Social media marketing. Love it or hate it, it plays an essential role for small businesses in order for growth and exposure to reach bigger audiences. The amount of people that are using social media are growing year upon year. That’s why it’s something that you shouldn’t be missing out on. Do you know how to use social media marketing to your advantage? There’s a multitude of different ways that you can make the most of the digital world for the advantage of your small business. Social media marketing is just one way that can result in lead generation in your digital marketing strategy. Let’s find out what it is, why it’s so important, and why you should use it.

What actually is social media marketing?

Basically, it’s part of a digital marketing strategy, leveraging technology and social media platforms to reach a bigger audience and generate sales. That means using any social media platform such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest and more, to create content for your target audience. It’s not about posting anything or anytime, you need a clear structure in place for it to be effective. That means doing competitor analysis, keeping on top of social media metrics, having a schedule, and having consistent branding across channels. 

Why is social media marketing so important?

Well, over 4 billion people use social media. So, you can imagine the possibilities if you use different types of content across social media platforms. With more and more people using social media, it means that you can reach more people over more platforms. The reason it’s so important is because you don’t want to be falling behind competitors when they have a strong social strategy in place. It gives you a chance to be ubiquitous in the digital sphere. Now we know why it’s so important, let’s answer the question:

Why should I use social media marketing? 

If you think about the advantages and disadvantages, there are definitely more reasons to use social media in your digital marketing strategy. Why? Well, if the amount of people using social media isn’t enough to make you think about the endless possibilities that social media offers, then read below for even MORE reasons:

Building a community and grow your audience 

The interaction on social media is a big reason that you should have it in your digital strategy. That’s because it means you can grow your audience through reaching more of your target audience. That means that you can also improve your customer service, because you have more ways for your customers to contact you. If you’re online, ready to answer any queries, then you show how reliable you are as a business. You can use direct messaging, comments, or even set up separate accounts from your brand one in order to answer the questions that customers contact you about. 

Driving traffic through to your website 

The more content that you have then the more chance there is of your customers going through to your website and making a purchase. That means higher conversion rates. Link to blog posts, and use your website or product links over social media posts, then that will result in customers coming through to your website to browse products and read more. 

Lead generation 

Social media is a great way to generate leads. You can use different platforms to have call to actions, shop features, and direct messaging. These are all things that can encourage higher conversion rates and persuade your audience to make a purchase. 

Track social media metrics 

The great thing about social media is that you can find so much out about your audience and the demographic to target. Not only that, but you can figure out what part of your marketing strategy is working. If you’re getting more engagement by posting more of a certain kind of content, then you can amend your strategy to fit that. Social metrics are a great way to track your progress and allow you to be so agile in your strategy. 

Schedule posts on Sprout Social 

Here at Alcimi, we use Sprout Social in social media strategy. It’s such an effective platform where we can schedule posts as well as interact with audiences and see all interactions across all platforms. It’s an essential part of social media strategy and that’s why it works so well with being consistent, monitoring trends and growing your online audience. 

A roundup of social media marketing for small businesses

Are you ready to reach a potential of four billion people over social media?! It’s great to think that your business can reach a percentage of that amount of people. Imagine the possibilities if you had an effective content plan. Our tips are to be consistent in your style and schedule. Also use a scheduling platform, track social media metrics and do competitor analysis. Oh, and try to be creative! Happy social media posting!

We offer social media marketing for all kinds of businesses at Alcimi. Say hello and contact us today to see how we can help you!