The Importance of Social Media
Our focus in this article will be to discuss social media and why it’s an important factor of a successful online marketing campaign.
Online marketing isn’t a “one size fits all” concept – everyone has to do their own experimenting to determine what works for them and what doesn’t. That being said, there are several things which are known to support a successful online marketing campaign, one of which is social media.
Over the last decade we’ve seen several big platforms come out of the works, such as Facebook and Twitter, and we’ve even seen some previously reputable platforms fall – looking at you, MySpace!
Do You Need Social Media?
The short answer – no, you don’t need to use social media. As we said before, you have to experiment with different marketing methods and find out what’s the most effective for you. If social media isn’t proving to have the results that you anticipated, then there’s no shame in throwing in the towel.
However, even if social media isn’t yielding the expected results, you should continue to pursue it. By making social media a key focus of your marketing efforts, you’ll speed up the effectiveness of your campaign and within weeks, you’ll start to see an increase in traffic and sales.
Why You Need Social Media
It’s Free! Taking into consideration how effective of a tool social media is, all major social media platforms are free, and it will cost you nothing to start implementing it into your campaign. Of course, this also opens the doors to new paid advertisement approaches too.
Audience Interaction. It’s important for your audience to see that there is a person behind your brand or business. With social media, you’re able to interact with your audience easily and by doing so, you’re able to positively influence your public relations.
Easy Sharing. Social media is a great way to connect with your audience, share any content that you publish, anything that you’re working on, and generally share information about your brand with your followers. The majority of your target audience will be on social media and by providing them with pages to follow, they’re able to keep up with your website. On top of this, if you post any interesting content, your followers can share your posts with their friends and family, further expanding your audience.
Receive Feedback. This is something that a lot of online businesses don’t consider nor take into account, but by requesting feedback from your social media following, you’re able to determine the weaknesses in your services (or product) and improve upon them. Similarly, you’re also able to see what your strengths are and continue to pursue them.
Discovery. Having a social media presence will automatically add another way for potential customers to find your business. Let’s take Twitter, for example. If you add a hashtag to the end of your tweets, then anyone who searches for that hashtag will be able to view your tweets and this will make discovering your website and your brand easier.
What You Need to Do
If you don’t already have a social media presence then the first thing you need to do is select a few platforms (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are your best choices), and create your profiles.
After that, all you have to do is regularly post new and attractive content so that you can engage with your audience, increase your website hits, and ultimately benefit your brand more than you can imagine.
To Conclude…
Reiterating what we previously said, social media is by no means necessary for an online marketing campaign to be successful, although it will make your life a lot easier and your efforts even more effective. You don’t have to focus all of your attention on social media but by taking a few minutes out of your day to post a new status, interact with your following and show that you’re a brand who cares. You’ll improve your public image and thus bring more customers your way.