83% or 4.2 billion people worldwide are active on social media. Platforms like Facebook (Meta), Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, WhatsApp, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, etc. are a few leading social media platforms.
Companies looking to build a connection with their target audience have a great opportunity to do so through these social media platforms.
Here are a few advantages of social media through which you can boost your business profitability –
- Promotion – A company’s digital assets especially social media accounts can be used to promote the company’s latest products, services or any promotional communication. Social media has a large user base and hence is an ideal mode for the company’s mobile marketing strategy.
- Communication – It is possible to communicate with a wide audience across the globe through these mediums. Depending on the preferred media by the target audience, companies can develop their social media marketing strategies around it. Social media offer faster communication.
- Connection – With proper targeting and marketing strategies, building a connection with the target audience not only becomes feasible but increases customer loyalty. Personifying the brand to have a human-like communication experience enhances the brand image and helps to strengthen the customer connection.
- Lead generation – Social media marketing is an important source of lead generation in any digital marketing strategy. These platforms can be an excellent way to drive more traffic to the company website.
Paid ads on social media such as images, videos, carousals, stories, or interactive ads prompt the viewers to click on the website link or landing page link thus initiating action from the viewers. These mediums are often the first step of the customer acquisition funnel. A report by Curalate found that 76% of consumers have purchased a product they’ve seen in a social media post.
- Influencer marketing – Influencers have loyal and trusting viewership and followers. People do not prefer ads. With ad blockers, brands find it difficult to reach their target audience. Influencer marketing is a great medium of expression for brands.
Influencers bring trust and a loyal fan base to the table which are more likely to convert to paying customers.
- Thought leadership – Brands tend to have more followers when they are visualizers, trendsetters, or vocal about their innovations. Thought leadership can set a brand apart from its competitors. LinkedIn and Twitter are the perfect microblogging sites for brands to express themselves and create a following for their thoughtful posts, images, or videos.
- Recall and recognition – Following a particular communication strategy, consistent messaging, imagery, and visual cues help the audience to easily recollect the brand name and brand posts can be made easily recognizable. Consistent communication helps enhance the recognition and recall of the brand.
- Analytics – Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube offer analytics reports that help companies track their followers, demography, geographical location, average session duration, top engagement (number of views or likes), in the case of paid ads, the returns on the money invested and goal accomplishment rate. These analytical tools help companies to measure the success of their campaigns or messaging and take corrective actions whenever required.
Since one size does not fit all, having a social media strategy to target various demographic groups is essential. Social media marketing is a cost-effective way for businesses to reach large audiences in a short time span.
However, the world of digital marketing is dynamic and undergoes frequent changes, hence understanding these changing dynamics is crucial to develop sound digital marketing strategies that yield higher returns.
MIT School of Distance Education (MITSDE) is one such institute that understands the current skills gap in the market and strives hard to reduce it. For this purpose, MITSDE brings to you PG Certification in Digital Marketing (PGCM Digital Marketing). This course in digital marketing covers the latest concepts in online marketing, gives hands-on training on the latest tools, and teaches you to create a virtual brand, analyse market trends, and design campaigns.
