Social media marketing is among the most effective ways for brands to reach out to current and potential customers worldwide. According to data collected in July 2021, social media is used by 4.48 billion individuals worldwide. That represents around 57 % of the world’s population. With roughly 2.853 million members, Facebook is the biggest social media platform, followed by YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

One mistake business owners make is thinking of social media as a luxury at best, or frivolous at worst. Regardless of how much you use personal social accounts, social media for businesses is a valuable tool that gives you access to marketing tools you can’t get anywhere else!

What exactly is social media marketing?

Social media marketing is digital marketing that leverages the popularity of popular social media channels to advance marketing and branding goals. But it goes farther than just establishing business accounts and sharing whenever you choose. A successful social media campaign requires a dynamic strategy with measurable goals. Some goals of social media marketing include:

• Profile upkeep and optimization. Posting accurate, broad, and active links that also have a call to action
• Posting stuff that sells your business and attracts the appropriate audience
• Replying to comments, likes, and shares while keeping an eye on your reputation
• Building a community around your business by engaging customers, followers, and influencers.
• Using your platform and website analytics to determine what is working.

Paid social media advertising is a form of the social media marketing that enables you to put your company in front of a sizable number of carefully chosen individuals by paying for that opportunity.

What kinds of businesses benefit most from social media?

Some industries and businesses are exceptionally well suited to social media. These include:

Entertainment

The entertainment industry and social media go hand in hand. Entertainment industry ads rely on photos and videos, which is what social media is for. Plus, social media makes it possible for campaigns to go viral and trigger fear of missing out, boosting the popularity of entertainment brands.

Real Estate

Real estate is another industry that could benefit from being more socially active online. Developers, property managers, agents, and brokers could all use social media to increase the visibility of their properties. “Virtual signs” are becoming far more effective than conventional “for sale” billboards. Information about real estate sales can also be posted on social media profiles.

Marketing

You’ll need social media to engage with your target audience if you work in marketing, whether as an influencer, brand ambassador, industry expert ambassador, etc. Social networking platforms like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn are essential elements of every social marketer’s toolkit.

Retail

No matter how big or small, every retail company needs social media to market its brands online, gather client feedback and complaints, and send out alerts for new product launches. Viral posts are extremely efficient advertising for daily deal websites like LivingSocial and Groupon.

Positive reviews can spread quickly, and one user’s recommendation can result in numerous additional sales.

Freelancers

Freelancers can use paid LinkedIn ads to generate awareness of their skills. This reduces the time spent cold calling and allows one to focus solely on clients they want to work with. It will ultimately result in a rise in one’s ROI.

Restaurants and Breweries

Posting pictures of your food, beverages, and atmosphere can be one of the most impactful factors in getting people to visit your establishment. Having active social accounts can really capture a lot of traffic from people who do their research before trying a new place! In addition, paid social ads can spread the word about any events or special features you offer to your exact audience.

Anyone with a product or service

Ultimately, if you sell something that can be documented in photos or videos, social media can be a huge benefit to you. We’ve seen everything from construction and demolition companies to medspas and local news orgs find success on social platforms with relatively little investment.

So why NOT get active on social media?

Some of the biggest reasons businesses avoid social accounts are that they A) Don’t see the value, B) Can’t make time to manage posts and engagement, or C) Don’t have the budget to take on a fulltime social media manager.

While we’ve established the value above, it’s true the time and money can be a barrier, especially for new or growing businesses. You may not have enough time or desire to learn DIY social marketing skills (on top of the many hats you already wear as a business owner), just as you may not have the need or budget for a new fulltime employee to handle those duties.

How do businesses afford social media without hiring fulltime?

Often the best solution for managing your social media in these cases may be to hire a local marketing agency. Contracting with professionals to manage your ad campaigns and social engagement can be more cost-effective than hiring a full-time social media manager, while costing less per month than employing someone in-house.

That’s because an agency involves a team of experts, each with expertise in their own field. While they will not necessarily invest the same time as a fulltime employee, their efforts are often more efficient and precise due to their level of experience. They have access to dedicated resources within their own team and company, so you don’t have to pay for supporting equipment and software. And marketing agencies have more experience working on diverse social media marketing campaigns and can use this knowledge to help you in areas an in-house team might find challenging.

To learn more about social media management for businesses, reach out to speak to one of our experts! We’ll be happy to take you through what we can do for your brand’s social media.