If you’re planning to grow your business, social media marketing is a must. When combined with a solid overall marketing strategy, social media marketing can help you expand your reach and grow your customer base. 3.2 billion people use social media every year, which is approximately 42% of the population. This is a massive opportunity for you to connect with prospects and customers.

Interestingly, over half of all social media users are interacting with brands more than once every month. It’s easy to see why more than 88% of companies are already using social media marketing.

Here are 5 reasons why you should invest in social media marketing for your business:

1. Understand Your Audience

One of the reasons social channels like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are so effective is the interaction that’s possible with your customer base. You can read their status updates and tweets to gain insights into their consumer behaviors and daily lives. This allows you to answer questions like what products they’re buying and why, the types of hobbies they have, the websites they visit, and the kinds of posts they share.

Obviously, these insights are hugely helpful when it comes to marketing. When you understand your customers, you can write more compelling posts and the type of content they love- leading to more traffic. You’ll also be able to identify pain points, improve your conversions, and even use insights for product development.

2. Build Relationships with Customers and Prospects

The average person considers Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat to be social networks- not marketing networks. Your social media marketing strategy needs to reflect this. If you inundate your followers with customer reviews, product announcements and discount offers, you’re unlikely to see the best results.

The best way to build relationships is to understand where your target audience is hanging out online. Don’t create an account for every social channel. Instead, determine which is most relevant to your audience and your business. It’s better to be excellent at one or two social media channels than mediocre at six or seven.

If your business is B2C, and you’re targeting teens or young people, Snapchat may be a good option. This is because 60% of American Snapchat users are under 24 years old. On the other hand, if you have a B2B business, LinkedIn is likely to be where you should spend the majority of your time and effort. As you can see, it’s crucial to pinpoint exactly which social channel will be best for your particular leads and customers.

3. Increase ROI

Instead of solely using social media to pitch your customers, use it as a way to connect with them. They’re looking for authentic engagement, which you can give them by entertaining them, answering questions, and sharing interests.

This will allow you to build real connections with influencers and industry leaders while becoming part of a community. This means serious ROI. Not only will this type of social media strategy bring you a lot of exposure, but this exposure will attract new leads. These leads become followers, who become customers. Some of these customers will become loyal brand promoters- helping you reach more leads.

4. Improve Customer Service

These days, fast, responsive customer service simply isn’t optional. If your customers have an issue with your product or service, you need to be able to solve it immediately. In fact, 32% of customers expect to have a response from you within 30 minutes online, and 42% expect a response within 60 minutes.

With a dedicated social media marketing strategy, you can ensure that someone is always available to provide your customers with excellent customer service. Customers reward companies that are quick to respond to complaints and requests. With a strong social media presence, you can keep customers happy and make sure your reputation is positive online.

5. Increase Brand Loyalty

You’re probably well aware that your competitors are continually fighting for your share of the market. Repeat customers are the best kind of customers, and it’s much more cost-effective to retain your current customers than it is to find new ones.

A study by Texas Tech found that brands engaging on social media have higher customer loyalty. Loyal customers will also often become brand advocates, and 71% of consumers who’ve had a positive experience with a company on social media say they’re likely to recommend that company to their family and friends.

How do you build this loyalty? Take the time to provide followers with useful, interesting information, entertainment, and help without asking for anything in return. This demonstrates that you value your customers as people- not just as a source of revenue.

It’s important to recognize that investing in social media marketing doesn’t mean you’ll be guaranteed a high ROI right out of the gate. Just like any other marketing strategy, it takes time. However, you can immediately benefit through a better understanding of your audience, better relationships with customers, and more.

Not sure where to get started? We can help. Get in touch today to learn how.