Importance Of Marketing On Social Media Platforms Explained

The use of social media has become increasingly popular over the years. From a mere 2.73 billion global users in 2017, it has risen to nearly 4.6 billion in 2022 and is expected to reach 5.8 billion by 2027. In addition to this, reports say that the average time people spend on social media platforms is around 2 ½ hours each day.

Taking this into consideration, it is safe to say that social media has been and will continue to be an integral part of people’s digital lives. Social media is one of the most powerful and influential tools in the digital world. People use it for social networking, and it has become a space for ecommerce and online businesses to conduct marketing campaigns.

To this day, social media marketing is one of the most popular marketing strategies. But why is it exactly? To give you a better idea, here is a breakdown of the importance of marketing on social media platforms explained.

Most Popular Social Media Platforms

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Although generally referred to as social media platforms, it is crucial to understand that not all these digital channels are the same. So before we dive into the importance of social media marketing, let’s take a look at the different social media platforms people commonly use.

Facebook

Facebook is recognized as one of the largest and most established social networking sites. With nearly 3 billion active monthly users, Facebook provides access to a significantly large user base with diverse demographics.

Facebook marketing is particularly popular among business-to-customer (B2C) ecommerce businesses and also comes with advanced marketing tools through Facebook Ads.

YouTube

YouTube is considered the second-largest social media platform. Like Facebook, YouTube also passed the 2 billion monthly user average and is particularly popular among people between 15 to 35 years old. YouTube ranks as the second most visited website behind Google and is best used for long-form entertainment and brand awareness.

Instagram

With one billion monthly active users, Instagram is another big social media networking platform. But unlike Facebook, Instagram is dedicated to sharing visual content such as photos and short-form videos.

Because of its content format, Instagram is a popular space for brands to promote and advertise their products through high-quality media content. Instagram is also known as the platform where influencers are born.

TikTok

TikTok is a social media platform known for short-form video content. Although it was only launched in 2015, TikTok has reached one billion accounts in just a span of five years and maintained this number for its average monthly users.

Given that it’s fairly new, TikTok is popular among the younger generation, primarily Gen Z and part of the Millennial generation. It is considered one of the best platforms for building a solid community and boosting brand awareness.

Although LinkedIn is not as mainstream as Facebook or Instagram, this social media platform caters to a different demographic.

With roughly 810 million monthly active users, this social networking site is primarily used by working professionals such as those in the Baby Boomer, Gen X, and Millennial generations. LinkedIn is ideal for B2B marketing campaigns and industry-specific target marketing.

Reasons Why Social Media Marketing Is Important

Wide and Diverse User Base

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One of the advantages of using social media platforms as a digital marketing channel is that it provides reach to a significantly large and diverse audience. Platforms with billions of monthly active users like Facebook and YouTube allow marketers to conduct both expansive and targeted marketing campaigns.

While you can simultaneously advertise on different social media sites, you can also design your marketing tactics based on the platform’s specific demographics. For example, Facebook is used mostly by Millennials, TikTok is particularly popular with the younger generation, and LinkedIn is used mostly by professionals.

Running marketing campaigns on these platforms provides you access to a large user base that you can further polish for a specific target group.

Boosts Brand Awareness and Recognition

In relation to the magnitude of social media’s popularity, marketing on these platforms is also an effective way for businesses to establish an online presence and boost brand awareness and recognition.

Building an online presence and gaining visibility is one of the primary marketing objectives of any ecommerce business. In order to acquire customers, it is crucial that they know about your brand first. Thus, social media marketing is one of the fastest and easiest ways to put your name or brand in the public given its large user base and diverse demographic.

But aside from that, social media sites also come with features that help recognize brands. Social media sites typically come with a follower or subscriber base that shows the number of users who supports the brand. Other platforms like Twitter and Facebook even come with check marks (✔) that help recognizes a business profile, account, or brand as legitimate.

Encourages Online Interaction

Social media platforms are primarily used to build online connections and social networks. Considering this, online businesses can take advantage of the nature of social media interactions.

Communications in social media involve the likes of comments, replies, and messages. Through these channels, the general audience and potential customers can interact with a business profile such as inquiring about products or services.

Online interactions also go two ways. While customers can message and comment, online businesses can also connect and communicate in order to build and strengthen customer relationships.

Brands can ask their followers questions and feedback, respond to comments, and even run promos and giveaways. Doing these can help build trust and establish a loyal customer base.

Customer Insight and Analytics

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Market research is an important part of conducting successful marketing campaigns. Using data and statistics can help you know what your audience’s or customers’ likes, dislikes, and preferences exactly are.

Aside from direct feedback from online comments and messages, most social media platforms come with in-depth analytics for your posts and campaigns. Marketers can view post insights and analytics to see the performance of their campaigns and incorporate these data into future marketing plans and strategies.

Popular Social Media Marketing Strategies

Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing utilizes an online personality’s influence or clout in order to promote or advertise products or services. In this social media marketing strategy, brands or businesses collaborate with social media influencers and take advantage of their online presence and visibility to boost brand awareness, improve brand recognition, or encourage sales.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a primary form of digital marketing. While it is commonly designed for search engine optimization, the use of content in social media marketing has been increasingly popular over the years. The objective of content marketing in social media is the same as it is for search engines. It aims to attract and engage audiences by providing relevant and valuable content.

However, long-form articles are not the norm in social media content marketing. Instead, it utilizes different types of social media such as images, videos, infographics, and even audio in the form of podcasts.

Video Marketing

According to recent reports, videos are one of the most popular types of digital content consumed on social media platforms. In addition, it is also recognized as an effective marketing tool to deliver a message, launch new products and services, as well as educate customers.

Video marketing is a social media strategy that works primarily on popular video-sharing platforms such as YouTube and TikTok.

Bottomline

Using social media for marketing can be extremely effective and powerful if used correctly. While a startup or small business can start its social media marketing campaign slowly and surely initially, it is important to take things further and utilize the unique features social media platforms offer to maximize your presence, reach, and visibility.

Social media marketing can extend your reach to billions of people, enhance online interactions, and establish a solid and loyal customer base. More importantly, social media campaigns come back with valuable customer insights, feedback, and analytics that can help improve your marketing strategies in the future.

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