No matter how much money your company spends on ad campaigns, the most effective marketing will always be word-of-mouth. When someone refers your company to his or her friends, you’re more likely to gain new customers. By far, one of the best forms of word-of-mouth marketing is through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Social Media Facts and Figures
When developing a marketing strategy, one of the first questions you should ask yourself is: Who is my target audience and where can I find them? More often than not, your audience is on social media sites, but if you don’t believe us, check out these numbers:
- Facebook is the second largest Internet property behind Google. At least 1.3 billion people use Facebook every month.
- Every day, 135,000 people sign-up for Twitter, and 58 million tweets are sent.
- LinkedIn boasts over 260 million users.
These days, people of all ages use social to engage in conversations. In fact, 74% of online adults use social, and 82% of those are between 30 and 49 years old.
Reasons to Join the Conversation
There are numerous benefits to joining the social media conversation. With active social accounts, your company will see increased brand recognition, higher conversion rates, and better SEO rankings.
- We’ve already said it three times in this article: social media is a conversation. To have a conversation, you have to listen and respond. Active Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other social media accounts show your audience that you are listening. And when people know you hear them, they’re more likely to use your products or services.
- Search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing know that social media is critical, so they use it to rank websites. When search engines see that your account is active, you’re more likely to improve your SEO.
- People enjoy doing business with other people, and social media gives your company the opportunity to develop a persona. Whether your persona is formal or informal, these platforms humanizes your business and draws current and potential customers to your products or services.
- When people “like” your page or follow your company, their friends see it. “Likes” are a type of endorsement, and this word-of-mouth marketing is a powerful way to get new customers in the door.
If you’re not sure which platform is best for your business, check out this article we wrote about establishing a social media strategy.
It Takes Time
We could list several more benefits of having an active account but we know you’re busy, so we’ll keep this short. Social may be free, but it costs a lot in time. That’s why we offer social media management services to give you the benefits of an active account without the time commitment of posting and interacting every single day.
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