Q&A: Why Social Media Matters

5 Reasons to Make Social Media a Part of Your Strategy

Updated: June 07, 2016

Q: I'd love to make social media a central facet of my marketing plan, but I'm having trouble explaining why. Can you help me determine the best reasons for making social media one of the main focuses of a marketing plan?

A: Your instincts are absolutely correct in looking to make social media a central focus in your marketing efforts. However, as you’ve encountered, it can be difficult to articulate the immense opportunity and value that is packed into social media channels when you are trying to obtain approval and budget to pursue social media marketing for your company.

In our experience, the most important reasons to have a solid social media marketing strategy in place are proximity to consumers, ad targeting capabilities, viral sharing potential, brand exposure, and social proof through reviews and online consumer interactions.

Proximity to Customers

Social media marketing has grown and changed immensely since online social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn were first introduced. Many people use these platforms to connect with friends, share life updates or photos, seek out business networking opportunities, and play games. The main marketing opportunity in online social channels is proximity to your current and future consumers. 

While people still use social media for personal interactions and enjoyment, they now also use these platforms to help them validate companies and even make purchasing decisions based on reviews and comments available online. A large majority of the population spends at least several hours a day on social media, so having a strong, positive presence for your company or business is vital to successful marketing.

Ad Targeting Capabilities

People share a vast amount of personal information about their lives on social media such as likes, dislikes, preferences, opinions, etc. This means that you can use the information social media users have agreed to share to target the exact type of consumers who will be interested in your products or services. Being able to narrow down your audience with such specifics will help you spend your marketing budget with deeper insight and higher profits.

If your company already has a customer relationship management solution provider, many CRM solutions integrate nicely with social media to help you futher determine your consumer's needs. 

Viral Sharing Potential

Word-of-mouth marketing is still alive, but it now has a large presence online. If you have powerful, helpful, or interesting content that is designed to move your target audience, then you have the opportunity to go viral without any added efforts or expenses on your part. Social media spreads information more quickly than most any other digital vehicle, so it is very wise to take full advantage of the potential to go viral.

Brand Exposure

A strong presence on social media, coupled with well-tailored and targeted ads provide your business a very large opportunity to expose many new customers to your brand and offerings. Creating consistent and recognizable branding across all of your social media profiles, websites, marketing materials, and ads will help you reach a large pool of consumers.

Social Proof Through Reviews and Online Interaction

Finally, social media can help you acquire social proof through reviews and online interactions with your consumers. More and more consumers are not only shopping online, but also making their purchasing decision there as well. Current customer reviews can help validate your company’s products and services quickly in social media channels. You can also use your social media profiles to gather valuable consumer feedback by posting questions and interacting with your customers as they offer their feedback. You can use this to help shape your online marketing strategies, as well as inform many other decisions within your company.

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