Social media has changed every aspect of our lives. And that includes the online marketing landscape. Traditional marketing methods like radio, television, and print are not enough to connect with consumers these days. You have to have a solid online presence and the ability to target your message directly to your ideal customers if you’re going to be successful. Without embracing social media, your business is losing out on a crucial customer base. 

The marketing game has changed forever; keep reading below to better understand how social media has impacted marketing forever!

Increased Accessibility with Social Media

A significant challenge new businesses had faced in the past was the high costs of traditional marketing methods. However, today social media marketing allows businesses to sign up for free on a widely diverse number of social media sites, getting their brand out to the public more effortlessly than ever before. 

This accessibility allows smaller companies to compete with larger ones in many ways. Smaller brands are cheaply able to target and go after customers that businesses with larger budgets firmly held onto in the past.

Social Media Has Changed Targeted Marketing

Traditional marketing has historically been expensive and targets an overly broad audience. Social media has changed marketing strategies and allows you to target specific groups and demographics, even down to their interests and choosing look-alike audiences for ads. 

The social media platforms provide you access to a wealth of highly specific data on your customer base. In virtually real-time, you can analyze data and see what your customers are responding to the most. Split test ads can be done with the click of a button, allowing you to tailor your marketing strategy to better connect with your target audience. Constant inbound data coupled with the ability to adjust strategy on the fly gives you the capability to see better returns for every dollar you spend on advertisement.

Social Media Allows for a Better Customer Experience

In more ways than one, social media provides an opportunity to bring the human element back to businesses. In hopes of streamlining our business processes, we’ve created a disconnect between our customers and ourselves. When we once would have called customer service to talk to a person for assistance, we now get automated responses or have to press 0 fifteen times just to reach an actual human. And people have grown weary of this. To be successful in today’s market, you need to have the ability to connect with your target audience and customers directly as they are more likely to support a business they feel some sort of connection to personally. Social media provides business owners with this opportunity! By seeing the face behind the business and getting regular updates or snippets of information they wouldn’t know by just walking into your store or office, you are allowing them to become more personally connected and invested in your business.

People are way too busy to wait around for one of your representatives to help them over the phone. Another opportunity social media platforms provide is the chance to have real-time on-the-spot communication with your customers that can quickly turn a potentially negative situation around. Even if its simply apologizing and offering a solution to a negative experience they’ve had can go a long way in creating a forever customer. In the comments, reviews or even direct messages, you have a the chance to connect, resolve and transform an ordinary customer relationship into a highly satisfying experience that could lead to even more customers and growth. 

Unique Social Media Platforms

The internet is a boundless place, and there is a corner in it for everyone! Gathering data on your potential customers will allow you to better target the unique platforms they frequent. So let’s take a look at some of the possible sites your customers are using.

• Twitter – Twitter is a popular platform people use to make their voices heard on a particular brand. Having a presence here will allow you to address people’s concerns in real-time. 

• Facebook – Arguably one of the biggest platforms to shape the current state of social media marketing, Facebook has completely changed the way companies do business online. 

• LinkedIn – A bit different from other sites, LinkedIn allows companies to focus efforts on B2B advertising. It’s an excellent platform for businesses and professionals alike to find each other and connect.

• Instagram – This platform allows companies to connect with a growing list of online influencers. If an influencer vouches for a brand’s products, their followers will be more likely to use that product.

• Reddit – Becoming increasingly popular and mainstream, Reddit is a vast site filled with almost every niche imaginable. Your marketing can be focused on very specific niches, or subreddits, inside of Reddit. You can be sure the exact clients your targeting will receive your message.

• Snapchat – As Facebook’s demographic became older, younger users looked for another outlet. Snapchat is one of the more popular platforms younger users have gravitated toward. As these younger users age, they have the potential to become loyal customers.

Always Around

Physical media is expensive, and you can’t guarantee someone will stay on the page or that they won’t throw your ad away. In fact, many people actually look for ways to limit the amount of advertisement mail you can send them. 

Social Media has changed marketing in such a way that people are constantly connected and available for you to reach. It’s almost compulsive to check email or social media accounts when we get the alerts. With effective social media marketing, your targeted audience will see and interact in some way with your brand every day. 

Social Media Advertising Empowers Your Voice

In the past, radio, television, and print could leave you misquoted or censored. When you advertise and put your brand out onto social media, you are the only one controlling the message. 

You are free to present your message to who you want, and with more freedom of expression online than you would have with traditional media. There are fewer channels your message has to pass through between you and your targeted audience. 

Build a Personal Connection

Social media marketing allows you to connect in a way traditional marketing never could. With a well-implemented marketing campaign, your customers are able to see your brand’s personality come through. 

By sharing stories and peaks inside your company, you humanize yourself to customers and become more relatable. When it comes time to make a purchase, people are going to buy from a brand they connect and relate to on a personal level, over a cold, sterile brand where they feel like just another number.

Social media has changed marketing forever. It allows you to relate and connect with your customers better than any other time in history. You have the ability to almost constantly be at arm’s length from away from potential customers. Embracing social media will allow you to stay on top of changing trends and ensure you remain relevant in the market.