Skip this part if you’re pretty familiar with the concept – or take a refresher and read through. If you only have a vague idea of what constitutes this online marketing channel, here’s a quick definition.

So, what is social media marketing? Also known as SMM, it is the process of crafting content for social networking platforms to achieve your business and marketing objectives. You use the content to raise brand awareness, engage your audience or generate conversion such as driving traffic to your site or compelling followers to contact you.

Depending on your short-term or long-term needs, you can create either a single or a unified social media marketing strategy. You might focus your efforts on a single platform or market on multiple ones – but be aware that doing the latter requires more resources because each social networking app has its standard content and messaging format. This approach, however, also has the potential to make a bigger impact.

The Top Three Benefits Of Social Media Marketing

If you have to choose among the major pros of social media marketing to direct your strategy, let it be any three of the following:

1. Social Media Outreach is an Economical Choice

As the COVID-19 crisis bleeds into the new year, it’s crucial to keep your business alive by reaching out to your target market without breaking the bank.

This makes social media a good place to start. A Forbes Communication Council post said that, amid the pandemic, “it is cheaper for businesses to build their brand and engage with their customers through social media.” Setting up a business account on a social app is free, as is posting content on your business page. Some basic features like messaging and analytics are also free.

Of course, you have to start paying if you want to use the advertising and targeting features. But spending on ads can easily be aligned with your budget. For what it’s worth, hiring a social media management team can help you run an effective ad campaign, which in turn can pay for itself.

2. Raising Brand Awareness Can be Streamlined

Tap into the broad user base of social platforms to gain exposure for your brand. You can enhance your likelihood of being recognized by more users when you put up a page or profile on each of your chosen channels. Work on increasing your followers, sharing content consistently and interacting with your community to familiarize people with your presence.

But achieving visibility also depends on the viability of the social media apps. Take a look at the traditional ones, which have been here since the early 2000s and have not shown any signs of slowing down during the pandemic.

3. Customers Can Connect With You Directly

One of the advantages of social media is making interactions seamless and convenient. Through post or comment tagging and messaging features, you can reach out to another person or an organization in seconds.

These elements can also be turned into social media marketing tools, so you can easily cater to the needs of your customers. Likewise, you can ask them about what they want, announce promotions and sales and educate them about your products or services.

Online users aged 16-64 find new brands or products through social ads, use social networks to research new brands or products and rely on social proof (such as likes and positive comments) to influence their purchase decisions.