Below are some of the most important benefits of using social media marketing in promoting your business:
Targeted traffic: This is of course if you know how to find the right audience for your promotional strategies in the social sites you are using. It is very easy to find people who will likely be interested in the product or service you are promoting on your business website. By looking into other users' profiles, you can quickly determine what their interests are. All you have to do now is befriend these targeted users then market to them when the opportunity comes.
Unlimited traffic: One great thing about social sites is the potential to receive unlimited web traffic from them. Social sites are basically built as venues for people to share things like stories, articles, photos, links, videos, etc. Let's say for instance that a link to your website gets shared and passed around on Facebook. This would mean thousands of social traffic rushing on towards your website.
Free traffic: You don't have to pay anything to get social media traffic unlike other marketing strategies such as pay per click advertising and direct advertising.
Great for building online reputation: There is a reason why even the biggest companies in the world are on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. The reason is simple. Social media sites allow them to get closer to their customers and build relationships with them. This in turn boosts their online reputation. Same scenario can be applied to small internet businesses.
Know Your Customers' Opinions: People feel free to share their opinions on these social networks. Social media allows you to get honest feedback from customers with regard to your brand, products and services. You can regularly check what they say about your business and resolve issues immediately, which is a great advantage.
Before, when customers were not satisfied with your products/services, they would leave and tell about it to their friends. They would never return. You not only lose potential customers, but also lose their referrals without your knowledge.
During these times of social media, when people are not happy with your products/services, they publicly Tweet about it. This can be embarrassing because others will know about their bad experiences. On the other hand, it wouldn't help your business to disregard the feedback or respond in an inappropriate manner. Address customer problems and improve your business through social media.
If you monitor the things that are mentioned about your company on social media, you can address the issues in real time. This could prevent you from losing customers.
There are of course other benefits of using social media marketing but the ones discussed above are the most relevant. One thing you should always keep in mind when using a social media site is the value of honesty and participation. To maximize the benefits you get from social sites, you have to be always honest and actively participate as often as you can.
