In today’s business world,
social media can no longer be ignored; it’s no longer a choice. If you, as a company, are attempting to stand out, to separate yourself from the rest of your peers, social media is a revolutionizing tool at your disposal with little to no cost, and the exposure you’ll receive, in turn, is well worth any blood, sweat, and tears you’ll have to invest.
The influence social media has on marketing is substantial, yet the application of its integration in smaller companies today is, by comparison, underwhelming. Many companies overlook the importance of social media, which is unfortunate because the internet is evolving around social media, and business is beginning to do the same. To ignore the benefits of social media is to ignore the growth and development of the marketing world in general, as every step not taken is a step in the wrong direction.
But let’s take that step back, regardless, and discuss what social media marketing actually entails:
Social media marketing refers to the process of compiling traffic through different social media programs such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest—each of which has their own practicality in the business world.
- Facebook allows businesses to set up their own page, on which they’re able to post statuses about their business, share related or interesting articles and links, and integrate their company within the over-one-billion-user Facebook community (no big deal, right?).
- LinkedIn has over 69 million users in the United States alone, with a reach of more than 125 million users globally. Businesses can set up a company page and utilize the social site’s awesome new functionality and feature enhancements to robustly promote their products and services. And even better, you can use their email marketing services to send granularly targeted messages, updates and offers directly to LinkedIn members’ inboxes. They have revolutionized the way businesses can communicate with their most relevant audiences and believe us, this is a capability you want to utilize.
- Twitter, on the other hand, allows users to share short messages in an RSS feed which allows others to track your postings by creating their own newsfeed of information. It’s an extremely fast approach to social media, which can share your news to the world in a matter of seconds. That’s huge.
But how does this relate to marketing? How does it increase web traffic?
Social media sites often feed from the newest information first, as is their purpose. The most effective contributors to social media are constantly sharing, liking, posting, and tweeting. Your company should be doing the same, because the name of the game is keeping up. By feeding into the discovery of newer, fresher content, you’re actively supporting your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) effort, as online search engines, such as Google and Bing, operate in the same fashion.
Additionally, and arguably more importantly, social media lets you connect with your audience on a human, personal, interactive platform... on a MASS LEVEL. Years ago, this type of reach potential could have cost companies tens of thousands of dollars, and now there are dozens of free social tools just begging to be used! And some businesses have caught on in a big way. It’s no longer just the “cool” thing to use social media, no longer just the “forward –thinkers” setting up a Twitter account for their business. Social media has become a must, a need-to-have, a can’t-live-without lifeline for organizations that want to stay relevant.
Whether or not you have the man-power internally or need to hire an outside firm to handle your social media efforts, considering a social media strategy is a conversation you should be having. Or screaming from the rooftop.Just sayin’.