Inbound marketing and social media marketing aren’t two separate strategies. They go hand-in-hand and play a vital role in growing a business in any industry.
Social media trends change year by year. Platforms gain or lose popularity. Consumer expectations change due to world events and other circumstances. Tech advances may force you to adopt new approaches to win over customers.
Even so, social media usage hasn’t gone out of style. Facebook alone has nearly 3 billion monthly active users. YouTube has over 2.5 billion, while Instagram has 2 billion, and TikTok has over 1 billion.
The sheer number of consumers you could reach on a single platform is reason enough to use social media in your inbound marketing. If you’re still not convinced, here are seven more reasons why you may want to consider it.
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1. Consumers Expect It
Eight in 10 consumers expect brands to be on social media. They want to see you’re readily available to answer questions, offer encouragement and advice, and provide expert insight.
Naturally, that doesn’t mean you have to be on every single platform. There are scores to pick from, and most won’t benefit your business.
However, you do have to have a presence on the main platforms that your target audience uses. These vary depending on your industry and who you want to reach. The most common ones are Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
2. It Builds Brand Awareness And Establishes You As An Authority In Your Field
Stanley’s new insulated drinkware products are the “in” thing. Consumers from nurses to students are buying them.
Stanley has been around for 100 years but has never been as popular as it is now. What made the difference? An Instagram post that went viral.
Social media influencers then jumped on the bandwagon. Now, Stanley is trending online even without the help of other marketing tactics.
3. You Can Tailor Content To Reach Different Target Audiences
Many companies have more than one target audience. Social media enables you to reach each of these audiences on their own terms.
Branding companies, for instance, can put up webinars and how-to videos on YouTube to reach middle-aged small business owners. Putting up videos on YouTube will also boost the brand’s SEO.
At the same time, they can also put up short, eye-catching versions of their content on TikTok to reach young social media influencers and entrepreneurs. Additionally, they can use Instagram’s live streaming to make personal connections with potential customers.
4. It Provides Relationship-Building Opportunities
The best way to get to know your audience is to communicate with them regularly. Social media makes this process easy.
Consumers can ask questions, voice complaints, and make suggestions. You can read these to identify pain points, trends, and more. You can also request more information via surveys or by responding to direct comments.
Another good way to communicate with users is to ask them to share photos. Dove did this when it discovered that 70% of young women didn’t feel represented in advertising.
The result was over 640,000 shared photos. It’s probably fair to say that Dove now knows what women want to see when they look at product ads.
5. It Improves Your SEO
The relationship between SEO and social media is complex. In 2014, Google’s Matt Cutts made it clear that social signals such as likes, retweets, and shares didn’t affect SEO rank.
Now, however, it’s clear that this isn’t entirely true. If a social media post goes viral, it will boost traffic to a site. What’s more, the traffic has a high potential conversion rate.
The increase in traffic will lower a site’s bounce rate. It will show that people consider the site to be an authority in its field. These factors will improve a site’s Google rank.
6. It Helps You Stay Up To Date On Industry News And Trends
Texas-based company Fat Straws noticed that Dalgona coffee was trending on TikTok. It got inspired by the trend and created a new line of drinks based on it.
Your business can do the same. Follow social media influencers to see what’s trending in your industry. See what your target audience is talking about to identify trends that could help grow your business.
7. It Offers A High Return On Investment
The end goal of any marketing campaign is to boost sales and profits. Social media can help you reach this goal not only now but also over the long term.
The average return on investment for a social media marketing campaign is $2.80. However, a business can earn far more than this by increasing social media engagement.
What’s more, social media posts live on forever. While a great post may not remain viral long-term, it’s always there. The links to it remain in place. Shares will increase, and the posts will still generate traffic to your site.
What’s Next?
Social media marketing is an inseparable part of inbound marketing. It generates brand awareness, brings in customers, generates sales, and boosts brand loyalty.
Unfortunately, not all social media campaigns are as successful as they are meant to be. As a busy small business owner, you may not have a lot of time to spend on social media. It’s time-consuming to keep up with comments, shares, trends, and more.
It also takes time to create winning social media posts that will grab attention, create a buzz, and boost your sales and profits. That’s where WriterAccess comes into the picture.
WriterAccess creates 100% human content tailored to meet the needs of any target audience. This includes not just blog posts but also video scripts, tweets, Facebook posts, and more.
Our AI-powered platform makes it easy for you to find writers who can best meet your needs. We also offer support services to manage content creation, so you can focus on other tasks.
Check out our 14-day free trial period to find out how we can help you grow your business long-term.
