional audiences. This makes the brand recognizable and familiar among the masses. The more you engage and interact via social media, the wider your audience becomes. Your visibility, whether through likes, shares, or someone stumbling onto your information through someone else’s social media, can give you followers that translate into conversions.

Benefits of social media marketing
An infographic with statistics about brand loyalty - Social Media Marketing
Loyal customers typically spend 2x more than non-loyal customers. Photo by MarketPoint

2. Brand Loyalty

A study done by Convince & Convert indicates that 53% of Americans who follow brands on social media platforms are more loyal to those brands. Companies that use social media and its reach can easily convert new audiences into loyal followers.

3. Conversion Opportunities

With increased visibility and brand recognition, organisations can convert more customers. As your following grows, the exposure from old customers, recent customers and brand-new customers grows as well. Social media allows you to interact with all these audiences with different tactics that interest them, such as a video, blog posting, image or something else. Every reaction can lead to further interest from these audiences, leading to a conversion. Keep in mind – with every conversion, the opportunity came first.

4. Increased Conversions

Effective social media marketing usually results in higher conversion rates in several ways. Audiences love to see companies that humanize their brand. Interactions with audiences in a social forum show a different side of the company, helping brands gain trust and loyalty. Also, studies conducted have indicated that social media has a 100% lead-to-close rate over outbound marketing.

woman taking a photo of her cake for social media - Social Media Marketing
Being active in the local community is great for brand awareness and authority. (Image Credit: Envato Elements)

5. Brand Authority

When customers view the brand as accessible, it demonstrates good faith and helps acquire additional customers. Loyal followers will talk positively about the brand on social media, which gives you credibility and helps gain followers from those individuals. The more people speak about your brand, the more authority you gain. Interacting with social media influencers or getting brand ambassadors can also help push your visibility to the next level.

6. Increased Inbound Traffic

With wider exposure, your inbound traffic will grow. The more you interact on social media, the wider your audience becomes. Every content or social media profile will also become a point of visibility, helping attract more followers over time. The more followers and inbound traffic you generate, the higher your conversion rates will be.

7. Better Rankings

SEO is an important part of any organisation’s digital marketing strategy. One of the best things about social media marketing is that your SEO will stay optimized due to your social media presence. The stronger your brand is on social media, the higher your rankings will become in the search engines. Being active on social media helps to build credibility and keeps your brand as a legitimate and trustworthy source on the web.

8. Lower Marketing Costs

Hubspot says 84% of marketers found that six hours of weekly effort was enough to generate additional traffic. One hour a day to develop content and appear on social media can help you save marketing costs while lending additional money to advertising. Social media advertising can also be cheaper and more effective than large-scale efforts.

If you didn’t think social media marketing was effective, look at the following statistics:

  • 95% of adults aged 18-34 are most likely to follow a brand through social media platforms.
  • 71% of consumers with a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others.
  • There are 1.65 billion active social media accounts across the globe, with 1 million new active mobile users added daily.
  • Over 4.4 million videos were uploaded directly to Facebook in Feb. 2016.
  • 78% of people complaining to a brand through Twitter expect a response within an hour.
  • Top brands on Instagram are seeing a per-follower engagement rate of 4.21%, 58 times higher than on Facebook and 120 times higher than on Twitter.
  • 56% of posts tagged with another user or location have significantly higher engagement rates.
  • More than half of YouTube views come from mobile devices, and the average mobile viewing session lasts more than 40 minutes.
The Marketing Mix: The Price | The Marketing Mix | Marketing Strategy | Business Strategy

It is no secret that brands must pay attention to what’s happening on social media, or customers will not pay attention to them. Marketers must use these best practices to engage and stay within the social media realm:

  • Be Present

Your organisation must have a presence on social media, utilizing the major channels as they relate to your brand. The most popular platforms are Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Vimeo, and Instagram.

  • Reach Out

Social media is more than just having a presence – your team must create engaging content and share it to grow your audience and extend your reach.

  • Engage

While there must be engagement, it should not be self-motivated. Audiences want to see the human side of the organization, and having real conversations without continuously plugging the brand will have a huge impact on how the company is viewed.

  • Scale

It is important to align all your marcoms and social activity together for one cohesive approach. This increases social participation across the organisation.

  • Influence

When done correctly, your marketing team will help develop influence among followers and other audiences that will continue to provide positive visibility and grow the brand.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing: Increased Brand Exposure:

  • Social platforms provide access to billions of active users – Facebook has 2.8 billion monthly users as of Q2 2021.
  • Hashtag campaigns and viral posts can spread quickly among networked users.
  • Paid social ads allow precise targeting by location, interests, behaviours, and demographics.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing: Improved Brand Loyalty:

  • Social media enables consistent brand-consumer engagement through likes, shares, and comments. This builds relationships and familiarity.
  • Humanized, authentic brand presences resonate with audiences, leading to emotional connections.
  • Social referrals and recommendations reflect consumer trust and loyalty.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing: Marketplace Insights:

making money with Alexa skills image - Social Media Marketing
  • Social listening tools like Mention and Keyhole track brand mentions, product feedback, and relevant conversations across the social web. This provides real-time opt-in insights.
  • Social analytics provide data on audience demographics, content engagement, clicks, and other KPIs to inform strategy.

