On average, every human spends approximately 900 hours a year on social media platforms; that’s over 5 weeks of uninterrupted scrolling, clicking or sharing. While this may seem like a lot, global social media penetration is only at 54% (that is about 4.2 billion users). One thing we can be sure of, these numbers will keep growing; exponentially. Statistics like these tell us how much social media can influence not just our online activities but our offline activities as well.

Social media is indeed a powerful tool that can influence customer behaviour; unlocking boundless opportunities for your business. It therefore becomes imperative that every business that wants to thrive in today’s digital economy must harness the power of social media to drive business growth. And there is no better way to do this than through conscientious social media marketing (SMM).

Social media marketing is simply using social media platforms to promote your brand, products or services. It significantly differs from traditional marketing which makes use of conventional channels such as print, broadcasts, billboards, direct mail etc. Social media marketing offers a wide array of advantages that can be a game-changer for your business. 

For one, SMM allows you to increase your brand visibility far more than any traditional marketing channel would; without breaking the bank. With over 4 billion active users, social media enables you to reach not just customers within your region but around the world; allowing you to compete with big international brands. Through creative and engaging content, you can convert these users into customers. 

And when these customers are secured, you can ensure their loyalty through consistent engagement. Unlike traditional marketing channels that only allow you to talk ‘at’ your customers, SMM allows you to talk ‘with’ your customers. By responding to comments and enquiries and engaging with user-generated content, you create a sense of trust with your audience and turn your customers into brand ambassadors. Overall, this helps humanise your brand by giving it a persona which you can further humanise through behind-the-scenes content showing your process and the people behind it. 

Social media marketing also offers targeted advertising options, allowing you to reach a very specific audience which forms your potential customer base. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter allow businesses to specify their target audience based on demographics, interests, behaviours, and more. Also, by harnessing the data generated by the engagement of your audience on your social media posts, particularly audience demographics, businesses can draw valuable insights that can enable them to optimise their marketing strategies.  

As free and easy as creating social media accounts may be, a solid social media marketing strategy requires multiple platforms, a mix of organic and paid methods, research and careful planning to bring it all together. This can become resource-intensive, and while it’s a good problem to have, the more you grow your audience using social media, the harder it will be to keep up. Hiring a social media marketing agency like Mevnet would allow you to focus on your core business functions while still unlocking the full potential of this powerful medium. 

Our social media marketing associates at Mevnet Studios understand the principles and practices of effective social media marketing and can help your business unlock new levels of growth through bespoke digital marketing strategies. 

Ready to boost your social media presence? Let’s get started. Contact Mevnet today!