Why is it important for a small to medium-sized company to include social media in its marketing strategy?
Social media has become an important part of our lifestyle and the way businesses interact with their customers. Online presence is essential to generate visibility, promote products and services, increase sales and participate in the current conversation .
This is why using social media in your business marketing campaigns today is essential .
In this article, we will take a closer look at how managing your accounts across multiple social media channels can have a positive impact on your business’s overall performance.
Summary
Some data on the importance of social networks for companies
The growth of users on social platforms has more than tripled in the last 10 years: it is an unstoppable growth considering that social users now correspond to 58.4% of the world's population and that the average time spent daily on social platforms is 2 hours and 27 minutes , equal to 35% of the total time spent online.
But it's not just for fun:
Over 1 in 4 people discover new brands, products or services through advertising on social platforms.
Beyond discovery, nearly 1 in 4 people actively follow brands on social media, and 1 in 8 tend to share content from the brands they follow on a monthly basis.
But we're not just talking about discovery:
4 out of 10 people say they visit social platforms with the clear intent of looking for brands and products they intend to purchase;
the figure rises to 50% of the population if we consider the 16-24 age group.
(Source: “We are Social”-Digital 2023-I fati Globali by Matteo Starri, January 26, 2023)
If the numbers aren't enough for you, let's see what the practical advantages of using social media in your company are:
Increase your company's visibility;
Social media is an effective way to publicize your business and expand its reach . It provides a way to engage with people , who are potential customers, and share a message to the wider masses. By using social media as a platform, your business can reach new groups of people and expand your target market. It can also stay up to date with industry trends and discover new marketing opportunities.
Social media is an effective and cost-effective marketing channel;
The network's reach, combined with some specific features, allows users to reach more people with less investment . Thanks to the ability to share content and information in real time, it is possible to reduce the need to invest in expensive promotional campaigns .
Furthermore, these tools offer the opportunity to create engagement with your customers, encouraging mutual engagement and the acquisition of new business contacts.
Interact with customers and/or potential customers more efficiently;
Social channels can be used to build brand awareness and brand reputation by providing information on products, services and company news.
Furthermore, social media is a platform where customers can interact directly with the company . The ability to provide immediate feedback has helped determine the success of social media in the corporate marketing strategy.
Businesses can also use social media to prevent complaints and identify problems before they become too big . Finally, they offer greater possibilities to track and measure the results of marketing campaigns, allowing businesses like yours to optimize their strategic actions.
Build and retain your customer base;
Building and retaining a loyal customer base is a primary goal of any business. Social media provides a variety of tools that make this process easier. For example, social media can be used to build stronger connections with current customers , strengthening their loyalty to your business. Additionally, social media advertising campaigns can expand your following, allowing you to engage with your target audience in a more direct and personalized way.
They help engage and educate your customers by delivering informative, promotional and other content;
It is not enough to simply acquire as many new users and customers as possible, you need to know how to engage them and unfortunately or fortunately a copy and paste strategy does not work.
Increasing engagement with your users will allow you to strengthen relationships with them and open an active dialogue that allows you to understand what they want and when they want it, educating them on the quality of your product or service.
They are a great tool for driving traffic to your website and getting your products or services discovered;
By sharing your company content on social media, you are actually inviting users to click through to your website (or any other primary destination) to visit it and learn more.
The more quality content you share on your business social media accounts, the more inbound traffic you will generate while creating conversion opportunities.
Once you discover the benefits of social media for business, you may ask yourself, yes but which social media should I use?
Before choosing to be present on a specific social media because, in your opinion, you will be able to find the users in your target, you must consider that only 1% of the users of each social platform are unique to that platform.
For example, among users worldwide aged 16 to 64:
82.5% of TikTok users use Facebook every month;
84.3% of Telegram users also use WhatsApp every month;
60.7% of Snapchat users also use Twitter every month.
This shows that people continue to use a wide roster of social platforms.
This is not to say that you need to be on every social media platform, but being on at least two of the major social media platforms can give you almost all the reach you need.
(Source: “We are Social”-Digital 2023-I fati Globali by Matteo Starri, January 26, 2023)
Let's see together which are the social media that your company certainly cannot miss:
Why is it important for a business to be on Facebook?
Facebook, in addition to being the most used social platform in the world , is also one of the most suitable and relationship -friendly platforms.
This means that being present as a Company on Facebook will allow you to build a close-knit community with which to maintain a constant relationship thanks also to the content you will share.
Being found by your customers and potential customers also on Facebook will allow you to have a coordinated, credible and authoritative brand image.
In this regard, it is the right platform for:
Know and make yourself known : give voice to your business and reach an ever wider audience of people.
Differentiate yourself from the competition by telling who you are and how you do it, highlighting your strengths.
Increase your visibility : thanks to the many features you can build a digital showcase that can respond to the different information needs of your potential customers and more.
Promote your products or services in just a few steps.
Advertise to reach your target audience.
But once you're there, what to post on Facebook?
Starting from your personal profile, you will have the opportunity to create your Business Page.
