7 Reasons Why Social Media Marketing is Important for Your Small Business

If you’re a small business owner, but have never heard of the importance of social media marketing, then you’re in for a treat. Social media marketing can completely revolutionize your small business. For the past decade or so, the importance of digital marketing for small businesses has been a popular topic for discussion, but in 2018 digital marketing campaigns are useless if they lack social media strategy. Social media platforms are the easiest, most efficient way to build brand awareness, have meaningful engagement with customers and much more.Here are 7 reasons why social media marketing is important for your small business:

Create brand awareness

It’s a simple fact that over 263 million people living in the United States have an active social media account. While not all of those people may fit into your business’ demographics, chances are that many of them will. But how can you convert them into customers if they’ve never heard of your brand?With so many people on social media, having a strong social media presence is the best way to create brand awareness. If you market your social media profiles correctly, you could have hundreds of new customers – not to mention that newsjacking can bring you much more! Having an active business social media account gives you a platform on which to insert your brand into conversations on current events, which can further increase your brand awareness.

Become a brand authority

Active and strategic social media accounts can help your business to become an authority in your industry. What do you need to become a brand authority? You need to show people that you know your industry, engage with customers and prioritize customer service. All of these things can be done quickly and efficiently via social media platforms.Regularly posting pertinent and compelling content on your social media page, as well as responding to customer questions and concerns, proves to customers that you care about them and you care about your business. News of the positive experiences customers have with you will spread and others will trust you, as well, which will help you become a brand authority.

Enhance brand loyalty

There are few things that can propel a business to success faster than loyal customers. When customers are loyal to your brand, it means that your competitors aren’t getting their business and that they will return to you time and time again. It takes a bit of work to create and enhance brand loyalty, but a solid social media presence can help.Social media is an interesting form of marketing because, while you are promoting your brand, you are able to do so while prioritizing customers. When customers see that you are passionate about providing them with content and that you enjoy connecting with them, it lays a foundation of trust in your relationship and encourages their loyalty.

Increased traffic

Traffic to your small business’ website would be extremely limited without the execution of a strong social media marketing campaign. Think about it- who would find your business? The answer is: only the people who are looking for it, which usually means people who are already loyal customers. By being active of social media, you are exposing your brand to a wider range of potential customers, which means that you are also exposing your website to more traffic.

Improved engagement with customers

With social media, communication is easier than ever. You can literally find someone online, send them a message instantly and they’ll likely see it the same day, as the average person checks their phone more than 35 times per day. Email is no longer the most efficient way to reach someone and if you still act like it is, as a business you will suffer.Customers don’t want to call your company with a question or complaint only to be on hold for hours or send an email and wait days or weeks for a response. They want to hear back from you right now. Social media makes that possible. Not only can you connect with customers instantly, but your engagement is much more genuine. You can see their face, name and even interests just by looking at their social media profile, which can help you understand them better and give them exactly what they’re looking for.

Boosted SEO

Did you know that, on average, 54% of people look for a local business online at least once per month? Furthermore, did you know that 76% of consumers who conduct an online search using their smartphone visit a business related to their search in less than 24 hours? Without an online presence, it’s nearly impossible for your business to be noticed – that’s why your search engine ranking is so important.A social media presence can help boost your SEO. By creating unique content relevant to your business and promoting it on social media platforms using targeted keywords, your SEO rankings will increase drastically.

Competitive advantage

If we’re being honest, most businesses are already on social media and they are seeing the benefits. Without a strong social media presence, your competitors are sure to win most customers in your demographic. Even if you have a digital marketing campaign, if it lacks social media then you will lose any type of competitive advantage you could hope to have. By getting on social media as soon as possible, and gaining a loyal following, you can surpass your competition and take back the competitive advantage.Having a strong social media marketing strategy is no longer a suggestion- it’s a requirement. Especially for small businesses that don’t have the notoriety of larger companies, an engaged social media presence could make all the difference between having a handful of customers versus thousands. If you implement social media marketing into your digital marketing strategy, your small business is bound to excel.