Social media is a great tool for building brand awareness, brand loyalty and discovery of your products or services by those who may not have heard of your business yet. The beauty is, the discovery connection doesn’t always have to be directly related to your business offering. Sometimes the trigger is just a point of common interest that ultimately leads back to your website.
Let’s dig into some of the benefits of social media.
Social Media for Brand Awareness
Any opportunity to increase brand awareness, that top of mind presence that makes a consumer think about your business to fulfill a need, is a good opportunity. So think of social media as just another platform for getting your business name repeatedly out there the same way you would use a radio ad, display advertising or a billboard. It’s all about letting people know you’re there and what you do.
A 2013 article in Adweek shared that primary sponsorship for a NASCAR racecar costs anywhere from 5 to 30 MILLION dollars. What makes this expense worthwhile for advertisers? First is brand awareness. When broken down, the cost per impression share (how many times a viewer sees the logo) is a relatively inexpensive form of advertising.Social media offers the same opportunities for increased brand awareness like a NASCAR sponsorship, at a fraction of the cost.
Social Media for Brand Loyalty
Expanding upon our NASCAR example, studies have shown that fans are very loyal to the brands their favorite drivers represent. Social media also results in increased brand loyalty. According to Convince&Convert 53% of Americans who follow brands in social media are more loyal to those brands. Makes sense. If they like your social media presence enough to follow your business, you’ve begun building a loyal consumer following.
Discovery of Products and Services
As previously mentioned, the trigger point for brand discovery can be just a point of common interest to drive more traffic to your website, meaning that every social media profile you create and utilize, is one more path back to your website. It could take the form of someone seeing a Pintrest post of a kitchen remodeling job your company just completed. Perhaps a Facebook post gets shared by a parent who’s kid plays for a Little League team sponsored by your company. Maybe it’s a YouTube video highlighting your newly renovated restaurant. The possibilities are endless!
Ready to Get Social?
Now you know some of the reasons why it’s important for you to have a presence on social media, but where and how can be a mystery.
You know the names: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google +, LinkedIn, Snapchat, StumbleUpon, Digg, etc.. The choices can be overwhelming.
Do you have to be involved in all social media platforms? No.
Social media is just another tool in your marketing arsenal. Where and how you participate depends on your business and your goals. Tobit 5 Media has identified 6 social media platforms that can benefit most businesses.