4 Obvious Reasons Why Social Media Is Vital To Your Marketing Strategy

Social media permeates every aspect of our lives, 24 hours a day. It plays hosts to millions of diverse customer demographics, making it ripe for businesses of any size wanting to enhance their marketing strategy.

 If you’re not making the most of your social presence, here are four obvious reasons why it matters and how to enhance your strategy tenfold. 

You can build a real rapport with customers

You might have the best product on the market, but if you haven’t built a genuine rapport with your customers, then it’ll come to little. Because it’s not just about the product — it’s about the experience.

Your customers’ experience of your brand is formed by how you are on social. The things you say, how you interact with your followers, your tone of voice — these all go towards creating a positive customer experience which in turn fosters a powerful social rapport.

A strong relationship encourages customers to engage (and shop) with your brand. They return to your store not just because they like your product or service, but because of you.

Takeaway tips

Your social strategy is a two-way street. When your customers reach out to you, you need to respond.

Respond to comments and queries, and do so sincerely. Avoid generic bot responses — savvy customers can spot these a mile off. Be friendly and personal, speaking in the same brand voice that you use throughout your marketing.

Yes, making a concerted effort at genuine social interactions demands time and effort… but it pays off.

You can deal with customer complaints swiftly

A staggering 80% of customers head to social to engage and raise issues with brands. And complaining on social isn’t like complaining over the phone or by email: it’s visible, it’s impactful, and it can easily spiral into a marketing nightmare.

Consequently, it’s important that you deal with complaints on social rapidly when they arise. Be reactive to head any issues off at the pass.

Because it’s not just about resolving an unhappy shopper’s complaint. It’s about showing your followers that you care about your customers. You’re a brand that cares and you value their happiness.

It’s essentially PR management. Where your reputation would have previously been protected in print and digital media, today it’s different. Social media is the battleground on which brand reputations are won (and lost), so it’s important you’re present to fight for it.

Takeaway tips

Use a social monitoring tool to react to complaints as they happen. There are plenty of affordable options out there, and one single dashboard is all you need to respond to issues swiftly.

And remember, always be polite and sincere in your response. Some brands can pull off the irreverent, tongue-in-cheek retort, but they’re in the minority.

Instead, respond to their original tweet or post calmly, letting them know that you understand their concern. But you should then ask them to direct message you privately with details of their issue.

Taking the discussion off social lets you resolve issues discreetly without potentially damaging your reputation in the public sphere.

You can boost traffic and generate leads

No, social media will (probably) never replace SEO. But if your SEO is lacking or you’re struggling to make a dent against your competitors, social media can give you some headway.

A strong social media strategy drives traffic to your website. When you share interesting or useful blogs, images, videos, and other content on your social feed, you compel your audience to click through to your homepage, in turn helping you generate leads.

Of course, it isn’t quite as cut-and-dried as that. The content has to resonate with your audience, and it has to be worth their time. If you know your audience, you’ll know what makes them tick — find that, and you’ll find what they want.

Takeaway tips

I hate to break it to you, but on social, a click doesn’t come for free. You have to earn that click.

How? By giving your followers a reason to click. It’s a simple premise, but one worth diving into.

And while creating valuable or entertaining content such as guides or listicles are certainly compelling enough for many followers to click, going beyond that will increase your clicks tenfold.

Offer customers a social lead magnet, something tangible that they can take away and keep. Flipbooks, ebooks, even Kindle books — these freebies are easy to create and a goldmine for clicks. And the flipbook creator by Designrr lets you create a lead magnet in minutes from your existing content that’s affordable, quick, and clickable. Nice.

And remember to direct followers to a specific landing page where they can sign up for your lead magnet. Make it visually seamless and instantly attractive to really see those leads.

It’s cheap and versatile for growing businesses

A social media presence is absolutely free in its most basic form. Signing up for a Facebook page or YouTube channel costs absolutely nothing, even for businesses. Even getting verified is free!

The only real cost of a social media marketing strategy, aside from any scheduling tools or content creation apps, is your paid social ads.

Social ads are great for businesses of any size. They appear on your customer’s feeds in visible places, either directly in their feed or to the side. Plus many of them offer comprehensive targeting options so you can aim certain ads at specific customer demographics for better lead generation.

Paid social ads will likely be your biggest expense on your social strategy. But with such a wide and diverse consumer base on social, they’re worth it.

Takeaway tips

If you do use paid social ads, don’t splurge your budget early on. A careful, considered approach to your social ad strategy will pay dividends — it just takes time.

The great thing about social ads is that you can pay as much or as little as you like. The cost will vary from platform to platform and industry to industry, but by and large, they’re very affordable.

To start with, create a small batch of ads to be shown to a small target audience. Use the platform’s built-in A/B testing service (or try a third party tool) to determine which elements resonate most with your audience.

Once you’ve nailed the perfect ad formula, you can gradually scale it to increase leads for your business. Don’t overreach though — let your social ad strategy grow with you.

 

Above are just four reasons why social media is essential for your marketing strategy. While there are dozens more reasons, the above should be enough to make you fall in love with social media marketing all over again. Be inspired and make the most of your social strategy today.