Consumers spend an average of two hours and 24 minutes on social media daily, meaning social media marketing can put small businesses in front of potential customers who are already scrolling through feeds.
The myth is that social media marketing is only effective for big companies.
However, this article debunks the myth by examining six ways social media marketing can benefit a small business.
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What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing sees brands use social media platforms to promote their products or services, drive website traffic, engage and connect with their target audience, or build their brand.
Using social media to enhance your marketing efforts has many benefits and can drive different results.
The power of social media marketing comes from the exceptional ability of social media to provide:
- Connection. Various social media channels allow businesses to connect with customers in previously impossible ways.
- Interaction. Social media interactions like shares and comments enable businesses to leverage free advertising. In addition, all interactions are measurable through analytics.
- Customer Data. Social media marketing tools enable businesses to extract customer data and turn it into actionable insights to plan future strategies.
Now that you understand social media marketing, let's look at some platforms you should use.
Facebook is still the most popular social media platform, with over 3 million monthly active users, followed by YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram.
TikTok has just 2 billion monthly active users. However, in 2022, it generated $350 million in revenue - significantly more than Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat combined.
So, the short-form video platform still has significant potential as a social media marketing tool.
6 Benefits of Social Media Marketing For Small Businesses
1. Increases brand awareness
In early 2024, the number of social media users worldwide had increased to over 5 billion.
Therefore, social media marketing - if done right - can put your small business in front of over 60% of the world's population, enhancing the success of your brand awareness campaign.
Small businesses should use social media marketing to attract and engage their target audience.
Once those people follow you, social media becomes a free tool for marketing your products and services directly to them.
Social media platforms allow you to create a personality for your small business.
You can strengthen your branding by using your logo and colors (which increases brand recognition by 80%) in your content.
This helps your target audience to recognize and remember you.
Michael Podolsky, co-founder and CEO of PissedConsumer, said: "Brand awareness is the foundation of a successful brand. It is the level of recognition and familiarity that a brand has among its target audience. Building an effective brand promotion strategy is essential when looking to attract new customers and retain existing ones. When a company has high brand awareness, it becomes easier for consumers to recall and recognize it when making purchasing decisions."
2. Increases website traffic
Social media marketing can help drive more people to your website, resulting in more sales, email list sign-ups, or other conversions.
Here are some ways you can use social media content to point your audience towards your website:
- Link to the testimonials or reviews on your website, as these drive purchase decisions.
- Link to content on your website, such as blog posts and videos.
- Add website links to your social media bios.
- Tease them with an 'exclusive' peek at the newest release on your website or the opportunity to pre-order.
- Ask followers to take part in a survey on your website.
- Ask followers to take part in a discussion around your latest blog post.
Below is an example of Dove directing its followers to its website from an Instagram post.
Dove is enticing its followers to check out the link in their bio because the video makes them experience FOAMO (a take on 'fear of missing out').
Once you have got consumers to any page on your website, ensure that you internally link to your product or service pages to increase the likelihood of sales.
3. Low costs
Social media marketing is very cost-effective, a huge benefit for small businesses that don't want to break the bank.
Firstly, you can set up a profile on any social media platform for free.
Then, you can use organic (non-paid) social media marketing tactics, such as posting content and sharing your offers on social media, to reach online audiences.
If you opt for a paid social media marketing campaign, such as pay-per-click advertising, there are still ways to keep it affordable.
With Facebook and Instagram advertising, you can control what you pay even after the ad goes live—unlike traditional billboards and magazine ads.
4. Builds brand credibility
If your small business doesn't show up anywhere on social media, potential customers might assume that you've shut down or never existed in the first place.
More importantly, your social media presence builds credibility.
Even putting minimal effort into getting a social media profile up and running can help build credibility.
Still, we recommend posting authentic content that aligns with your brand values and responding to messages and comments.
When customers trust you, they are more likely to stay loyal and share their good experiences with others.
In fact, 60% of loyal customers will share their favorite brand with friends and family, and 39.4% will spend more.
Jessica Wong, founder and CEO of Valux Digital and uPro Digital, said: "The credibility of a brand is reflected in the extent to which consumers believe that a brand can keep its promises to them. For a brand to be considered authentic, consumers need to believe that this brand means what it says. Brand messages need to match actions, and actions should be rooted in integrity and a sense of caring for customers."
5. Provides you with analytics
Having a business account on your chosen social media platform comes with the benefit of seeing analytics.
You will be able to measure the performance of your content through:
- Engagement - Likes, comments, shares, and clicks.
- Impressions - How many times a post shows up.
- Reach - How many unique views a post has. If it has many, your content may have gone 'viral'.
In addition, Google Analytics can help you understand how much of your website's traffic comes from your social media marketing campaigns.
This enables you to decide what is working and what isn't.
Small businesses can also use analytics to extract geographic, demographic, and personal data, such as gender and age.
This helps them create content that resonates with their target audience and keeps them engaged.
The world of analytics gets quite technical, so consider assigning the task to a social media marketing team that can translate the jargon into an action plan to improve your social media marketing efforts in the future.
6. Allows you to connect with customers
Social media allows small businesses to create relationships with customers that were unavailable before due to geographical restrictions.
It is becoming more common for consumers to use social media for customer service queries.
So, keep an eye on your inboxes and respond to any queries promptly and personally, thus enhancing the customer experience.
In addition to customer service, social media allows you to connect with your target audience uniquely through behind-the-scenes footage of your business, giveaways and competitions, or interactive content such as polls.
Conclusion
In this article, we explored just six of the many benefits of social media marketing.
Still, it is clear that small businesses, in particular, can benefit from this low-cost strategy that increases brand awareness, website traffic, and credibility - all of which generate leads and drive sales.
