If you’re thinking to yourself, “my boss doesn’t understand social media,” then this probably means that there is no dedicated social media strategy in your online marketing campaign. Your company probably has a basic social media presence, such as a Facebook page – but that is probably the extent of your company’s social media strategy. If you’re frustrated because of the fact that “my boss doesn’t understand social media,” then the following benefits of using social media as an integral part of your marketing campaign should convince your boss otherwise:
Social Media is Vital for Content Marketing
Content marketing is absolutely essential for any company doing marketing online. Any business not producing content for their website is already lagging behind their competition. The following are a few of the many reasons why content marketing is so important:
- Content helps improve brand loyalty – By providing high quality content that is helpful and informative to your readers, you’ll help to strengthen brand loyalty amongst them. This is because you are providing them with useful information for free on a regular basis. You are also establishing yourself as an expert within your industry. This expertise will help build your reputation amongst both customers and businesses within your industry, which in turn also helps to improve your brand loyalty.
- Content helps improve brand awareness – When your reputation grows because of the quality of your content, so will the recognition of your brand. Not to mention that you can use SEO (search engine optimization) in your content in order to increase the search engine rankings of your website, which in turn exposes it to more visitors and helps increase your web traffic.
- Content provides more conversion opportunities – Most companies will provide an incentive to fill out a sign up form at the end of their content using a call to action. This is has been proven to be an excellent way to capture leads. However, this only works if the content is high in quality.
So now you’re probably asking, what exactly does this have to do with social media? Well, when it comes down to making sure that your content obtains the readership it needs in order to be effective, social media is key.
Social Media is Key to Effective Marketing
- Announcing new content – Simply releasing new content on your website’s blog doesn’t mean it’s going to attract the readers you need. Social media can be used to advertise new content. For example, you can post a link to your blog page on your Facebook or Google+ pages in order to let followers know that there is new content to read. You can do the same on a social channel such as Twitter.
- Inciting discussion – The great thing about social media is that it allows you to socialize with followers. This means that when you post a piece of content on your social platform, you can ask followers for their opinion on it, thereby inciting discussion. This is a very effective way to build brand awareness as well as brand loyalty.
- Sharing your content – One of the biggest advantages of using social media is that it allows your content to be shared. By adding share buttons directly to your blog’s content or by posting your content on your social platforms, you provide readers with the opportunity to share the content amongst their own social circles. When one person shares a piece of content, it immediately becomes viewable by everyone in their social circle. This is basically like free advertising. Many of their followers will check out the content and visit your website – possibly even re-sharing the content to their own social circles. This is how content goes viral. Even if it doesn’t, it’s an effective way to increase brand awareness.
Social Media as Customer Service
- One of the underrated aspects of social media is that you can use it to communicate directly with consumers. It’s a great way to solve any issues that consumers have with your brand as well as to address any concerns. You can even ask your followers for their opinions on certain subjects, products or services. This is a great way to receive feedback and to implement that feedback into your business. Not only does it allow you to improve your business, it shows your customers that you care about their opinions, thereby increasing brand loyalty and building a reputation for great customer service.
If you’re frustrated because “my boss doesn’t understand social media,” then these benefits will make it clearer for your boss why social media is an essential component of any online marketing strategy.
Social Media is one component of a successful Inbound Marketing campaign. Download our complimentary Inbound Marketing Checklist to see the other components!
