5 Reasons Why You Should Use Social Media to Grow Your Business
At this point in history, most business owners know that various social media platforms exist. In fact, you may be reading this blog post because someone shared it on their Facebook profile or other social media account, and it showed up in your feed.
People around the world use social media for news, entertainment, and communication. But did you know you can use social media to grow your business? In this article, you’ll see why it’s time to start using social media to your business’s advantage.
Social Media Is Here to Stay
Social media is more than a passing fad — it’s here to stay, and it continues to grow. According to research from Statista, there are currently over 3.6 billion people in the world who use social media, and that number is expected to grow over the next few years and beyond. Facebook alone had over 2.9 billion users worldwide as of January 2022.
These jaw-dropping stats prove that social media is ripe for reaching potential customers. Whether your business has a social media account or you have yet to make one, now is the time to tap into this market full of people who are waiting to discover and fall in love with your business.
View social media as a tool for business growth and marketing, and you’ll start to see how you can use it to expand your reach and engage with new customers.
Now it’s time to see exactly how social media can benefit your business. Below are five compelling reasons that prove social media is an essential part of your business’s successful marketing campaign.
1. Build Brand Awareness
Brand awareness is key for today’s customers. Consider the Nike swoosh. This is an instantly recognizable symbol that captures one’s entire perception of the Nike brand at a single glance.
When a potential buyer sees the Nike swoosh, they may think of a basketball court, cutting-edge style, or premium prices. But more than that, they think of the stories attached to Nike — the up-and-coming athletes who are striving toward their dreams, the buzzer-beater shots, and the camaraderie shared among teammates. Nike has spent years honing their brand to elicit these responses, and the results are high sales and social relevance. Buyers are more likely to give their money to brands they recognize and identify with.
Social media gives you the tools to craft your own brand identity and make people aware of it. You want people to recognize your brand as they scroll through their feed. But more than that, you want them to remember what your brand represents, including the products, services, and motivations attached to it. Social media is a great place to start building brand awareness so people can distinguish your business from other companies in your industry.
2. Establish Your Business as an Industry Authority
Did you know that 81% of shoppers research products online before making a buying decision?
Decades ago, shoppers would contact a company’s sales team to get the crucial information they needed to feel good about their purchase. This still happens today to some degree, depending on the industry. But the truth is that today’s shoppers are educating themselves online, and they’re going to buy from the company that seems the most authoritative about the products and services they offer.
Establishing your business as an industry authority has many factors to consider. One of the first and easiest steps you can take is to start educating people on social media. Here are three ways you can do that:
- Make posts about your products and services, giving insight that discerning buyers are looking for.
- Show that you know what you’re talking about by answering questions in the comments section.
- Provide links to more in-depth information on your website’s blog or a specific landing page.
When potential buyers see that you’re leading education within your industry, they’ll come to your company with their questions and to find out more information. In the end, those leads can convert into sales! Just make sure you’re presenting the information in a way that feels genuine and not “salesy” to your viewers.
3. Humanize Your Business
Always remember that you’re marketing to humans, not robots. It can be easy to forget this if you’ve spent time boiling down your marketing campaign to algorithm-appeasement, buyer personas, and target demographics. These are all important concepts, but remember that they represent human beings with likes, interests, and problems for you to help solve.
Inject your brand’s personality into every post you make on social media. Use Facebook stories and post photos and videos to give viewers a glimpse at what your business is like behind the scenes. Potential buyers will feel like they already know you by the time they make a purchase, and that’s a connection that can last for years.
4. Grow Your Audience and Go Viral
If you feel like you’ve hit a plateau in growing your audience, then a good social media marketing campaign may be the answer for you.
As you establish yourself as an industry authority and continue to post quality content that people interact with, the Facebook algorithm will put you toward the top of your followers’ feeds. This will help your business stay in your viewers’ thoughts, and they may think of your products when it comes time to buy.
Social media also provides the opportunity to go viral. “Going viral” happens when hundreds or thousands of people see, share, and interact with a post you make, including people who are not your social media followers. Posting a hilarious meme, for instance, could make some waves online, increase your exposure, and help you gain more followers.
5. Keep Your Pulse on the Market and Your Follower Base
Good businesses respond to market changes and make adjustments to keep their customer base happy. The last thing you want to do is keep providing products and services that your market is moving away from. If your industry is making changes and taking your customers along with it, you could be left in the dust.
You can use social media to keep your ear to the ground, so to speak. You can detect when market changes are coming and even guide some of those changes yourself, staying ahead of other businesses in your industry.
Perhaps even more importantly, social media gives you a direct connection to your customer base. By reading comments and monitoring engagement, you can see how your followers are responding to your business’s brand image and trajectory. This will help you know if it’s time to make a change or keep doing what you’re doing.
Partner With The Coutts Agency to Unleash Social Media’s Full Potential for Your Business
A strong social media marketing and growth campaign is essential if you want to use these platforms to their full advantage. But the process is like a snowball. Progress may be minimal at first, but huge results await if you follow the right practices.
You can speed up the process by partnering with The Coutts Agency. We specialize in online marketing and have helped many companies experience the benefits of successful social media growth.
Sign up for one of our social media management and growth packages today and start seeing results within weeks.