Why do you need social media presence in addition to a website?
A social media page and a website are very different from each other, yet very significant and contribute to your web presence. Although, both of them share the same purpose in certain aspects like building brand recognition, the audience they are targeted at could be different. Gathering a wider audience is of prime importance to small businesses. Just like websites, social media presence is necessary in today’s business environment.
Let us see why you should be a part of social media. The radio took 38 years to reach an audience of 50 million, the television did it in 13 years, the Internet took just 4 years to reach 50 million users and a social media platform such as Facebook took less than 9 months to receive 100 million users. One-third of the women between the ages of 18 and 34 admit that the first thing they do when they wake up is check Facebook. In the U.S., one in eight couples who married in 2012 met online.From 2005 to 2011, social media saw a 712% increase in terms of users.
Online Reputation:
These statistics indicate the impact and potential of social media. However you define your target audience, you can find them through social media platforms. As your consumers engage in social media activities, being active and influential in social media platforms facilitates interaction with them. Online reputation and recommendations are influencing consumer decision making like never before; a study showed that 7 out of 10 people believed online reviews as much as personal recommendations.Around 50 percent consumers state that they value the online reputation of a local store.
Online reputation matters, and social media plays an important role in it. Social media can be used to respond to the views of others about your business - you can use a good review to your advantage and handle bad reviews tactically by apologizing and explaining how you have identified their problem and have implemented corrective measures.
Impact on Local Businesses:
It has been studied that 83 percent of local businesses have a social media page. This does not mean that they have invested into social media marketing or put in effort to establish a strong social media presence. Most local businesses using social media marketing strategies have provided positive reviews.
Advantages of Social media marketing:
Social media marketing does have enormous potential - Forbes listed out these benefits of utilizing social media marketing.
- Increased brand recognition
- Improved brand loyalty
- Higher conversion rates
- Higher Brand Authority
- Increased Inbound Traffic
- Decreased Marketing Costs
- Better Search Engine Rankings
- Richer Customer Experiences
- Improved Customer Insights
These are the reasons why we feel you should invest in social media marketing, in addition to your website. Please feel free to use the 'comments' section to share your social media marketing experience, additional benefits etc.
