In this day and age, if your business isn’t utilizing social media (in the right way), then you’re missing a very important piece of the marketing pie.
And we aren’t just talking about having a Twitter or a Facebook account that’s barely been updated or monitored.
We aren’t talking about Tweeting out a couple of blog posts and calling your work done.
With social media, you either have to be all in or you’re seriously missing out.
Think about it: It’s called social media for a reason.
The entire point is to be social.
By definition, the word “social” means relating to or involving activities in which people spend time talking to each other or doing enjoyable things with each other.
Let’s say you’re attending a party, a social gathering. You walk in with a box of cookies. Rather than telling the other guests that you brought a box of cookies, you just quietly place it on the table, along with other delicious desserts, and go about your way. Sure, you brought something to the party, but you definitely weren’t being social.
Now let’s say you attend the same party with the same box of cookies—but this time, you let everybody know you brought them. Maybe you just slip it into some conversations. Perhaps you tell your friends about the awesome cookies you got from that awesome bakery that they need to try. Maybe you take the initiative and offer to get a cookie or two for somebody because you know they’re going to like it. By going out of your way to be social, more of your cookies will likely be eaten than if you simply plop the box down in the hopes that it will stand out among all of the other desserts on the table.
Social media marketing is a lot like going to that party with that scrumptious box of cookies.
You can’t just create an account, add a few posts here and there, and then think that people are just going to find it on their own. Sure, maybe somebody will stumble upon it (we have one particular Morey Publishing employee who’s notorious for sniffing out free food), but posts on social media get buried in a matter of seconds, so if “plopping” tweets, pictures or videos without true promotion is what you do, then you might as well do nothing at all.
Social media is a buzzing community. To truly get the type of response that a business needs to thrive in this competitive market, the business must have a voice. It needs to follow others, respond to comments, add relevant hashtags, engage in conversations, be funny, be witty, be inspiring, be social.
In general, the entire point of social media is to create brand awareness and increase traffic. According to the 2015 Social Media Marketing Industry Report, the top two benefits of social media marketing are increased exposure and traffic—with 90 percent of marketers citing an increase in exposure as a result of their marketing efforts, and 77 percent reporting increased traffic. Another 69 percent use social media marketing to develop loyal fans.
And that’s what businesses have to remember, and have to embrace. Widely exposing their company to a larger audience will undoubtedly increase their traffic and create loyal fans. These three elements are the perfect mixture for revenue growth, brand loyalty, and customer promotion.
Take InteleTravel, for example. InteleTravel is an at-home travel agency that can train you on how to become a travel agent through amazing work from home travel agent opportunities.
Because we know that people love beautiful travel pictures, we recently launched a campaign for InteleTravel across one of the most popular social media platforms: Instagram. Not even a month in, and we’ve already seen an upswing in traffic to their website due to an increase in brand awareness through this photo-heavy digital platform. By posting beautiful destination pictures, following other accounts, and participating in the Instagram travel community, InteleTravel is increasing its brand exposure and traffic, while also making a name as an account that delivers unique imagery for the travel lover.
Remember: Social media marketing is all about being social. Without taking the time to truly build a community and make your presence known, it’s going to be very difficult to see a ROI.
But if you actually invest the time to be social, the return will follow.
Morey Publishing’s award-winning website design and marketing team is trained in the most effective digital marketing strategies to maximize results. Contact us today!