Depending on your Page's category, you can add different types of basic information — for example, if your Page's category is Local Business, you can add your business address, phone number, and other information about your business.
Once you have completed and optimized your Facebook Page with Cover, Profile Image, business information and everything else that is necessary to ensure your audience gets the information they need, you need to take action.
Waiting for someone to visit it or start following you every now and then is not enough: imagine being at the market, whoever shouts the loudest wins and to shout you need to have a voice and something to say.
1. Publish quality content: regardless of the format, focus above all on VALUE , which is still the fundamental metric to attract new users and retain those you have already acquired. Whether it is useful information, advice, specific insight, make those who follow you feel as if they were part of your company.
2. Tell who you are and build a community: relationships are everything, so you need to create a circle of people around you who follow you and admire your work and your skills and who are convinced that they will receive something truly useful from your company.
To do this, Facebook offers you an invaluable resource: Groups.
Inside them you can gather people who are open to dialogue, conversation and who are truly interested in the topics you have to propose.
3. Use the different formats you have available, especially the trending ones, to get help from the algorithm: the level of attention of users is increasingly decreasing, for this reason, video content is the perfect solution to capture the attention of users effectively. The Facebook Feed itself also demonstrates this: less recommended text content and more and more videos.
4. Live is a tool that allows you to tell your story without filters and to demonstrate that what you are telling is real; at the same time, you can establish a direct and personal connection with your audience, leaving them the space to interact.
Some quick and easy ideas for original content on Facebook:
Don't just show static content about your product or service, show people how it actually works and demonstrate the benefits it can have if used in real life.
Share your company news : from hiring a new employee to sharing a new production technique, these are contents that will build loyalty among your users.
Post behind the scenes : People are naturally curious and will love to peek at anything that is out of the ordinary; it will help make them feel part of the action and give a less glossy image of your brand.
Use tutorials if possible : this type of content will give immediate benefits to your audience allowing them to improve their purchasing experience and why not, if positive they will feel compelled to recommend the same to people they know.
Create polls and ask questions , people love to have their say : this will help you not only understand what your users like but also redirect your communication towards topics that are really interesting for your users.
Why is it important for a company to be on Linkedin?
Speaking of the company, we cannot fail to mention the social platform designed and conceived for professionals.
It is the solution designed for all businesses that intend to develop their network of contacts and interact with other professionals in their sector of reference to create new business opportunities.
It is the right platform for:
Connect with a network of businesses and professionals in your industry.
Increase your company's visibility online, improving its reputation and credibility: choosing the right keywords , publishing quality content and optimizing your Page will be essential to obtain a better positioning in Google's SERP.
For those working in B2B it is an excellent source of qualified lead generation.
Accredit your business with specific and differentiating characteristics.
Finding professionals suited to your business.
But once you're there, what to post on Linkedin?
Here too, as with Facebook and other platforms, you must first create a personal profile and then proceed to create a company Page.
Remember that Linkedin is the social network of business , therefore, your connections or those who follow you will look for professional and technical content and updates.
Here too, as with all other social platforms you decide to land on, the quality of the content and the value in terms of utility that you are willing to share are important.
Start from blog articles , in this case you can decide to directly link to content already produced within your company blog, to bring traffic to your website or you can take advantage of the native publishing function via “Write an article” .
Being a platform based on direct and indirect relationships with other professionals, you should take advantage of sharing content generated by others , always with a view to including your point of view and encouraging the sharing of opinions from other users.
Highlight your company with storytelling: we are not just talking about business, we are also talking about the people who are part of it; introduce your team members, introduce any partnerships and give space to the human component of your company.
Some quick and easy ideas for original content on Linkedin:
Talk about your profession and create a close relationship with your community , you could share your skills, your successes and failures that have helped you improve your position or redirect your professional path.
Write in-depth articles with Linkedin Pulse , inside which you can add not only textual content but also visual content, useful for describing an event, a procedure or particular company projects.
Create polls and give your connections and others some space to express themselves, this will help you understand what they want from you and what they would like you to post.
Why is it important for a business to be on Instagram?
The importance of having a Business Profile on Instagram is crucial, not only for the user base that the platform makes available, but also because more than 70% of Instagram users search for their favorite brands within it and 80% of the same users follow at least one company on the platform.
The first thing you will need to do is open a Business account, this will allow you to take advantage of the business features that the platform makes available, the most important of which are Insights.
Not only that, because with this account mode you can always insert all the information that users might want to get from you: where you are, how to contact you, where to learn more about you.
Optimize your profile in terms of visual and textual content and get ready to publish.
But once you're there, what to post on Instagram?
Remember that Instagram is all about photos and videos, so the quality of these will need to be really high.
Publish content that communicates your strengths and sets you apart from the competition: to do this, start with images and develop a narrative around them.
Stimulate the engagement of your followers and not only, use CTAs to push the user to carry out actions that are important to you: comments, shares, saves, all actions that will demonstrate to the algorithm that your content has value for your audience.
