Introduction:
It’s never a bad idea to turn to social media when things get tough.
You may find this amusing, but it is the truth in light of recent business dynamics and landscape.
Here’s why you need a social media strategy during Covid 19.
Businesses have either been paralyzed or have had their potential invigorated by the worldwide quandary in 2020. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted an important but often overlooked fact: the pivotal importance of digital marketing and the need for a business transformation.
The new social distancing and virtual living lifestyle is no longer merely a perception; it is now a reality. Cutting marketing budgets and suspending employees will not help your business stay afloat; however, using suitable digital marketing strategies will.
How?
Consider this statistic for a moment.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Facebook and Instagram, the world’s most popular social media platforms, saw a 40%+ increase in usage. Furthermore, views on Facebook Live and Instagram Live, the apps’ real-time video features, increased by 2X.
This graph alone demonstrates the interest in online content as well as the level of engagement with social media channels.
Why is social media marketing the viable alternative to your draining tactics?
A brand’s social media presence can make or break it.
Cash flow issues are putting a lot of pressure on businesses. In these challenging circumstances, making the best decision for your company can boost its sales and revenue.
Social media marketing is a great strategy for any type of business, regardless of the customers you serve or the products you sell. The last thing you want is to find yourself pigeon-toed, continue to lag behind your competitors as the economy returns to normal. The question of whether the journey to social media infamy and stardom is worthwhile is a common one.
To begin with, social media marketing can help your company accomplish a great deal. Moving on to the next point, why is social media marketing so important that every company and organization is advocating it?
The following 7 reasons will help you understand why social media marketing is so popular and important.
1. Consumption of online content has risen exponentially.
Time spent on social media has increased by 29%, content consumption on Instagram and YouTube has increased by 32% and 44%.
You might think that once things settle down, businesses will return to their old strategies and tactics.
They may or may not, depending on the circumstances. However, given the current situation, it is evident that a digital revolution wave is unavoidable for businesses.
Why?
Because more than 70% of businesses have implemented or are in the process of implementing a digital transformation strategy. In addition, 21% of businesses have completed their digitalization successfully.
You have two options as an entrepreneur: either get on the boat and start using content marketing or drown your business if you don’t make any changes. It’s up to you to make a decision.
2. Influencer Marketing Has Reached Its Pinnacle
During this time, digital influencers have become significantly vital. They focused on creating meaningful content, endorsing brands while spreading health and safety messages, and educating consumers rather than selling products.
Influencer marketing has progressed from a fledgling marketing strategy to a leading one. For you, digital influencers are ideal candidates for disseminating information, engrossing the crowd, building brand awareness, and innovating the sales process.
The need of the hour is to capitalize on an influencer’s creative power while staying within a reasonable budget. Although some brands have alreadySingle Post
(Promoting Doyenne via meme)
emphasized the importance of spreading the message through well-known influencers, others are considering the use of influencer marketing.
3. The Increasing Use of Social Media
The staggering figures highlight the importance of social media and its global reach. The most difficult and crucial task for businesses is to build a loyal customer base, and social media has a massive user base.
This allows businesses to interact with customers, explain their products/services, and transform them into long-term customers. Social media marketing is a great way to learn more about your target market, take advantage of the growing numbers, and grow your company.
4. Social Media Marketing Is Inexpensive.
Traditional marketing, such as newspaper ads, billboards, and television commercials, costs hundreds to thousands of dollars, and not every company can afford to pay the exorbitant endorsement fee.
Returning to social media marketing, the platforms are entirely free to use. As a result, you can easily reduce marketing costs without jeopardizing your business objectives. When it comes to social media, investing time, creating and publishing relevant content, and conversing with your followers and fans will yield the best results. Some industries, such as real estate coaching, are benefiting from the pandemic.
On social media, the cost per thousand impressions (CPM) can be as low as $2.50, which is 3X less than traditional forms of advertising and marketing. Campaigns on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, as well as LinkedIn marketing solutions for B2B social media marketing, are fairly affordable to run.
Social media marketing can contribute significantly to your company’s return on investment, regardless of your budget.
5. Measure Results With Ease
You never know how impactful traditional marketing is until after it has been implemented. There’s no way to tell if you’re going in the wrong direction.
Furthermore, traditional marketing’s results are only obscurely understood.
You can track the success of your campaigns in real-time with social media marketing. It enables you to play a transparent game as opposed to a blind one, as in traditional marketing.
You can learn a lot about your customers and come up with marketing strategies based on what you learn. You can also see how many users convert into customers and make real-time adjustments to your strategies. Through social media marketing analysis, you can begin to understand your conversion game, the cost per click, sales and revenue generated, and so on, which is something that traditional marketing simply cannot do. For social media marketing analysis, you can use a variety of tools.
Image Source: ClatterChatter
6. Construct the Reputation of The Brand
What does it take for a brand to succeed on social media?
Excellent content, a substantial number of followers, and a rewarding relationship with them. That is the recipe for any brand to achieve social media prominence.As simple as it sounds, it also entails a simple procedure. However, you must choose the wise path to do so.
Because social media marketing isn’t rocket science, many brands have found success in this arena. These are the companies that never tried traditional marketing techniques and instead just went with the flow of the digital age, and are now market leaders.
Image Source: Wordtracker
So, can you enhance or start afresh with your brand’s reputation?
You certainly can!
All you have to do is connect with suitable followers, talk to them, and share useful and user-friendly relevant data, and you’re done! You will quickly improve your sales and revenue figures. Social media is the next big thing, and your brand can be too. Simply take the appropriate steps as you ascend the social media ladder.
7. It Also Facilitates Your Inbound Marketing Traffic.
SEO tactics aren’t the only way to drive traffic to your website. Other techniques are included as well, and B2B marketing through social media profiles is one of them. If you believe that social media marketing is solely about enhancing your brand’s reputation and attracting new customers on social media platforms, you are mistaken.
Social media marketing can help you increase inbound traffic to your website. Each piece of content you share on social media gives you another chance to attract new visitors to your website and convert them into loyal customers.
Publish content on social media channels regularly to engage new leads and direct them back to your website. If you do it correctly, it will only be a matter of time before these new leads become loyal customers.
Image Source: Hubspot
To wrap it all up:
The global pandemic serves as a subtle reminder for businesses to experiment with new methods of selling their products to customers via the internet. The focus of organisations should be on agile marketing rather than physical operations and marketing.
Keeping the aforementioned points in mind when developing your marketing strategy will not only assist your business in developing a strong social media presence, but will also assist your business in growing in other ways.
If you have a good social media strategy, your brand will thrive not only during Covid 19, but also afterward.
