As per the InternetWorldStats there are over 3.7 billion internet users reported till March, 2017. The number is still counting & as forecasted, will multiply with a great margin in the coming years.
Out of these 3 billion users, more than 2 billion are active on social media platforms.
The alone sense behind social platforms becoming marketing giants is the number of benefits it offers and thus, has become obligatory for businesses.
Here is a list of benefits every business must avail out social media.
Benefit 1: Understanding The Customer Better
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Generating customer data in real time is the best thing social media can do for you. There are millions of daily posts over various social platforms.
Amongst million of such posts, there is a vast pool of information about customers, like – what are their likings, who they are and how they feel about your brand.
Being active with the social engagement and listening, a lot of relevant & useful data/information can be picked up, that can help in strategizing better and to make wiser & smarter business decisions.
There are various analytics like, Buffer, Followerwonk, etc. available that can help a business can gather real time social insights, that allows a business to evaluate customer emotions, inspect conversations happening over platforms and run real-time reports.
Benefit 2: Create A Better Brand Awareness & Loyalty
Having a digital presence over social platforms makes it easier for your customers to locate you & connect with you socially.
With the higher engagement rate & better connections over social media, will get a business to avail higher customer retention and improved brand loyalty.
It not only escalates brand awareness over social networks, but also upsurges the website traffic. The better sharing & liking rate of your social posts, the better and higher search ranking you will have.
Customers lately expect a business to have a social presence by default. Social media has become the new way of customer support. More than 60% of customers nowadays are heading towards social platforms for customer services.
With a demand for quick turnaround time and round-the-clock support, a business can only win, when it is equipped to justify such demands.
Benefit 3: Better Sales
Leveraging your business with positive regular customer interactions and timely customer service, with the help of social media, definitely accelerates business sales.
As per the study by MHI Global, the top & reputed companies found social media as the most useful & effective way to select key decision makers and also find new business opportunities. 75% companies invested in social media selling and witnessed an increase in sales.
But, here is a precaution a business must take. Social media should not be bombarded with a company’s sales pitch. Instead, use it to build healthy and positive customer relationships.
Like, in case you a travelling company, as an alternative to direct sales of a package,you’re your customers engage in interactions, like if any query they can get in touch over social media and thus making it an effective indirect sales effort.
Benefit 4: Effective Content Distribution
Avoiding the struggle to deliver fresh content and that too in a short span of time, marketers are now encouraging the use of social media. It is of great help when it comes to sharing brand content in your targeted social network.
This works for both organic reach & as well as paid reach on social media.
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Social media is the most cost-effective way of business promotion and content distribution. It even offers a great opportunity to target the right audience.
With an option to filter the audience on LinkedIn based on their location, age, gender, company, etc. also, on Facebook based on their behaviors, demographics, location, interests and connection. With such filtration, it offers powerful targeting options.
You can also track & measure your social ad performance in real-time.
Location specific targeting has proven numbers to help a business escalate effective targeting. With various tools, social media can become a true blessing to right targeting.
Benefit 5: In Effect Competitor Analysis
As stated above, social media allows to track performance in real-time, however, another great benefit that you can gain from it, effective monitoring to gain key insights about the leading competitions.
To stay ahead of your competitors, such insights can be a great source to make strategic business decisions. And based on the insights and research, you can improve on the business offerings, new product development and also existing product enhancement. You can even add content that might be missing.
To close the benefits in a short summary,
The power of social media is inimitable. With every business trying to have their hands on it, using it effectively to leverage the before mentioned benefits of social media for your business, is the only trick to success.
So how is your business using social media? Are you making the most out of it?
Do share your take on social media & how it has benefited your business in recent times.