Leverage user-generated content as a form of social proof, use influencers or testimonials to establish yourself in a specific niche and expand your brand awareness.
Get to know your followers better and give them something more: humans are naturally curious beings; therefore, they will feel involved if you allow them to peek where they usually can't or to have their say on specific topics.
Listen to your followers and calibrate your editorial plan to show what really interests them.
Use relevant hashtags to categorize your content and acquire new targeted visitors.
Some quick and easy ideas for original content on Instagram:
Post behind the scenes: People are naturally curious and will love to peek at anything that is out of the ordinary; it will help make them feel part of the action and give a less glossy image of your brand.
Use Reels to create light-hearted, fun content that goes beyond commercial intent.
Use Live to answer users' questions and create direct relationships with your audience: ask them what they would like to know more about your business and let them "touch with their hands" what you are talking about.
Share content that involves collaborators and employees , describing their peculiarities both in terms of character and professionalism, helps to show the human side of your brand thus creating emotional connections as well as consolidating trust.
Why is it important for a company to be on YouTube?
YouTube is the most famous video sharing platform on the web: rich in functions, it also allows you to edit videos or stream, listen to music and much more.
The two main advantages of the platform are:
It is one of the longest-running and most popular platforms from users and creators.
It is the second search engine, after Google : intercepting the right keywords will allow you to position yourself in the first search engine results and respond directly to users' interests.
Furthermore, a recent research has shown that:
1 in 4 YouTube users has viewed at least one video or advertisement made by a company in the last month.
But once you're there, what to post on YouTube?
Creating a corporate YouTube channel has many advantages: first of all, being able to intercept millions of users who use the platform to learn about products and services, then making your corporate videos visible and promoting them , strengthening your brand identity.
It all depends on what you decide to share and your goal.
Some quick and easy ideas for original content on YouTube:
In your first contents, introduce your company and your team : this will help your brand to build loyalty among users who decide to follow you on this platform.
Present the “Behind the Scenes” : let your followers see your company up close, especially moments of your day that might intrigue them.
Launch and present new products or services : present your users with your latest creations, going into detail, showing something that can make their shopping experience better.
Q&A : create content that answers the questions, doubts and curiosities of your audience; this will help you calibrate your communication and help the user find the information they need.
Compare the products or services you offer , emphasizing the benefits of your respect, with those of the competition, there is no need to belittle the work of others but if you are aware that your product is actually better you can demonstrate it.
Why is it important for a business to be on Pinterest?
Highlight your content, especially if you have an e-commerce or if your products are very photogenic and not only and bring new users to know you.
Pinterest is not only a social media but also a search engine : it is therefore necessary to optimize your content to position it according to the user's requested keywords.
We are not just talking about texts but above all about images, in fact Pinterest prefers high quality visual content accompanied by texts , with keywords that work, in the title, in the description and in the folder in which your content is inserted.
Using external links will also give you an advantage over other social platforms: each content can be linked to an external page to lead your users to learn more about you.
Another important advantage is that other users will be able to save your content in their folders, so even more people will be able to see your content.
But once you're there, what to post on Pinterest?
First of all you need to create your Business profile and then you need to organize your content according to your communication: on Pinterest you can create and save different “Pins” , bookmarks that people use to save their favorite content.
Now you can start creating different types of Pins that the platform makes available and organize them into folders, by type.
Remember that:
Pins must be fresh and original , not saved from other accounts. When we talk about new Pins we mean: using new images with new titles and descriptions, avoiding using recurring images in other Pins, modifying the content only to adapt it to a new publication.
Use Video Pins if possible.
Point your Pins to website pages to increase your traffic.
A very useful tool that Pinterest provides for business accounts is the analytics tool.
Some quick and easy ideas for original content on Pinterest:
Use Idea Pins , a multi-page format that contains up to 20 pages of videos, images and text in a single Pin. You can customize it by changing the background color, adding stickers and text, surrounding your products and more. You could use them to create a guide, a project or a recipe that step by step develops the content ; present a collection of products, perhaps by category, so as to give the potential customer the possibility of accessing them quickly and easily.
Video Pins , different from Idea Pins, are content composed of a single video – they play automatically when they appear in your feed and have an eye-catching cover image.
“Detailed” Pin is a type of organic Pin directly linked to your website, there are different types: Recipe Pins, Article Pins, Product Pins, all with different features depending on the type of content.
Collection Pins are individual Product Pins grouped together in a collection . Also remember, that the platform and its algorithm favor the creation of new Pins constantly, this will help you optimize your traffic on Pinterest.
Conclusion:
The importance of social media for your business strategy, today more than ever, is of vital importance yet it is often underestimated.
Integrating social media into your marketing strategy will allow you to differentiate yourself from the competition and acquire new potential customers , retain existing ones and increase your brand awareness and brand reputation .
Remember, however, that each social media has its own peculiarities, therefore you will need to structure an Editorial Plan and Calendar that define the channels, the different contents, the formats, the positionings and the publication timing.
What are you waiting for? The only thing missing is you.
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