When it comes to businesses and marketing, people assume that social media marketing is the way forward.
There are many advantages and disadvantages to social media marketing, however when you do it right, it can transform your business.
So, today we will be introducing where social media began and how social media can benefit your business when it’s done correctly!
Where Did Social Media Start?
Social media first appeared in 1997 with SixDegrees.com, but the first platform to reach a million monthly active users was MySpace in 2002. Of course, it has changed drastically since then. Facebook is one of the oldest and the most popular out there, being founded in 2004 and standing the test of time, as in 2022, there are now 2.9 billion active monthly users!
YouTube was founded in 2005 then Twitter followed the following year. The creators of Facebook have begun to monopolise social media, purchasing Instagram a few years ago and then creating Meta featuring the Metaverse, the hub for all the social media channels they own. Since then, many social media crazes have come and gone, but the major ones that have stuck around are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn and now there is a new major giant that is taking over: TikTok.
Social media was previously almost always reserved for the younger generation, and some platforms still are with the likes of Snapchat and TikTok. However, this is changing, as many more people are turning to social media to keep in touch with family and friends, to follow their interests and to purchase! 4.62 billion people use some form of social media in the world, which highlights the power if you can utilise the platform correctly.
Because of this, there are many benefits to social media, whether you use it for the organic side of things or for paid advertising. Social media has a large audience on it. So, let’s see exactly what it can do for your business.
Advantages of Social Media
1. Brand Awareness
Improving brand awareness is one of the main reasons why a business may use social media. Any other kind of brand awareness would require quite a significant amount of budget, but you can use social media for free to advertise your business which is a huge benefit. If you think how much having a billboard might cost, and you don’t even know if it will be targeting the right kind of people.
Whereas, with social media, you can target much more qualified audiences for much less. Often brand awareness occurs very naturally on social media too, think about it, how many times have you shared a page, a local business or a friend’s post, it doesn’t cost anything and, it has the potential to reach so many people. If the business posts engaging content and engages with customers, often, your followers will do the rest.
2. Keeping Customers Satisfied
Keeping customers satisfied is arguably one of the best benefits of running a social media page for your business. This is the opportunity to add a personal yet professional twist to your business, engaging with your followers, answering their questions, providing good customer service, and creating a whole environment that your customers can get involved with. An example would be Paddy Power, as they post funny, relevant, and very timely social media videos throughout the year, capturing people’s attention and often creating viral posts.
We touched briefly on customer service but operating this through social media can help customers to feel more cared for. If people outside your brand see that you are interacting with customers, it can be a big factor in encouraging them to buy a product. However, this does have its downsides, as if customers are commenting and you fail to respond, it can have a negative impact, so make sure to manage the comments section correctly.
Social Media Marketing Can Be Inexpensive
If done correctly, having a successful social media presence can be completely free! It doesn’t cost to create a page or profile, nor to attract followers and engage with them. Just like it doesn’t cost to post pictures or videos. However, you do have the opportunity to boost posts which will cost money or advertise through Google Ads Manager. Although this will cost, you can target a highly relevant and engaged audience.
We’d always recommend working with an agency for the most effective performance, as you may end up spending a lot of money with little return if you don’t know the best way to optimise campaigns. You could take digital learning courses, and this would be a very valuable skill to have indeed considering how much money there is in social media advertising.
Increase Traffic To Your Website
Online marketing is there to increase your revenue, as well as traffic to the site, again improving brand awareness. Engaging and reader-friendly web content is likely to get people onto your website and increase the chances of getting more conversions or enquiries. Even if they don’t make a purchase on their first visit, when they have a good experience, they are likely to return at another time.
If there is a particular product that you want to push, like party bodysuits, you can direct traffic to this page specifically both organically and through the paid advertising. The important thing to remember is that just because you are posting a few posts a day, does not mean you will get traffic consistently. You need to ensure it is relevant content that you are consistently posting to make it a real success.
Summary
As you can see, there are many benefits to social media, and it can really help to transform your businesses’ online presence. However, you do have to be committed to working hard and making it work!
Manuela Willbold
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