7 Benefits of Using Social Media to Help Your Business with Branding

The world we live in is becoming faster paced and “all about the convenience” so it should come as no surprise that social media sites are dominating the internet.

What are Social Media Sites you ask?

These are sites like Facebook, Twitter, KIK, Tumblr, Snapchat and Periscope just to name a few.  People of all ages and from all socioeconomic backgrounds utilize these sites to keep in touch and stay in the “know” with just a few clicks of a mouse or even more so now, through their smart phone.  Some may not see the benefit of utilizing different social media sites for marketing and building their brand, while others are taking the plunge and reaping the benefits of social media marketing strategies.  The aim of this article is to outline 7 benefits of using social media to help build your business brand.

1. Brand Awareness is an important aspect of building your business.  When people are looking for products within your specific product category, you would like for them to think of your brand first.  This first in mind awareness can be accomplished through repeated exposure to your brand.  The evolution of the internet and specifically social media can help you create that digital impact on consumers.  Social media allows for ultra-fast communication about your brand, good and bad.  Think about this, on average, people using Facebook have about 338 friends, with about 15% of all users have more than 500 friends.  A customer makes a purchase from your company, likes the product or service, and makes a post about your business brand, your company has instantly reached a few hundred potential new customers.
2. Improved Brand Loyalty is perhaps one of the most important aspects of building your brand.  It is simply what people think when they see your brand, logo, or hear your business name.  Customers with a high sense of brand loyalty will often be loyal consumers of your brand for life.  In essence, brand loyalty is priceless.  There are over 2 billion consumers that utilize various forms of social media.  By utilizing the social media platform you can create a customer support system via social media, provide company updates, have special offers, giveaways, receive feedback, and highlight customer experiences.
3. Humanizes Your Brand.  In essence, no one enjoys a one way conversation, and no one enjoys receiving automated emailed responses from companies.  Customers want to feel special, and feel important.  As humans we are naturally curious creatures.  We crave human interaction.  Social media will allow you to bring that human aspect to your brand.  Consumers will get to know who you are, what your brand is, and the personality behind the brand.  It will allow for real relationships to be formed where you get to know the consumers and the consumers get to know you.
4. Increases Traffic.  For a business that is not on social media their website traffic is limited to people that are current or past consumers of the brand, or people that stumble onto the business website from searching key words that the business is ranked for.  A social media profile will be another path to your brand, each post is an opportunity for a new visitor to your site, and quality post will result in more opportunities to develop more inbound traffic.
5. Decreases Advertising Cost.  All of the most popular social media sites are FREE, yes that is correct, and they are FREE.  Free is great for anybody, especially a new business trying to get its feet off the ground.  Need I say more?
6. Enriches the Customer Experience.  In today’s digital world, most consumers will search for a brands social media page to see what other consumers are saying about the brand, and see if they are able to interact with other customers on the social media page.  The potential consumer is not solely reliable on advertisements, or promotions.  They can see real feedback in real time.
7. Customer Insights.  This can be a biggie.  A lot of big business rely in customer surveys to gain information about their brand, or other brands consumers would be interested in purchasing. The truth of the matter here is that some people lie on surveys, maybe because they just do not really know what they want, or just because they can.  Another reality is that people change what they want so frequently that a business can miss out on the next big thing quickly.  Social media allows for that private social listening.  Just as other people can see your business profile, you are able to see theirs.  You can keep up with new trends as they begin to peak or you can develop enough insight to become a trend setter in your market.  The best part is that you will not have to waste time, or money on surveys and there will no bothering consumers with surveys and hoping they fill them out.

As you can see, the benefits of utilizing social media can far outweigh any negative connotations one may have in creating a social media profile for their business and brand.  It can be a win win for everyone.  There are reports of business owners only spending about 6 hours a week to maintain social media sites and they have almost tripled their customer base.  The benefits listed here are only a few and I encourage you to select one social media platform and try it for a month and I’m sure you will see it will help in many aspects of your business.

TIP: As you are engaging with people on social media, post engaging material. Do not ONLY put sales in front of your audience, if you do, it’s a sure fire way NOT to get your audience to engage. Provide Value First.