142 minutes! That’s how long the average consumer spends on social media platforms per day. When we look at social network usage and popularity stats by country, the average American consumer has 7.1 active social media accounts. No bones about it: The modern consumer loves social media. But why is social media so attractive to consumers? ... Any ideas? No? Well, continue reading to find out.
Why Social Media Is So Attractive for Consumers
While news and memes (read: entertainment) are among the main reasons why consumers are drawn to social sites and enjoy using them, more and more consumers are increasingly using social media for researching products. In fact, according to a survey conducted by GlobalWebIndex, 54% of consumers use social platforms to find out more about brands and their products/services.
Social Media Marketing
With such widespread use and popularity among consumers, social sites present a great marketing opportunity for businesses. 96% of your competitors have added social marketing to their marketing toolbox, and so should you, if you haven’t adopted it yet.
Are you having a hard time wrapping your head around social media marketing? Here are answers to some of the questions that you might have.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Social Media Marketing?
There are numerous benefits of marketing on social media. Let’s take a look at the top three:
Increased brand exposure - Improved social media presence makes your brand more visible, and this improves your brand awareness, which will, in turn, boost your social media engagement, conversion rates, and revenue.
Improved SEO - Social media marketing will also help your brand earn top listings in search results and leads to more authenticity and trust, and that means more visibility and more opportunities to convert leads into paying customers. Beyond that, high rankings in search results will also position you as a market leader, making it easy for you to beat your competition.
Improved marketing, customer services – Personalized interactions with an audience on social media enable marketers to understand their target market better. This, in turn, helps businesses enhance their customer services and redefine their strategies to improve sales.
On the flip side, social media marketing is time-consuming because it requires consistency and new content for consumers to engage with. There is also the risk of negative publicity that, if not managed, can damage the reputation of a business. Businesses also risk brand voice dilution, especially when more than one person is handling their social media marketing.
Can Social Media Damage a Company's Reputation?
Yes, it can. Social media marketing has the potential to damage a company’s reputation because of factors like brand dilution, inaccurate rumors, and misconstrued truths. To maintain a good online reputation and avoid making costly social media mistakes, you’ll need to hire a social media expert to help you draft and execute your social media marketing strategy.
Tip: When hiring a social media marketing expert, look for someone who’s highly experienced in your industry. The longer a social media marketer has been in the game, the more they understand the rules of engagement in social media as well as best practices in your specific industry.
Why Is It Important to Understand the Rules of Engagement in Social Media?
Understanding the rules of engagement in social sites helps you reap the benefits of social media while averting costly mistakes. The rules of engagement in social platforms include consistency in communication and maintaining an authentic voice while at it, engaging only in relevant conversations, responding to complaints, and diffusing controversy.
Wrapping Up
Social media can be a great way to reach your clients, increase your traffic, and boost your conversions and sales. But, like any other marketing tactic, you have to do things right to succeed. Hiring a social media marketing expert can help you develop a working social marketing strategy that will put you on the right path to reaching all those consumers who are spending so much time on social networks.
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