What's The Point?

Every year I go through rut in rowing and think to myself,"What's the point?". Why I am I rowing in college if I am not going to the Olympics? I feel like a lot of other athletes get this way too. What is the reasoning I am here, what is so important about this, and who cares? These are just a few examples of thoughts that run through my mind, typically in the months of January and February. This honestly happens to people outside of sport, as it is typical to feel this way if you are in a routine for too long. If you have a full time job, you're a full time student, or anything in between. While I am no social media professional (yet) I can say with confidence that they get stuck in ruts too, an often think what it is so important about what I do. However, after reading the text book for this social media class, I can answer that question! The use of social media for marketing or brand promotion is so important and effective! Allow me to explain why!

What many people do not know is that social media is quickly becoming one of the most important aspects of digital marketing, which provides incredible benefits that help reach millions of customers worldwide. And if a brand is not applying this profitable source, they are missing out on an incredible marketing opportunity, as it makes it easy to spread the word about your product and mission. Social media happens to be one of the most stress-free and profitable digital marketing platforms that can be used to increase your business visibility. If you think about that, its a double win! who does not love easier work that ends in the most profit? By applying a social media strategy, it will help a brand significantly increase their brand recognition. Over 91% marketers claimed that their social marketing efforts greatly increased their brand visibility and heightened user experience. Undoubtedly, having a social media page for your brand will benefit your business and with a regular use, it can also produce a wide audience for your business.

Social media marketing is the most cost-effective way of any form of marketing. Creating an account and signing up is free for almost all social networking platforms. Being cost-effective is important as it helps you attain a greater return on investment and hold a bigger budget for other marketing and business payments. It is also a good way for engaging and interacting with a wide variety of customers. The more you communicate with the audience, the more chances you have of conversion. Setting up a two-way communication with your target audience is one of the best things you can do for your brand, as it is the best way to win their attention and give them your message. Thus, your brand will reach more audience in real terms and gets itself established without any hassle. Since social media is such a prevalent force in today's society almost everyone has one form or another of a social media account which makes it easy to reach your specific target market.

When a brand has a social media presence, they make it easier for their customers to find you and connect with you. By connecting with your customers through social media, a brand is more probable to significantly increase customer retention and customer loyalty. Since developing a loyal customer base is one of the main goals of almost any business, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty typically go hand in hand. It is essential to often engage with your customers and start developing a bond or a relationship with them. Social media is not just limited to introducing your product, it is also a leading platform for promotional campaigns. A customer sees these platforms as service channels where they can directly communicate with the business. 

Social media plays a vital role in networking and communication platform. With the help of these platforms, creating a voice for a company is important in improving the overall brand image. Customers appreciate the fact that when they post comments on your page, they receive a personalized reply rather than a computerized message. A brand that values its customers, takes the time to compose a personal message, which is perceived in a positive light. One of the best ways to find the needs and wants of your customers instead of directly communicating with them is Marketplace awareness, which is also considered as the most valuable advantage of social media. By observing the activities on your profile, you can see customers’ interest and opinions that you might not know otherwise if you didn’t have a social media presence. As a complementary research tool, social media can help you get information and a better understanding of your industry. Once you get a large following, you can then use additional tools to examine other demographics of your consumers.

For making a business more powerful, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction both play a major role, but it all comes down to communication-like previously mentioned. When customers see a company posting on social media, especially replying to their questions or comments and posting original content, it helps them build a positive image in their minds. Regularly interacting with your customers proves that you and your business care about them. Once you get a few satisfied customers, who are vocal about their positive purchase experience, it is almost like you can let the advertising be done for you by genuine customers who appreciated your product or service.

So now a professional may be thinking-okay I get what it does and why it is important for the company and it brand, but why so many different platforms or accounts! Most social media experts will know that each platform has its own unique quality and features that makes it different from the others. It is important to recognize the differences and uses in order to get the return on investment for your company. If you are just posting content willy-nilly without any purpose on random platforms, I would be pretty bored too.

Facebook is the biggest and arguably most powerful social network in the world with 1.55 billion active monthly users. Regardless if you are a startup or fortune 500 company, you need to be on Facebook and start engaging with your consumers.

Twitter is known as the ‘‘in the moment’’ platform and holds a respectful 255 million active monthly users. Twitter is a perfect online marketing tool for businesses that want to reach out to people and are ready for a reply in a quick and smart way.

Instagram is a visual platform designed for customers to post, share, comment and engage through digital media. As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and from my personal experience, young adults are the most active on Instagram out of any other social media platform.

LinkedIn is regarded as the professional social networking site, LinkedIn largely focuses on business to business marketing rather than business to consumer.

Google +, Youtube, Foursquare and Pintrest are other social network sites that harshly miss out on the list.  These platforms are not used ti even compare them to the others. Even though Youtube will always be a popular sight, it is hardly ever used for social media brand marketing. And then there’s Snapchat, the new kid on the block, who recently recorded six billion daily views, and again in my personal life, I see young adults on Snapchat all the time, and there are so many ways brands can utilize this platform as it is the most unique of the others.

There is no denying that Social media marketing has many advantages for both startups and established brands. By regularly updating the right social media marketing strategy, it will lead to increased traffic, improved brand loyalty, healthier customer satisfaction and much more. Social networks aren’t just about you connecting with your customers, but also it allows them to connect with you and have a two-way conversation with them. In fact, 73.4% of users will follow a brand because of their interest in the product or service. While working in social media for a brand can feel repetitive and not as exciting sometimes, it is one of he most important and impact-full tactics a company can do in order to get the best results.