Benefits of Social Media for Small Businesses

Even small businesses need to have an active presence on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others in this day and age. If you’re not sure how you can incorporate social media marketing (SMM) into your own marketing plans as a small business, there are professionals and resources out there to help you! But, if you’re on the other end of the spectrum and think your business doesn’t need the help of SMM, here are a few facts on how it will actually benefit your business.

It seems in the last ten years marketing has changed drastically. Back before everything relied so heavily on digital tactics, businesses could do outbound marketing–things like snail mail, telemarketing, and radio spots in order to gain new customers. However, outbound marketing is starting to go the way of the dinosaur and in its place is something called inbound marketing, also known simply as online marketing. One aspect of inbound marketing is social media and contrary to popular belief, it has a bigger purpose than being a place where you can share pictures of your lunch or daily status updates.

The Impact of Social Media Marketing

There have already been drastic changes and improvements to social media marketing in 2014 alone, especially with data coming out from WebDAM, a digital asset management company that curated social media statistics for business owners. Take a look at some of their finds:

• The budget for social media marketing is set to double in the next five years. Is your small business ready with its own social media budget?
• When you add social media share buttons in your email blasts, there is a 158% improvement on click-through rates.
• Over 52% of marketers in the statistics found customers through Facebook. Imagine the possibilities and the customers you could find if you started doing Facebook marketing on a daily basis.
• And probably the best information to come from WebDAM’s data: inbound marketing is delivering 54% more leads to businesses than traditional outbound marketing tactics. That means blogging, social media, video, and email are all proving their worth to businesses year after year!

Not only is social media a great way to cast a larger net for leads and gaining more customers, it is also a way for you to become a leader in your industry and have a more personalized line of communication with your current customers. Let’s break it down for a moment:

• Your company’s social media profiles become their own public relations channels, allowing you to share information and news immediately to your followers. There’s no waiting or paying an annual or monthly fee to a PR service.
• On top of free PR, social media marketing is a great way to curate and share customer testimonials. According to WebDAM’s statistics, testimonials are the highest form of content marketing (which can be shared through social media) at 89%.
• Do your customers have questions or concerns? Let them be heard through social media and make sure to be there to answer any questions they may have. You want to create a personalized customer experience that puts you in a positive light.

It shouldn’t be a matter of how these platforms will benefit your small business, but rather how you can implement the right kind of social media marketing and start seeing immediate results. Social media is here to stay and it’s best time to start getting social with your small business is right now.

Cultura Interactive Web Design offers a variety of services including Internet Marketing for small businesses in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. You can learn more about our services or contact us for a personal interview.