Marketing aims at satisfying the needs and wants of the customer by providing them quality products and services and create a value midst the customer’s mind in a way that the customer is bound to remain loyal and provide profit to the firm. Marketing is basically a two way process where the marketers give value to the customer and in return get the desired profit. However, the cut throat competition within the firms had accelerated the way marketing strategies are made giving an altogether new dimension to the way competitive strategies are planned. The newest of strategy midst all the tried and tested strategies is the social media and marketing strategy. Most of the firms these days are resorting to social media marketing services to have an edge over their competitors by attracting customers at large. Social media marketing (as well as social media marketing services) is all about informing and attracting customers through an online portal where they are free to share their views as well as provide feedbacks. In addition, it also encourages customers to review the product and services that they have used. They are also bestowed with the option of sharing, reposting, retweeting through social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter respectively, therefore leading to the word of mouth promotion and boosting the sales of products and services to an excellent level. It can be said as an electronic word of mouth promotion as it is done on an online platform.
Word of mouth promotion attracts customers like no other marketing tools can do, because the feedback and reviews come directly from the customers without the influence of any firm or third party. So, the customer gets convinced about the quality of products and services and tends to get attracted towards it. Social media marketing has given rise to e-commerce or online marketing by increasing the online sales by a whopping 30% every year. It has given rise to pure click companies like transaction sites, search engines, commerce sites which basically sell clothes, toys, books, insurance etc. Moreover, brick and click companies have also emerged which are mostly brick and mortar companies who added an online distribution channel for the sale of their products. The revenues that social media marketing can generate for a business is something that cannot be overlooked. Some of the benefits that social media marketing accompanies need to be known in this fierce competitive marketing world. Let’s have a look on some of its advantages:
Brand recognition enhancement
A social media network helps you to place your brand in a way that makes it more visible midst the online users. It is the best way to voice your product amongst those who are least or not aware about your product and brand. Tweeting about a product or frequently posting brand updates on Facebook would increase the chances of customers noticing your brand and thereby accelerating your sales. It would also help in retaining existing customers and attracting new ones.
Increased customer loyalty towards brand
Firms who engage their customers through their social network update tend to have more loyal customers. Extensive research in this field shows that customers who follow a particular brand online tend to be very loyal to it seldom switching to other brands.
Access to new opportunities
The posts made by a brand online always have an opportunity to convert a prospective customer into a new found customer. Once you have an ample number of followers on your social networking sites, every post, image that you update has a possible chance of converting a prospective customer into a buyer. The posts and images leads to actions, reactions and can help in retaining and satisfying old customers and finding ways of attracting new customers.
Personalised touch
Social media marketing depicts brands and products as persons who are posting, updating and acting as humans. Replying to comments, carrying out conversations with customers and giving them a personalised touch which triggers the loyalty extinct of the customers and they tend to stick with the brand. So, it is very important to have a huge audience base online to have a competitive edge over the competitors.
Increased brand value
The social media trends have made people crazy about updating everything they do. Right from visiting a place or buying a product. They update it all and whenever they mention the product they bought or the place they visited, other people tend to notice it and start following it too. The more people talk about your brand, the more your brand value shall increase giving a boost to your sales in a way that shall increase your revenue like never before.
Accelerated inbound traffic
The more you post on social media, more is the chances of increasing the inbound traffic of customers by increasing the no of visitors who visit your official website and there are possible chances of them being converted to potential customers.
Reduced marketing costs
The investment done on social media marketing is relatively cheap and the revenue it generates by engaging and attracting potential customers and inducing them with a zeal of buying that product of a brand they are following online is pretty much worth it. If you are having any apprehensions regarding such investments, you can think of starting small and once you start getting desirable results and your efforts tend to produce positive results, you can increase your social media marketing budget and enjoy the profits it generates for a long period of time.
Commendable search engine rankings
If your brand is regular with social media posts and updates and have generated a huge fan base, it can considerably increase your search engine rankings giving you an accelerated boost in sales and revenue. It instils a positive image of their brand by painting a trustworthy and loyal picture of the brand. So, having a strong presence in social media is very important to give your competitors a run for their money.
To be successful in long run, social media marketing should be taken seriously because the competition here is never ending and only those will survive who can understand and make the most out of this significant opportunity of social media marketing.