What is social media marketing and how can it help you grow?

Social media marketing is a term that describes the process of creating specific content designed for dedicated social media platforms.

Its main aims are to promote a company’s services and products, build up a community with its target audience, and to drive traffic to their business. With brand new platforms and features emerging each day, the field of social media marketing is always evolving, making expert assistance in this area a valuable option.

Social media marketing is focused on communicating with customers and a target audience right where they are, while they socially interact with one another and a company’s brand. Let’s take a deep dive into social media marketing and explore how it can help businesses to build on the success they have already attained and expand.

What is social media?

Put simply, social media is a form of online communication that enables firms to interact with their customers while sharing information about their businesses in real time on a wide range of platforms.

In terms of marketing, it allows companies to reach their customers better and develop online networks of customers and supporters to whom they can promote and sell their products and services.

Increasing brand awareness

To grow any business, customers must know it exists. Millions of people use social media every day, so to capitalise on this potential customer base, it is essential for businesses to have a presence. Social media marketing boosts brand awareness because it drives engagement through interactions such as reposts, likes, saves, shares and comments. It also allows businesses to direct traffic to their website by including links in posts, bios, and profiles.

Generating leads and boosting conversions

Finding people interested in products and services and transforming them into loyal customers is also essential for expansion. Sharing and promoting products via social media is a straightforward way to generate leads and boost conversion rates to increase sales. This is because the people being advertised to have already selected to engage with the business by following its social media account.

Leads can be generated via links, contests and live video updates, and products can be advertised and sold via social media profiles that have shopping features. Two well-known examples of this are the “Shop” section on Facebook or “Shopping” option on Instagram.

Building customer relationships

Finding potential customers is important but keeping them is crucial for business growth.

Through social media marketing, companies can connect and engage with their followers. As a result, they can build lasting relationships with them. This can be achieved by interacting with customers through social media posts, answering their comments and questions, and offering them any help they might need.

Companies can also ask their followers questions about pain points and products, or offer free gifts and discounted services to help build trust and reward their ongoing support and input.

If you’re looking to expand your business using social media marketing, at Ruffle Digital, we can help. Get in touch today for expert advice.