Why Social Media Marketing Is So Important for Your Business

If you are one of the 225 million people in the United States who uses social media on a daily basis, I don't have to explain to you the widespread growth of information shared on these platforms. As social media platforms continue to emerge and grow, it becomes more and more impossible to ignore or doubt their importance and influence.

Anywhere that many people are spending their time day-to-day is important for business owners to pay attention to. However, just because you are using social media, doesn't mean you are a social media marketer. Marketers are constantly searching for new ways to promote their content, products and services, and with this, finding new and creative ways to harness the power of social media. 

So, What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is using social media platforms to drive traffic to your website, engage your target audiences and promote your brand.

Since the dawn of the internet, marketers have preached the importance ensuring your business is visible and active online. Social media marketing has not only made being visible easier but has made it even more consequential through free information sharing and intelligent advertising.

Social media marketing requires a thorough marketing strategy.

Like any new marketing campaign that your business launches, you need to do have a strategy for what you want to achieve and a plan for implementing it. Just because you also use social media in your personal life, doesn't mean you are an expert in social media marketing.

With millions active daily users in the United States, social media platforms serve your audience right to you. But as with all marketing outlets, you need to have a plan in place to make sure you are getting the most mileage out of every post. Before you start sharing content on your business profiles, take these steps to create an awesome social strategy:

• Set Goals like growing your online community through social media followers or increasing traffic to your website.
• Do Research into what social media platforms your ideal clients are using most frequently. It is better to have a really strong presence on a few social media platforms than spread yourself thin across too many. Plus, you don't want to waste your time optimizing your content for platforms your ideal clients may not be using.
• Check in on Your Competitors to see what they are doing on social media to make sure you are staying competitive.
• Update Your Keyword Strategy to include colloquial terms your ideal clients are using on social media to use in your posts and hashtags.
• Optimize Your Content for each social media platform. For example, Instagram is a visual media sharing network that doesn't allow users to click out of the app to your website. Pinterest is a bookmarking and content curation site that is also very visual and is based on the idea of users saving their favorite content. Twitter has a 280 character limit for all posts, so make sure your message is succinct. 
• Post Frequently so your followers and prospects see that your business is active and reliable. 
• Consider Advertising on social media platforms where you are getting the best engagement. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest are great outlets for advertising with a little help.
• Review Your Analytics to see what's working and what isn't. The best information you can use to inform your social media marketing strategy is from your own efforts. 

Why is social media marketing important to businesses?

Social media marketing is a powerful strategy that should be a part of every businesses' marketing plan to augment other efforts like blogging and email marketing.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TO HELP YOUR IDEAL CLIENTS FIND YOUR CONTENT.

Are you creating content around your brand to promote your business online? Use social media to boost your content's reach. If you have a highly visual brand, post photos, videos and graphics on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest so you show up in your ideal clients' feeds. 

Are you writing helpful blogs, eBooks, white papers, checklists and more geared towards solving your ideal clients' problems? Share that content on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter with a link back to your website. Social media is a growing source of successful businesses' website traffic.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TO STRENGTHEN YOUR SEO.

Using social media as a platform to share your content helps build links to your website that support your SEO efforts. The more traffic you get to your website, the more valuable and authoritative Google sees your content. When Google is happy, it shows your website to more people.

Also, many social media users search for content on their preferred platforms, much like they do on search engines. Having reviews, followers and engaging keyword-rich content will help your business show up in these searches and on search engine results pages.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TO GIVE YOUR CLIENTS AND CUSTOMERS AN OUTLET TO BRAG ABOUT YOU.

Social media is a great place to ask for reviews and referrals from your clients and customers. People who are researching you and your competitors will see the value in your five-star rating over anything you could say about yourself. Consumers trust the opinions of other users. We call this social proof.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING TO BE MORE CONNECTED WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS AND PROSPECTS.

Social media allows you to react in an instant. Whether social media users are commenting on your posts, sending you messages about your products and services or sharing their own posts about your business, you can have better transparency and communication with them on social media than almost anywhere else. Use this connection to build your list of contacts to use for other lead nurturing campaigns.

Can't do this alone? 

As a social media marketing agency, we're here to help.

What's stopping you from marketing your business on social media? If I had to guess, I'd say the biggest barrier to implementing a thoughtful and thorough social media marketing plan is time. Social media marketing can be a full-time job, trust me. If you are serious about using social media as a marketing tool, you may need help from a social media marketing agency. 

Full-service social media management agencies can expand your brand across multiple channels using custom created and curated content relevant to your industry that will prove that you understand your audience. With the help of an agency focused on social media marketing, companies like yours create branded connections with their clients, patients or partners that can change behavior, provide value and influence perceptions.

Our brand Charlotte Social Media helps businesses every day grow online through social media marketing. It's all about engaging your audience and providing value. We can help you figure out how and make it happen! If you have questions about how to implement these strategies for your business, or just want to chat, contact us! 

You can also check out this really cool workbook for using social media to generate new leads for your business.