(Guest Post) The 10 Biggest Benefits of Social Media Marketing

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By Erica Badino

Social media may have started out as a simple means of connecting with others online, but it has since grown into something else entirely. Today, businesses use social media for a variety of marketing purposes and that practice is only growing with time.
 
Today I’m going to show you 10 of the biggest benefits that social media marketing offers for your business. If you’re not already fully engaged with today’s platforms, you won’t be able to wait another minute by the time we’re through. 

​10 Benefits Social Media Offers For You and Your Business

Many of social media’s benefits are visible and easy to recognize, but many of them are also hidden from view. Combined, these benefits represent a huge potential for your ongoing success. Here are ten massive benefits of social media marketing: 
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1. Bring Traffic to Your Blog

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​Social media acts like a digital billboard for your blog. When you’ve finished creating a blog for your business, the next step is to promote it on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Here you’ll promote your latest posts and articles.
 
As people find your content, these platforms will send traffic to your blog and show them everything you have to offer. In fact, in some cases, Facebook sends more traffic to websites than even Google themselves. 
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2. Establish Credibility & Trust 

​It’s hard to trust what you read on the internet, but as you begin to promote your brand and your blog on social media, you’ll gain the trust of those who read your content. By providing them with value and worthwhile advice or products, you’re proving to them that you have nothing but their best interest at heart. 
 
The connection here has been found in various studies and shows how brands can convey usefulness and value when in turn creates an intent to buy.
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3.  Engage With Your Audience 

​Your audience members are already using social media, which makes it the perfect place to meet and engage with them online. When you post on your social media pages, you have the opportunity to engage with audience members in the comments and spark conversation around your brand. 
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No other type of marketing offers this kind of instantaneous engagement and opportunity to speak with audience members regardless of their location. 
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4. Perform A/B Testing 

While there are numerous options for A/B testing software, social media offers platforms where you can essentially do it for free. Let’s take Twitter for example. You could easily create two different versions of the same tweet and change certain variables. 
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By tweeting them both at different times, you can measure how each one performs and easily see which version performed better through your analytics. Use this to test headlines, concepts, and anything else you’d like without spending a dime. 
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5. Generate Leads (and Sales) 

​Bringing new people to your social media page offers the opportunity to showcase your brand and by producing content on your blog that is readily available, you open up opportunities for leads to find their way to your site.
 
You can also pepper in promotional content that leads to your landing pages. All of this represents huge potential for lead generation and ultimately conversions. Social media is a great place to provide a great first impression for new leads. 
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6. Grow Your Brand 

In today’s world of marketing, we all hear about how important it is to tell your brand’s story and find a voice unique to your business. This is the proving ground you can use to find out what works and how you can bring new people into your brand’s fold.
 
The massive amount of people using social media, 1.96 billion in fact, offers the perfect place to connect with a wide variety of people and members of your audience that you wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to reach. 
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7. Real-Time Customer Service

​When it comes to customer service, sometimes timing is everything. Social media offers your business the chance to immediately connect with customers in real time, which is a huge benefit. If someone has a question or an issue, they can reach you instantly and you can, in turn, provide what they need.
 
Here’s an example of a recent conversation I had with Best Buy’s customer support on Twitter: 
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As you can see, the messages were quick and I was quickly given an avenue to have my problem solved. It was fast and easy, and I had my answer that same day. 
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8. Lower Marketing Costs (If Any)

Social media represents an entirely new medium for advertising and with such a huge potential for reach, it makes sense to pursue this avenue. Of course, pricing can be a factor, but in this case social media comes out on top.
 
According to research, social media is cheaper than any other form of advertising. It’s the only option that can help you reach over 1,000 people with less than $3 invested. 
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9. Understand Your Audience Better 

You can learn a lot about your audience on social media. There are numerous analytics tools you can take advantage of on today’s platforms. These allow you to see the age, gender, and demographics of your visitors.
 
Combining this with data on how your content is performing allows you to really see your audience in a new light and understand what motivates them. 
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10. Better Search Rankings 

While social media isn’t, in and of itself, a ranking factor, it does still provide SEO benefits for your business. For example, social media profiles and posts can sometimes appear in Google search results, especially if you’re using Google+ as one of you social media platforms.
 
Engaging with your audience on social media also sends brand signals to Google which can also improve your overall ranking through increased credibility and trust. 
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Final Thoughts

Of all the marketing types, social media offers a huge amount of benefits and options for your business. Whether it’s growing your brand, or reaching countless new leads, anything can be done on these platforms when the proper time and energy.
 
Does your company use social media as a tool for marketing? What benefits have you seen from your efforts? Let us know in the comments! 
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Erica Badino

​After helping launch several successful blogs, Erica Badino is on a quest to share her knowledge and experiences with bloggers both new and old. You can find her online @ericabadino01

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