Why social media marketing will change your brand’s life

If utilised correctly, social media marketing has the power to drastically change your brand’s life.
That’s a pretty bold statement. But consider this:
According to a recent report by We Are Social, there are 2.789 billion active social media users worldwide.
And this:
More than 81% of marketers found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours per week invested in social media marketing says the Social Media Examiner.
Those are some pretty huge numbers. Now consider your brand is slightly behind the times (face it, if your brand is not “doing” social, it IS behind the times) and has not invested in a social media marketing strategy.
How many leads and sales are you missing out on? Not to mention engagement, trust and brand awareness? We couldn’t say for sure, but we’re we can tell you, it’s A LOT.
Let’s take a look at the top reasons why social media marketing will change your brand’s life.

Increase brand advocacy, loyalty and trust

By telling your brand’s story in a personal way, you will connect with your customers on a human level and a knock-on effect of that will be earning their trust.

HubSpot’s recent infographic had this to say about millennials (22-35 year olds)

• 95% said they were loyal to brands they like
• 83% said they like it when brands take a public stand for or against issues they believe in
• 78% said they feel like they have power as a consumer to influence big brands

That’s not all. Factory 360 states that:

• 87% of consumers that interacted with a company daily feel loyal to that company
• 57% of small businesses say that having a relationship with their customers is the primary driver of repeat business

That’s powerful stuff right there. It shows that consumers not only want to interact with brands, but that they are loyal to those brands as well.

An online presence will also afford you the power to control your brand message, change (or encourage) perceptions and create brand advocates, influencers if you will, that will amplify your message far and wide.

Improve your SEO game

Social media marketing has a huge effect on your company’s search engine optimisation (SEO).

Brand’s who have an online presence will:

• Improve online search rankings by 55% – this means your brand is more likely to be found when someone does a Google, Bing or Yahoo search
• Increase traffic to your website by 65% – you will attract more customers to your website, which in turn increases the chances of those same customers making a conversion, whether it be to buy products, enquire or download something

We don’t have to tell you that being easily found is a good thing. The more people can find your brand online, the more chance you have of those same people keeping your brand top of mind and making purchases.

Reach your perfect target audience

Traditional marketing has always had a bit of a “spray and pray” approach when it comes to marketing to a specific target audience.

For example if you are targeting young women with an advert in a women’s fashion magazine, you may reach a very broad audience but how many of those young women are actually interested in your specific brand? There’s no way to tell if your message is reaching the correct audience.

Social media marketing eliminates the guesswork.  You can target your perfect audience with the granular audience targeting options which are available on all of the popular social media platforms.

Let’s take the above example and translate it into online marketing. Placing the same advert on a popular social media platform like Facebook, you can target the exact age of the young women (18-25 years old), you can target their geolocation (Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa), and then you can go one step further and target their specifics, such as:

• Interests and hobbies
• Brands they like
• Education
• Online habits
• What their tech preferences are (do they use android or IOS?)
• Relationship status
• Connections/friends

So you see, social media marketing will allow you to show your advert to the people who matter, people who are more likely to engage with your brand and who are more likely to be quality leads. It’s basically quality vs. quantity.

 Improve your customer experience

This one boils down to online reputation management. More and more consumers are turning to social media when they experience a problem with a product or brand.

Recent data suggests that your company’s ability to manage customer service via social media can turn complaints into future revenue.

• 71% of consumers who have had a good social media service experience with a brand are likely to recommend it to others
• 73% of top performing companies said customer service was one of the main reasons they engage in social media

People will complain. This is a reality. But how you respond to those complaints is entirely up to you. You can take a bad situation, like a service or product complaint and turn it to your advantage.

By publically (or privately, depending on your response technique) acknowledging the complaint and telling the customer what you will do to rectify it, in a transparent and human way, you have the power to change that customer’s perceptions. You have the potential to turn that customer who complained into a loyal brand advocate who will then amplify your brand.

Mistakes happen and customers are more willing to forgive a brand who will acknowledge that mistake and apologise. It’s pure human nature.

Become industry leaders

Social media provides an opportunity for you to own a space in the market, this point being particularly great for small to medium sized businesses.

Become a thought leader on a certain topic and share your knowledge with your target audience in an original, relevant and interesting way.

For example, if you are in the food or hospitality industry you could send out daily recipes, food tips, holiday hacks, tips on how/what to pack or where to stay etc.

Similarly, if you are a clothing shop, you could own the Outfit of the Day topic (#OOTD) inspiring your target audience with the latest trends and looks.

Look at where the gap in your particular industry is and then fill that gap. I mean, doesn’t it stand to reason that no one knows your business better than you?

Increase sales, leads and conversions

Now we’re really getting to the heart of the matter. Let’s be realistic, what is your ultimate goal as a business? That’s right. To make a profit.

Let’s take a look at what the stats say. According to Smallbiztrends:

• 41% percent of  businesses say they depend on social media marketing to drive revenue
• Almost 90% of marketers say their social marketing efforts have increased exposure for their business, and 75% say they’ve increased traffic
• More than 50% of marketers who have been implementing social media marketing tactics for two years have reported improved sales

Change your brand’s life – Time to invest in a social media marketing strategy

To sum it all up, if your brand does not have a professional social media presence, you are missing a clear opportunity to:

• Increase brand advocacy, loyalty and trust
• Increase sales, leads and conversions
• Improve your SEO
• Reach your perfect target audience
• Improve your customer experience
• Make friends and influence people

What are you waiting for? If you’re ready to let social media marketing change your brand’s life today then contact us for free quote, or simply pop on it for a cup of java and a chat.

What do you think? Agree or disagree that social media marketing will change your brand’s life? Share your opinion with us in the comments below.