If you have a business that’s yet to be a part of social media, you’re missing out on a lot of great opportunities.
This is why more and more businesses are engaging in social media marketing. Before you dive into this revolutionary practice, we highly recommend understanding what it is first and what its pros and cons are.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
To put it simply, social media marketing is any form of marketing that utilizes platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. This form of marketing is becoming more popular among marketers because of its effectiveness.
To top it all off, social media is becoming more widespread by the minute.
Let’s look at some important numbers behind the top three social media platforms first. Based on recent data….
- Twitter has a total of 330 million monthly active users
- Instagram has a total of 1 billion monthly active users
- Facebook has a total of 91 billion monthly active users
Those are active users that your business could be reaching out to. What’s even better is that there are emerging platforms like Tiktok that further ramp up the effectiveness and reach of social media marketing.
Pros Of Social Media Marketing
1. The Reach Is Staggering
Checking out the numbers above, it’s safe to say that social media marketing has an impressive reach. It might just be the marketing platform with the biggest reach out there considering how many people are involved in social media.
You can bet that people are always going to be in touch with their social media accounts as it’s their way to reach out to their friends and family. If your business holds a strong presence on social media, then it would be very easy to capitalize on engagements.
2. Fast Results
With the right marketing campaign, you can get the results you need through social media. As many marketers say, all it really takes is one viral post and your business will soar to new heights immediately.
The moment you publish a post, your audience will immediately see it. If they share or interact with the post, their friends and acquaintances on Facebook could see that interaction as well.
One of the most effective marketing stints of our time on social media has to be Wendy’s Twitter account. The official Twitter account of the sassy fast food chain continues to go viral and that does a lot for the exposure they get on social media.
3. Direct Interaction
Let’s take a look at Wendy’s again. The fast food chain takes advantage of that momentum by directly interacting with its audience online.
Unlike other forms of marketing, social media lets you directly interact with your customers through comments and even direct messaging. Aside from being able to respond to their requests, you can even get direct feedback from them through social media interactions.
4. Cheap
You can actually start social media marketing free of charge. A good start would be to create social media accounts on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and you’ll be good to go. Of course, you’re still going to need a good skill set and a lot of experience to make the campaign effective.
Cons Of Social Media Marketing
1. Risk Of Bad Publicity
It’s easy to go viral on social media but it’s a two-way street. You can go viral for good things, you can go viral for bad things. That bad publicity can do quite a number on your business so it’s very important that you practice proper social media etiquette at all times.
Keep in mind that people are going to want to support businesses that show concern for the environment and social issues. You should always be nice and courteous to your customers online as all it takes is one bad viral post and all of your work will be put to waste.
2. Time-Consuming
The key to a good social media marketing campaign is consistency. If you want to keep your audience engaged consistently, you’re going to have to interact with them on a regular basis. Additionally, you need to post high-quality content consistently as well.
This can be time-consuming if you consider the fact that you are running a business at the same time. This is why it’s important to find good marketers to do the campaign for you.
3. No Control Over Audience Engagement
You have no control over how your audience will interact with your business online. Even if what happens is a slight misunderstanding, your customer could leave a bad review on your social media platforms and once that goes viral, that’s already big trouble.
An army of online trolls can do a number on any business. If such problems arise, the best way to go about it is to post on your accounts and explain what has happened. If a customer really did have a bad experience with you, make sure to talk to them in a polite manner.
As you can see, social media has its ups and downs. It’s not something that you should carelessly steep your business into. Like with other forms of marketing, you’ll need the right people and the right strategies for the job.