Social Media is Now the Most Preferred Marketing Channel for Businesses

We know that the only platform where millions of people socialize via the web is the social media, and thanks to the popularity of smartphones and tablets worldwide. This opened new opportunities for businesses to implement their marketing campaigns effectively compared to traditional marketing platforms such as print media (newspapers, magazines) and electronic media (TV, radio).

Thus, social media marketing was born and it is now becoming more significant as so many different advice columns and tools keep popping up to help enterprises and individuals stay organized and successful when it comes to this newer marketing effort. This has caused many businesses to create a full-time social media marketing position for experts to help manage their social media accounts, get creative engagement, follow analytics, etc. It takes a lot of time and effort, but the payoff is only increasing as social involvement increase, so it is easy to ask yourself. Will I get the benefits if I use social media as my primary marketing platform?

How Social Media Will Help You in the Long Run

No matter what your reasons are for putting all of your energy and resources into social media marketing, most are always thinking about the scenarios in which this idea might actually work. Below are a few instances where this strategy could potentially show success:

  • If You are Working on a Limited Budget – Those who ask this question are typically startups or small enterprises working on a limited budget, and rightfully so. Social media is one of the low-cost ways to get the word out there about your products or services. Although a business may have to pay an expert or a team of experts to make it happen, after all, if this is your primary method you want to be present on every single account from Facebook to Tumblr to Slideshare. That is the price that you pay for any marketing efforts you adopt. The only difference here, however, is that this will likely still be the least expensive strategy. 
  • If Your Target Audience is Highly Active in Social Media – While you might miss out on opportunities by neglecting other marketing strategies, you can still earn success and save money if you know that most of your audience is active on social media. If you have done enough research to know that your product or service reverberates well with this age group, and you know that some of your past clients and customers found you on social media or find other companies via social media, you have yourself a good outlet. 
  • Easy to Target and to Find Analytics – As social media channels have so much specific information about its users, it is easy to target. Also, most of this information voluntarily given to the networks by the users. When it comes to purchasing ad space on a website such as Facebook, you can ensure that you are targeting to those in your audience the same way you would with purchasing ad space on a search engine such as Google or Yahoo. Most of the top social networks such as Facebook and Twitter also have built-in analytics to help you determine which posts are getting the post traction and the demographics of those in your network.

Small Businesses Can Better Utilize Social Media

For startup ventures and small businesses, social media can be used as a primary marketing channel, especially for creating brand awareness among their target audience. Another main reason why these businesses need to use social media is that it is totally-free of cost (except the paid ads), and if your content is informative and refreshing, you can get more likes and shares, thereby more conversions.

Social media can be your primary marketing channel, but it is best to think of it only as the primary strategy for certain aspects. For example, it might be very well be your primary marketing channel for building your individual brand, and it might very well effective when it comes to save money for a startup. It might be your primary strategy when you are targeting a younger demographic. It is all about what you are focusing on at a given moment.