Don’t Overlook Social Media in your Internet Marketing campaign!

The rise of social media in the past decades

Since the inception of the internet to the introduction of the first social media site Six degrees back in 1997 to becoming an indispensable part of marketing for businesses globally, social media has come a long way in the past two decades and how! LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram have become social media magnates, helping build and strengthen personal or professional connections. But that's not the extent of how social media is being utilized.  Business of all scale; SME or large are leveraging from what different social media platform has to offer. While almost a decade ago, not many businesses were investing in building their online presence but now not having a social media page for your business, today would be unusual and a significant loss of opportunities.  While what was primarily focused on targeting private individuals to share their thoughts and connect with like-minded people, soon began to garner not just private but those of certain business sector. Take, for instance, spurge in the video games with the internet, made video and game developer realize how they can better connect and market their skills and expertise.  Similarly, Myspace proliferation became a ground for the fledgling brands to get the producer and big music agencies to notice them and give them a chance to showcase their talents in front of the world. 

An example of how social media has evolved for business purpose is, when sensing the pattern, Facebook, which was initially only a student only website opened itself for businesses to attract and engage their target audience. The shift that has been brought into marketing with its unique approach has helped companies better understand their customers and market directly to them via organic marketing.
Such is the evolution of social media into a powerful marketing tool that 90% of businesses in the United States are invested in social media marketing.  Speaking of investment, it is expected that social media marketing spending will increase almost 10 billion from what it was in 2014, i.e., 17 billion US dollar in 2019. Considered the second most effective marketing channel, with 63% agreeing to its ability to strengthen the business's relationship with potential and existing customers, social media marketing has changed the entire marketing landscape and its operations.  While the foundation of building and strengthening relationship remains the same, the ones being addressed here have changed from individual to target audience. With the technology advancing and escalating usage of smartphone, making social media more accessible it should not come as a surprise that the total number of social media users worldwide, as of 2019 are 3.2 billion.

Do you know how much time is spent on social media daily? Per the Global Web Index 2018 report, a user spends 2 hours 22 minutes on a social media platform. Imagine the opportunities that businesses and brands can take advantage of from the data mentioned above. With social media changing the face of marketing, it is crucial for brands to plan and execute their campaigns through these various channels.

How will internet marketing without social media cost your business?

A subset of digital marketing, internet marketing comprises of several components necessary to ensure a brand’s success on online platforms, one of which is social media marketing.  With millions of users spending a considerable amount of time on social media, overlooking it would be losing out on the business and profitability, it has the potential to bring. But if you are still fishing for a reason, as to why social media marketing should be made an integral part of the internet marketing campaigns, then take a look at the ways your business will suffer if you do otherwise:

• Gone are the days when social media was only used for advertising the launching of the products. Now, as the platforms are evolving, not investing in social media means losing considerable traffic. Social media has the potential to drive more traffic than your traditional search engines. 
• There are no other marketing techniques like social media that lets marketers take control of their brand, improve their social presence by interacting with the consumers, working on improving themselves with their apparent changes. By overlooking social media in your internet marketing campaigns, you would be hindering your growth and the possibility to bolster your position on the internet. 
• Can you overlook the fact that despite being one of the most cost-effective techniques, social media has a broader reach, and that's not it. The audience being advertised by your services to are tactfully selected to be the respective field’s easily influenced ad crucial customer base. 

After all, there must be a reason why 73% of marketers believe that social media marketing has been effective in steering the business ahead and boosting their sales. 

How incorporating social media in your internet campaign help your business?

• Incorporating social media in your internet campaigns will make it look less like an ad and more like a story or conversation starter, giving your business a chance to connect with the audience on an emotional level. 
• Unlike other marketing techniques, social media has the power to make a brand look less like a salesperson devoid of emotion and more like a person willing to provide them with valuable information. 
• Most of the marketing platforms come with the advertisement that interrupts the thought process and perception of the audience about the brand but utilizing social media tunes out these ads and allows marketers to engage the customers in a more relevant manner. 
• With social media, businesses can pique interest in consumers by starting a conversation around the brand or the product/services it is offering, thereby attracting new customers and driving revenue. 
• Social media is a useful tool for enhancing customer experience, as users have the freedom to share positive/negative feedback, their experiences, their concerns, their suggestions, which a business can pick out from and use effectively to improve their services. 

This is not to say that other internet marketing techniques are any less potent, but social media marketing is in a league of its own and going by the looks of it, shall continue to remain the same, helping the business expand with its unique and technologically advanced approach. 

Potent social media strategies for SME and large corporations

One size fits all approach will never work when devising social media strategies. And just because posting and sharing have been the foundation of it, does not mean that social media entails just that. A robust social media strategies should consist of:

• GOAL:

Have you decided on what is your goals behind implementing the policy on social platforms? Is it brand awareness? Driving web traffic? Increasing online sales? Generating new leads, or just extending customer support? Have a clear understanding of what you wish to achieve out of the campaign and then devise a plan. 

• PLATFORM:

Just because there are so many platforms does not mean you will benefit from all of them. Depending upon your scale and which platform your target audience is more active on, you should decide accordingly. Take, for instance, LinkedIn is right for B2Bs; Instagram is good for visual content primarily. Businesses that want to reach a wider audience should market on Facebook, while those who plan to share timely updates and relevant articles should utilize twitter. 

• CONTENT:

While content is the king, not creating and optimizing it right on social media platforms can prove detrimental to the brand. Create content that resonates with the existing customer base and potential consumers. Furthermore, it is essential to have a periodically updated social media schedule to make sure everyone in the team is on the same page. 

• TOOLS:

Take advantage of everything that is trending in your industry, depending upon the impact they are having on the customers. Social tools include Facebook love videos, Instagram stories, and other platform-specific tools which can help escalate your growth on social channels. 

• ADS:

One of the social tools, advertisements are a common feature of social media platforms. It is not necessary that you have to run an announcement about your product and services, making it look intentional. You can run ads to grow awareness, and that might help enhance your audience reach, boost your sales. You can run webinars, promote giveaways and discounts, products, e-books, etc. To get maximum benefits out of your ads, you can create targeted advertisements, create multiple versions of it and an even better step would be to optimize it for specific metrics which could either reach, clicks, etc. Realizing its significance and the intricacies involved in effectively handling social media platforms, an increasing number of businesses are turning to qualified and experienced social media marketing professionals to make sure that their campaigns are strategized in a manner that they extensively contribute to their business goals and objectives.  Saffron Edge, a comprehensive marketing solution provider with a dedicated team of social media marketing experts in New Jersey will ensure your brand stands out of the crowd on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, while you entirely focus on attaining your business objectives.