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Top 10 Reasons Why Your Business Should Invest In Social Media

Social media is now, realistically, something that no business can do without. In fact, social media statistics from 2019 show more than 3.5 billion people use social media across the world, and that number is growing fast. By not harnessing the power of platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and investing in all they have to offer, your company is missing out on an incredibly useful resource.

Here we look at the top 10 reasons why it's so important to invest in social media as part of a successful broader digital marketing strategy.

1. Social media helps you engage with your customers

Social media represents a great way to interact with your customers, and for them to interact with each other. The more you engage with those buying your products or using your services, the more likely you are to make a sale. It’s ideal for establishing a two-way conversation too, and meeting their queries and demands in a timely manner. Once your social media presence grows, it’s also worth having a team of people looking after it 24/7. They can then provide an even faster service and deal even more quickly with any issues.

2. Social media builds marketplace awareness

Besides actually having a conversation with your customers, another excellent use for social media is in building marketplace awareness. It’s highly valuable and can often show customers’ more niche behaviour. For example, by looking at the activities on your profile you’ll be able to see the opinions and interests of your customers, which without a social media presence you may well not otherwise have known. Such a goldmine of information can be an excellent research tool, giving you a better understanding of your industry along the way, including latest trends and demographics.

3. Social media is a chance to get creative

Social media channels forever adapt, change and update. Brand new platforms appear regularly, and new features, both paid and free, are constantly being added to ones already in existence.

With so many updates and trials of new features across the social media landscape, it’s the ideal time for your business to experiment. Invest time (and money) in trying out a mixture of different platforms and features to see which work best for you. The responses, comments and data you’ll gain will then be ideal in driving your marketing strategy going forward.

4. Social media can boost SEO rankings

Having an up-to-date social media presence is essential for businesses in calculating rankings. SEO requirements change all the time, and it’s no longer good enough to simply have a website and maybe a few blog pieces. Modern SEO demands new information to be added to your web presence constantly - and social media is an easy, quick and effective way of doing this. Alongside regular website and blog updates, social media puts your brand in a good light with the likes of Google. It gives improved integrity and validity too.

5. Social media means promotional opportunities

Encouraging customers to your business by offering money off or special promotions is a tried and tested way of marketing - and social media is the perfect way to do it. Not only can updates be made quickly, easily and from anywhere, your promotion will reach a far larger audience. You’ll also be able to view conversion data and track the success of your campaign much more effectively.

6. Social media can help with recruitment

By developing a good online presence for your business, you’re much more likely to attract the attention of potential new employees who are social network savvy. Any job roles you post will again reach a huge audience, particularly individuals with social media and technology experience. This in turn allows you to attract the best candidates for the job and further boost your company’s profile online.

7. Social media can mean more flexibility

Traditional marketing methods such as print advertising are not particularly dynamic. However, social media can be updated constantly and instantly, to reflect new information, news and trends in relation to both your business and the sector it operates in. It’s more informal and allows for greater autonomy in what is posted and when.

8. Social media can improve customer satisfaction

Social media is an important communication and networking platform. It helps to give your company a voice, and make it seem more personal, genuinely caring about its customers. If they have a question, problem or need advice, customers can actually get a near-instant reply from a real human being rather than a machine. It puts your brand in a very positive light, and customers like it.

9. Social media allows for better feedback

Users of social media are likely to give their opinions and share reviews. They therefore represent an excellent method of achieving organic feedback, which in turn can drive your product development. After all, as customers that use your product or service, they’re best placed to know what works and what doesn’t. You can then see where improvements need to be made, and such feedback can also inspire ideas for future product lines and promotions.

10. Social media can help you keep an eye on the competition

As you’ll know, staying competitive is vital to business success. Social media offers a great way of monitoring what companies producing a similar product to you are up to, which in turn can keep you one step ahead of the game. Are there any competitions or promotions your competitors are running at the moment that you could replicate and improve? Perhaps they recently launched a product that flopped, so you now know to avoid the same mistake! Whatever it is they’re engaged in, you can be sure social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are the ideal places to keep track of it.

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