Why Social Media Is a Powerful Tool for Influencing Business Growth

March 23, 2017 Digital Marketing,Social Media Marketing

If you have been following headlines on social media news for the past few years, you might probably be thinking that;

• Simply opening a Facebook page for your brand will double your revenues
• If you open a Twitter account today, you will gain followers in hordes

Well, social media is powerful –very powerful – but none of the above might be true. Just like on any other platform, social media results do not come on a silver platter. However, when used strategically over a considerable time, social media can turn out to be one of the most powerful toolsever invented. It serves as one of the most powerful marketing tools. Why would this be so?

Customers are everywhere

For someone who wants to reach his target audience the easier way, social media is the avenue to use. It brings together people fromdifferent backgrounds. Facebook boasts of over 2 billion users, half of whom are active at least once in a month. Any brand trying to establish itself in the marketis more likely to find its target audience on social media than anywhere else. As such, focusing your efforts on social media marketing is the best way to go.

Enhanced Targeting Options

Initially, locating your target audience on social media used to be a challenge. With advancement in technology, the targeting options have become finer. In particular, paid advertisement options have become better over the years. Take, for instance, the Power Editor that has replaced the initial ‘pay to play’ targeting option on Facebook. With this feature, it is possible to segment your audience to a manageable number of people, say hundreds. This is based on various interest groups like age, location, gender, and individual interests.

The new technology allows companies to use hard data to narrow down their targeting. In turn, companies now have the chance to target more potential leads via the social networks. With improvement in technology, this is bound to get even better.

Relationship Building Platform

In order to convert leads into purchases, companies must establish closer relationships with their audiences. No; media training is necessary to know that. Social media provides just the perfect platform for achieving that. The practicability and accessibility of social media makes it the perfect platform for building relationships. Various issues like events and shared interests make social media such a perfect platform for bonding. It is also a platform where all sorts of customers will come to make inquiries, both old and new. Ideally, social media is no longer the place where brands reach their audiences; it is the place to engage clients.

Ease of Real Time Marketing

Yet another thing that makes social media such a powerful marketing tool is the ease of real-time marketing within it. This marketing strategy involves events taking place within minutes of posting. For those who understand it, real-time marketing is advantageous because it capitalises on emotional time. It is an easier way of making yourself relevant just when it counts most. Such happenings include major political rallies or sports events.

Although companies have been doing something similar in the past years, the advent of social media made it easier to keep in touch with every-minute proceedings. It isa simple way of taking advantage of the fact that many people rely on their social channels for daily news. Gain essential public recognition by simply jumping into the conversation through your brand. The interest generated will increase your brand’s visibility.

Harnessing the Power of Social Networks

It is clear that social media is a powerful tool, especially in marketing. However, simply having a Facebook page or Twitter account for your brand isn’t going to get you the results you desire. There is much more to it. To harness the tremendous power of social media, you need to focus on what counts. This includes;

• Attracting the attention of potential customers.You have one foot in if you are able to target and engage new customers.
• Using social media to put an irresistible face behind your brand. It is highly effective when you are able to establish your authority through social media. Establish your brand as one of dignity – something people can associate with and respect.
• Building lists by making visitors your ‘assets’. Let social media be the place where you get quality links and authentic traffic back to your site.
• Consistently scaling the conversion rates.You need to turn ordinary followers into customers. This takes planning, time and dedication. Social media demands a huge investment of time if you are to increase the ROI.

Avoid the common pitfalls

To leverage the power of social media, companies and personalities need to be aware of the common pitfalls. The ideal power of social media is influence and many companies easily lose this without realising it until it is too late. Several brands that are not leveraging the power of social media to the best of their abilities make unforgivable mistakes such as;

• Circulating the same content across different social media channels –not all social networks are the same. The audiences on these platforms are different. As such, the mode of content delivery should also vary. Instead of clumping them together, approach each social media as a different marketing tool.
• Only posting conversion posts instead of engaging content – no one wants to feel used. With so many brands asking for contact information, people are cautious when it comes to submitting their contacts. They need to trust you and that only comes by building healthy relationships through engaging content.
• Targeting everyone using every social media platform available – not all social media platforms are suitable for your brand. Focus on social platforms where your target audience is. Reserve the others for personal leisure.

Conclusion

Social media grants you access to the largest pool of people in the entire universe. You can easily leverage the power of social media through a combination of strategies. For social media to produce results, you need to see beyond reaching your customers. You must also engage them.