As a small business owner, your marketing goals should be to inform people about your message, promote your product or service and engage your customers and audience. Why is social media important to your internet marketing strategy? It is a channel to successfully to just that: inform, promote and engage your business through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+.
The Impact and Growth of Technology
Creating a strategic internet marketing plan that includes social media will not only increase awareness for your business, but will also enable your company to design and create content that is targeted to a specific market. Businesses that use social media technology properly have an advantage over businesses that don’t. The growth of the internet is due to the growth of technology. The Pew Internet Project found that there are 91.4 million people in the United States that own a Smartphone. A testament that the internet is at our finger tips. Of those Smartphone users, 84% of them use their phones daily. This means that millions of people are taking pictures, posting on Facebook, watching YouTube videos, buying applications and connecting with somebody or something on a daily basis. Internet marketing uses this social media interaction to understand consumer behavior that will enable your business to create a message to begin narrowcasting to a target market.
Understanding Consumer Habits
Why is social media important? If used properly, it can bring awareness to any business and help it understand its consumer. A large percentage of what we do is out of habit. The internet and technology in general has created the habit and need for us to be connected to other people or to able to access information. Businesses can use this social media need as a part of an internet marketing plan that will use an established habit to its benefit. This generates convenience for your business and also for your consumers and audience.
Creating Consistency
Social media uses the speed and reliability of the internet to create a consistency of being able to access your businesses information. Building a website that interacts with your social media platforms gives consumers the opportunity to learn about your business, as well as share their experiences with your business, without depending on the presence of a person to give that information. If you’re providing interesting posts and responding appropriately, this will give you more social shares, comments and impressions as well as increasing visits to your website.
Social Media is More Effective
If you’re still asking why is social media important, think of it this way: creating a natural conversation about your business is what traditional marketing is lacking. A friend referring another friend through Facebook to use a local plumber is more natural than a billboard advertising that same plumber’s services. The referral through Facebook will also be more effective and less expensive than the billboard. Internet marketing is less expensive than traditional marketing methods. Due to the fact that the billboard will only be effective if a person is within the same physical location of the billboard, using the internet increases the opportunity for viewing because the only location that friend needs to be is on the internet and connected to Facebook.
As a small business owner you should use social media as a part of your internet marketing strategy as an efficient, cost effective, and reliable way to inform, promote and engage your business. Why is social media important? It’s a platform to increase opportunity for a conversation to be started between you and your customers.
This is a guest post by: Our very own HaBO intern Jessica Miley, who is studying Journalism at California State University, Chico. She enjoys reading, fishing, camping, watching political debates, and spending time with her family. Her dream job is to own her own PR and Marketing Agency. For now she will enjoy working for other agencies to gain experience.
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