2.

More than 40 percent of digital consumers

use social media to learn about the products
they want to buy.
According to a 2019 Global Web Index report, consumers aren’t simply
Googling a product or reading an Amazon review. They use social media
networks to check out new brands or perform product research.

It’s a critical step before digital consumers decide to buy anything.

3. Social media gives your business a

chance to show its personality.
Gone are the days of posed professional photos and a manicured corporate
image. Customers want to know what goes on behind closed doors.

They want to understand the people who work at your business — and the
people who launched it. With social media, you can show your business’s
personality.

4. Four out of five people follow at least one

company on Instagram.
Instagram reports that 80 percent of its users follow at least one business
profile. Roughly 200 million Instagram users will check out at least one
business’ profile today.

Not to mention, nearly 75 percent of all businesses worldwide are on this

increasingly popular social media channel.
5. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are the
new customer service number.
No one wants to dial customer service, wait for a customer service
representative, get put on hold, and waste anywhere from a half-hour to an
hour trying to get a quick answer about a product issue. That’s what Twitter is
for.

That’s what Instagram and Facebook comments are for. These channels offer
customer support in real-time and provide a viewable track record of your
responses.

6. Want to reach baby boomers? Put it up on

Facebook.
Baby boomers have a significant amount of spending power.

The key to reaching them, unlike millennials who prefer Instagram, is having
an active Facebook presence. Pew Research states that there is currently
twice the number of adults 65 and older on Facebook than there were in 2012,
capturing more than 40 percent of American seniors, which makes Facebook
the perfect place to reach your target market.

7. It’s cheaper than paying for ads.

Spoiler: Traditional marketing is expensive. Really expensive.

It’s not always realistic for small businesses and startups, and it’s not always
financially scalable as a company grows. Unless you pay for various types of
social media advertising, social media is free. You can post what you want and
make the most of your marketing budget.
8. About 95 percent of the world’s
businesses are on Facebook.
No, 95 out of 100 businesses don’t have an official Facebook business page
complete with a professional touch. But in one way or the other, they are
interacting with customers, posting photos, advertising their business, and
cultivating reviews.

If your company isn’t, you’re offering your competitors the perfect opportunity.

9. Stories are the new thing that’s working.

Currently, about a billion people watch stories across four platforms:

 Snapchat
 WhatsApp
 Instagram
 Facebook

A Hootsuite Social Media Trend report indicates that, by the end of 2019, this

new way to experience content is on pace to have more users than traditional
social media feeds. Viewership of stories is also growing at a rate that’s 15
times faster than that of feeds. Stories offer companies like yours a new and
powerful way to interact with followers.

10. Posts allow your business to

demonstrate industry expertise.
Your channels are places where you can provide prospective customers with
relevant information, beyond the services you offer. It can be a discussion of
why a certain product is best, or a post featuring a customer success story.
Whatever form it takes, every post gives you a chance to entertain, engage,
and show off what you know.

11. Without social, brand awareness is pretty

much impossible.
How do you know if you’ve established your brand? People already know
about it before you start explaining what it is.

The quickest, most cost-effective way to grow brand awareness is through

social media. Start small and post regularly.

12. Searching tags are the new

Yellowpages.
Interested in a new restaurant? There are two things you’re going to do: a
Google search on your phone and a quick check on Facebook or Instagram.

These two channels are the go-to destination for local searches, which means
your business needs to be on these networks.

13. There’s no other way to reach your

audience multiple times a day.
Pew Research indicates that about half of the adults in the U.S. check
Facebook and Snapchat several times a day.

Just under 40 percent check Instagram several times a day. Where else can
you update your audience and stay in touch with this much frequency?
14. Your social media accounts generate
leads.
An airline posts a picture of their new seats with increased legroom. Not only
does the post generate interest (people are commenting and sharing), it
creates enough interest for people to click the link and reserve their next flight.

Your company can use social media in the same way. Whether you’re sharing
videos, images, or blog posts, you can give followers a behind-the-scenes look
at what it’s like to use your product, take advantage of your services, or partner
with your business.

