As the internet rapidly expands and develops, the world is changing with it in a lot of ways. The World Wide Web has transformed the way that we think about marketing and promoting businesses, requiring businesses to create whole new ways of speaking to their customers. If your company hasn’t thought about a social media marketing strategy, it’s about time you did. The online world is where more people than ever go to find information and make decisions about the products they buy, so you don’t want to miss out on this.
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is the art of gaining attention and website traffic for your business via social media websites. There are many different social media platforms out there to use, from Twitter to Facebook to Google Plus and LinkedIn. By using these social media websites to their full potential with a solid marketing strategy, a company can build links, increase their online presence, get free exposure and generate more sales.
Reasons to Include Social Media Marketing in Your Online Marketing Strategy
Why is social media marketing so important to the online marketing strategy of your business? Here are a few of the main reasons why you need to include it in your strategy:
- By using social media platforms (including Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and LinkedIn) you will be able to raise awareness of your company worldwide – getting your name in front of more eyes.
- When you use social networking, you will find users who are interested in your product and you can offer them competitions and promotions to get them hooked.
- Social media is also a great tool for taking feedback from your customers, so that you can improve your products and services.
- Social media marketing is much more cost effective and simple than any other type of marketing campaign.
- The interactive nature of many social media platforms allows you to respond to queries, complaints and questions posed by your customers, in order to improve their experience and show that you care about them. This dialogue, if done well, can be very effective to increasing loyalty to your brand.
- When users on social media share your posts about your company, they are promoting your products and services via word of mouth – for free!
Social Media Marketing Trends to Watch for in 2014
What are some of the biggest trends when it comes to social media marketing in the upcoming year? First of all, Facebook is starting to plateau in popularity and Twitter will begin to come into the spotlight next year. If your brand can create a Twitter profile and start engaging users, you will be able to make the most of this.
Another interesting trend is the mobile phone app Snapchat and its potential for marketing. This app sends out simple messages (short video, photo or text) that self-destruct between 1-10 seconds. This ephemeral aspect encourages users who are worried about privacy issues. Brand marketers are now beginning to ask Snapchat users for their stories.