Social media has completely transformed the world of business and social interaction through content marketing. As more entrepreneurs and big brands embrace the power of social media, social media marketing budgets are expected to double within the next five years. (Social Times)
There are six significant ways social media can increase your brand’s marketing platform:
Social media extends your digital reach
The 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report shows that over 58% of marketers who have been using social media for one year or longer increased their search engine rankings. (Social Media Examiner) The growth of social media marketing effect is a huge benefit for any brand looking to build their digital reach. To truly leverage the power of social media, businesses need to brand their social media to be extensions of their blog or website.
Social media creates natural sharing circles of your brand content
Here’s the truth: not everyone will read your business blog. This is where your social media networks can best enhance your marketing platform. By linking and sharing your blog and premium content through social media, you create opportunities for your brand audience to notice and engage with your brand content.
Social media gives your brand a social voice
One of the most easily forgotten principles of business is that business is about flesh-and-blood people, not nameless, faceless corporations. By effectively using social networks, brands can humanize and personalize the social media experience with their brand audience. This can be done through active replies to tweets, responses to Facebook posts, and sharing of consumer-created content.
Social media gives you a more nimble response platform
Real-time interaction and content sharing is crucial in our rapid-paced social media world. Everything from industry news to world news responses, trends, announcements, special events, live tweeting, and Q&A blocks add the strength of nimble responses in the moment. Being social as a business is about being as relevant as possible as soon as possible.
Social media provides organic in-roads for your content marketing
The organic reach of social media creates natural in-roads for effective content marketing strategies. This happens through social links, social sharing (tweets, posts, shares, likes, etc.), and strategic timing to attract potential marketing leads to consider your brand’s products and services. Social Media Today reports that 83% of B2B marketers invest in social media to increase brand exposure, 69% to increase web traffic, and 65% to gain market insights. (Social Media Today) The more social media content is positioned for future buying prospect interaction, the more traction your content marketing will gain.
Social media communicates short-form content for your platform audience
The convenience of social networks is built on short-form content sharing. Writing 140 characters, a Facebook post, posting an Instagram, or sharing on Google+ takes less than 30 seconds. The time investment is compounded significantly by the ease of social sharing, which means any piece of brand content is capable of viral success, both good or bad.
Developing an effective content marketing strategy without social media is ineffective and under resourced. Building a dynamic social media marketing strategy will increase your marketing platform and position your business to better interact with your online audience.