Scott Design

If you’re not sure whether social media marketing fits in your company’s overall marketing plan, or you’re not really sure about the tangible benefits of marketing your brand or solutions on social media sites, I’d like to offer a list of some reasons to become involved in social media marketing.

1. Social media marketing is now considered a best practice.

No longer a fringe marketing activity, social media marketing is often an integral part of a state-of-the-art marketing campaign, providing highly efficient and effective ways of reaching your customers. Costs for social media marketing are relatively low compared with those of other outreach efforts, and social media marketing can be targeted to exact audiences you want to reach. Even if you don’t currently have any social media initiatives, you can bet your competitors are working on theirs.

2. Social media marketing drives traffic to your website.

Social media can be more effective at driving people to your website. Your website might get some regular visitors, plus those who find you through search engines. But, what if you could post something online and those who read your message forwarded it along to their friends? You can benefit from the primary traffic of initial contacts, followed by the secondary traffic from referrals and links on other websites.

3. Social media marketing improves your search engine rankings.

Large groups of organic (non-paid) links to your site improve your ranking in most search engines. These links can come from the social media sites you use to promote your brand, plus the links that others post who are interested in your company or solutions.

4. Social media marketing lets you join the conversation.

Your customers are probably already talking about you online, and if they’re not, you should make a place for them to do so. Participating in an online community lets you be in the conversation, promoting your company, answering questions about your solutions, and promoting quality conversations. Loyalty increases when customers are part of a community where they can share concerns, generate ideas, and collaborate on solving problems. Your social media campaigns can be a great source for market information, customer feedback, survey results, and more direct communication with your target audience.

5. Social media marketing amplifies your marketing messages.

When customers rebroadcast your message, they amplify it. If you include a social media marketing component with every outbound marketing campaign, such as an e-mail blast, banner ad, direct mail, PR, or advertising campaign, you can multiply the effects. More traffic can be driven directly to your landing pages or 800 number, securing a better reach for your promotions.

Give it a try.

The list above presents just a few of the reasons why you should include a social media component in every marketing campaign. If you have a social media marketing plan in place, start expanding your reach in different places. If you don’t have any social media marketing initiatives, get started with a blog, a Twitter account, and a Facebook company page. Just make sure you get started soon, to take advantage of all the benefits that social marketing can add to your company’s marketing efforts.

Let me know if you have other reasons why companies should be implementing a social media marketing campaign, and if you do, let me know how it goes!

Author: Kirsti Scott