Let’s face it, in this era, technology is in everything. Surely, you have to credit it for making your life easier.
If you’re a small business owner, social media is an important tool for you especially when it comes to promoting your brand. Thanks to social media marketing the power now lies in your fingertips to reach your target audience.
Yet despite the many wonderful benefits of social media marketing, there are still some drawbacks. The truth is there are a lot of pros to this type of marketing but there are also several cons that you should know about.
Read on to find out all you need to know about the pros and cons of social media marketing.
The Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing
Social media provides the opportunity to positively portray your brand. You can reach out to customers at any time. It also brings in more leads for your marketing campaign at a lower cost.
These are only a few of the pluses of using social media to market your business. Social media is a powerful tool and when used properly it can open your business to a world of opportunities.
Here’s is a closer look at some pros and cons of social media marketing.
Promote and Increase Brand Awareness
Social media has the ability to cost-effectively promote your brand and grow its visibility. By engaging with your target audience you will gain a strong presence and boost brand recognition.
As a startup, create a business page on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram and start interacting with your market. Get others to like and share your page quickly by delving into paid promotions.
The more your content is promoted the bigger your brand awareness will be and your reputation as a business will grow. With regular use, your business will gain exposure to a wide audience and you won’t even need to post all day, just a few hours of your time is all it takes.
Increase Inbound Traffic
If you don’t use social media marketing then your inbound traffic is stuck at your loyal customers. By creating various business profiles on different social media platforms you are reaching new circles beyond that of your loyal customers.
Each social media page you create adds to your marketing strategy and each will direct customers to your website. Every time you post content it is a chance to grab a new customer’s attention. The more platforms you use, the greater your reach.
It may seem like a lot of work to be everywhere but try to be on every platform you can because it will make your business grow faster.
Create a Competitive Edge
Your competitors use social media. Instead of being intimidated, use it as an opportunity to spy on them and do what they are doing better. This will help you to close the gap between marketing and sales orchestration.
You may be wondering, “What is marketing and sales orchestration?” This powerful technique syncs your marketing and sales strategy together to take your business to the next level.
By viewing your competitor’s pages you have the opportunity to get a greater understanding of how they market to customers and get conversions. This gives you the chance to step up your game by bringing a fresh take and a better marketing angle to your target audience.
Cost-Effective
Social media marketing can save you a lot of money in advertising. Signing up to create your profile is completely free for most platforms.
The cost associated with a paid promotion is far less than other marketing strategies. For a few cents on Facebook, you can target your audience based on age, education, location, and interests.
Not even television and radio can give you that kind of advertising power at such cheap rates. Social media marketing gives you a greater return on your investment, so you can allocate more money to other business expenses.
Social Media Interaction Increases Customer Satisfaction
As a major communication and networking platform, social media gives you the opportunity to humanize your company and create its voice. By acknowledging each comment you show that you appreciate your customers.
It tells your customers that their needs are important to you. Social media gives you the opportunity to reach customers and show your appreciation for them through interpersonal communication.
This helps you to create a loyal customer base. Your page, its contents, and your responses should give customers the idea that they can communicate directly with your business.
Customer engagement shows just how much you value your clients. The more they feel valued and appreciated, the more they’ll continually support your brand.
Blurred Lines between Professional and Personal
You have seen from our discussion that social media has a lot of value. However, there is no denying that it has some pitfalls as well.
It’s can get difficult to clearly separate business and personal life on social media especially if you are a small business. Lately, many people have stopped trying and are combining things like life vlogs and business posts.
When you’re getting to know customers, you want to go above and beyond, while doing this you may use tone, vocabulary, and content that’s not strictly business-like. You need to strike a balance. You want to keep communication on the page friendly but professional at all times.
Some Likes are Meaningless
When networking bear in mind that not every audience engagement and reach will generate a lead. Some users who like a post will not be interested in becoming a potential customer.
You should also be aware that some of them may simply be there to spy on your business. Your marketing strategy becomes fair game when you hit social media. This is why it is important not to lay all your cards on the table since you could open up your business to fierce competition.
Social Media Marketing is Your Best Bet
You now know the pros and cons of social media marketing. Yet the advantages that it offers to businesses are far greater than the drawbacks. To learn in-depth about social media marketing, you can enroll in a social media certification course and become a specialist yourself.
If you use social media, you will be able to promote your brand effectively by reaching a versatile and diverse market. However, it doesn’t stop there, you have the power to now draw potential customers to your brand based on how you communicate with them.
By humanizing and personalizing your company’s voice you let customers know that they are important to you. When you do this you not only keep your loyal circle but you also gain new customers.
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