A well-planned social media strategy can work wonders for your brand and image. When implemented correctly, it can work to your advantage in creating worldwide visibility. Through effective social media marketing, you can target potential markets, engage in diverse conversations, increase sales, and have a strong brand identity. Social media marketing helps to gain the trust of audiences that may not have been aware of your brand. This tool works two-fold: you learn about different audiences, and they also learn about you.

These are just some of the benefits of social media marketing. Some of the most important advantages from an operational standpoint include the ability to gain valuable customer feedback, continuously improve your processes, stand out from the competition, remain a top-of-mind influencer, and, most of all, attract top talent to your organisation.

An affordable way to market to the masses, social media levels the playing field for organisations of every size.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing: Case study 1

Small business increases brand awareness by 20% using social media marketing.

A small business that sells handmade jewelry used social media marketing to increase brand awareness by 20% in just six months. The business created a social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest and began posting high-quality photos and videos of its products. They also used social media to run contests and giveaways and to engage with their followers.

Benefits of Social Media Marketing: Case study 2

The large corporation generates $1 million in sales using social media marketing.

A large corporation that sells clothing used social media marketing to generate $1 million in sales in one year. The corporation created a social media presence on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and began posting engaging content that promoted its products. They also used social media to run targeted advertising campaigns.

Statistics:

  • According to Hootsuite, there are over 4.6 billion social media users worldwide.
  • According to Sprout Social, 78% of consumers say that social media plays a role in their purchasing decisions.
  • According to HubSpot, 82% of B2B marketers say social media is an important part of their marketing strategy.
  • According to a study by Neil Patel, businesses that use social media marketing generate 20% more leads than businesses that don’t.
  • According to a study by Social Media Examiner, businesses that use social media marketing have a 43% higher close rate than businesses that don’t.

Here are more case studies and recent statistics that you can copy and paste into your article on the benefits of social media marketing:

Case Study 1:

  • Company: Nike
  • Industry: Apparel and footwear
  • Challenge: Increase brand awareness and drive sales
  • Solution: Nike used social media to connect with its target audience, create engaging content, and run targeted ads.
  • Results: Nike’s social media marketing campaigns have helped the company to increase brand awareness by 20% and drive sales by 15%.

Case Study 2:

  • Company: Tesla
  • Industry: Automotive
  • Challenge: Generate leads and sales for new electric vehicles
  • Solution: Tesla used social media to educate consumers about its electric vehicles, generate leads, and drive sales.
  • Results: Tesla’s social media marketing campaigns have helped the company to generate over $1 billion in sales of its electric vehicles.

Case Study 3:

  • Company: Black Lives Matter
  • Industry: Non-profit
  • Challenge: Raise awareness of racial injustice and inspire people to take action
  • Solution: Black Lives Matter used social media to share stories of racial injustice, organize protests, and educate people about the movement.
  • Results: Black Lives Matter’s social media campaigns have helped to raise awareness of racial injustice and inspire people to take action. The movement has over 30 million followers on social media and has organized thousands of protests worldwide.

Recent Statistics:

  • Number of active social media users worldwide: 4.62 billion (Hootsuite, 2023)
  • Percentage of consumers who say that social media plays a role in their purchasing decisions: 78% (Sprout Social, 2023)
  • Percentage of B2B marketers who say that social media is an important part of their marketing strategy: 82% (HubSpot, 2023)
  • ROI of social media marketing for small businesses: 122% (Social Media Examiner, 2023)
  • ROI of social media marketing for medium-sized businesses: 116% (Social Media Examiner, 2023)
  • ROI of social media marketing for large businesses: 110% (Social Media Examiner, 2023)
Digital Transformation Statistics | Digital Transformation | Digital Transformation Strategy

Social Media Marketing: FAQ:

Here are some common questions about social media marketing benefits:

What platforms should we prioritize?

Look at where your target audiences are most active – often Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube top the list.

How much budget should be allocated to social media marketing?

Many brands devote 10-20% of their marketing budget to social initiatives and advertising.

How long does it take to see results?

Allow 3-6 months of consistent posting, community building, and optimization before evaluating performance.

How often should we post content?

1-2 times per day is best for Facebook and Twitter. For Instagram, 2-3 posts per week is optimal.

What are some key performance metrics?

Track reach, engagement, conversions, web traffic, sales, and ROI. Use analytics tools.

Social Media Marketing: Conclusion:

Committing to regular, high-quality social media marketing benefits today’s brands across objectives like awareness, insights, authority, sales, and more. When done strategically and consistently over time, developing an impactful social media presence can pay dividends for businesses of all sizes and industries. The multitude of benefits make social channels key to marketing success.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *