It’s hard to imagine that there are any businesses that haven’t begun to realize the importance of social media in their overall marketing strategy. However, if you are one of the holdouts, now might be the time to reconsider your position. Here are just a few reasons why social media is so important for small businesses.
Your customers are already using it.
Millions of people all over the world are connected via various social media outlets. As a matter of fact, Neilson published a report in 2011 that showed that Americans spend at minimum of at least a quarter of their online time on the Internet participating in social media platforms and reading blogs. This means that if you aren’t advertising on social media, you are missing a very lucrative opportunity to market to your target audience.
Marketing experts will tell you that the most effective way to market to your customers is to bring your message to them rather than waiting for them to discover you. And social media provides you with the perfect opportunity to do just that.
Social Media has the power to give you a competitive advantage.
Most businesses are already marketing on social media, which means if you’re not, you’re not being as competitive as you could be. This means that you need to add social media to your marketing strategy ASAP or risk losing even more ground as time moves on. If your industry happens to be one that is slower to embrace social media, you stand to gain even more by being one of the first to access this very powerful advertising medium.
It will help you connect with your clients and prospects.
The problem with most marketing campaigns is that they are very one sided. Think about it, commercials communicate the message that you want to send, not the message that a customer wants to hear. However, social media is one of the only marketing strategies that allows you to have an open dialog with your customers and hear what it is that they have to say, making it one of the most unique marketing strategies available. By being more accessible, your company has the ability to build a loyal customer following, something that all businesses crave but many struggle to achieve. And while this is still a relatively fledgling idea, many customers are starting to demand this sort of accessibility from the companies they patronize.
Social media provides a number of opportunities to businesses of all shapes and sizes. What used to be a platform for big corporations is now a marketing platform for all businesses. As a matter of fact, it’s been considered by some to be the great equalizer when it comes to businesses. Put your business on par with the likes of the biggest companies in the world and start marketing to your customers on social media today. It’ll be the best thing you’ll ever do for your business and marketing strategy.