15. It gives you the chance to leverage

influencer relationships.
Tights and leisurewear were always a thing. But, after Kate Hudson helped
fund Fabletics, it became part of American culture.

The right influencer relationship can catapult a brand like yours. Influencer

relationships don’t need to be paid — at least not at first. To get started, send
direct messages to potential influencers.

See what they need and be willing to negotiate a trade of services or products
for exposure. However, before you sign an influencer partnership, review who
the influencer and their background in-depth. The influencer should be a good
match for your company’s persona and should be posting content that would
captivate your audience.

16. Going viral is worth more than gold.

You put up a controversial post. You watch the likes grow.
And grow. And grow. The comment thread is too fast to keep up responses.

Now, it’s getting reshared. What you posted bounces from one social media
channel to the next. Forget about buzz.

This has gone viral. This rare, hard-to-get experience can turn a company into
a name-brand almost instantly. You need social media (plus some stellar
content) to do it though, which is why social media marketing is a must.

17. You can’t recruit new top talent with

boring social media accounts.
It’s time to expand your team. Just like you’re reviewing resumes, sought-after
talent is checking out yours.

That means your website, LinkedIn company profile, Facebook business page,
and your Instagram. If your content looks legit, they’re going to be excited to
work for you. If not, candidates won’t even grant you a second interview.

18. It’s a battlefield where you can wage war

against competitors.
Competition in business is mostly about the numbers. Your company had X
amount of sales; another company in your area with similar products had Y.

You’re battling for customers and, as a result, dominance in the market.

Boosting your number of followers can help you obtain that. Instead of
examining which hot, new product your company can offer, focus on building a
foundation of support for your business.
A passionate, engaged group of followers will grow your word-of-mouth
reputation. As your business’ popularity grows, you can slowly edge out your
competition.

19. Develop, deploy,

and test new marketing ideas.
Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat are ideal environments for testing a new
idea and receiving feedback. If the idea works, your audience will let you know.

If it doesn’t, well, you’ll know right away.

20. Collect user-generated content and

empower your audience.
Audiences want to feel “a part of” something. You don’t want your audience
only to follow you and double-tap a photo.

True engagement means your audience tags you, sends you photos, submits
reviews, and leaves comments. That user-generated content, which you can
republish as part of your social media marketing strategy plan, empowers your
audience. They’re not just people who buy your product.

They’re involved in what your company does and the culture it creates.
21. Reach the next generation of customers
with YouTube and Instagram.
In 2018, Instagram pushed past Snapchat to become the second most actively
used social media channel for teenagers. A Pew Research study indicates
that more than 70 percent of American teens regularly use Instagram.

What’s more popular with American teenagers than scrolling through

Instagram feeds? Watching YouTube videos. The same Pew Research study
reports that YouTube captures the attention of a whopping 85 percent of
teenagers in the U.S.

22. Connect with women shoppers with

Instagram.
Men and women don’t use social media channels in equal numbers. A 2018
study of Instagram’s reach within the United States revealed that women tend
to post, scroll, and comment more on the popular photo-sharing app than men
do.

Instagram sees nine percent more interaction from women, in fact.

23. You’re creatively tapped. Use social

media to source new ideas.
No matter what your business is, your goal is to give your audience what they
want.

Sometimes determining that is difficult. Quit brainstorming and talking within

your organization. Ask your audience what they like directly.
You won’t make everyone happy with this approach, but you will find at least
one idea worth trying.

24. Tackle a brand crisis with platforms like

Twitter.
One of your staff members made an inappropriate remark to a customer. As a
business owner, you take immediate corrective action.

You apologize to the customer personally. In today’s landscape, however,

that’s probably not enough. Your business must take accountability publicly.

Craft a statement, tweet it, and take control of the narrative.

25. Stay in-the-know of industry events,

trends, and conversations.
It’s critical to know what’s happening in your industry. You don’t want to pitch
an idea that a competitor did last year.

You don’t want to get excited about news from last week. You want to have a
pulse on what’s happening in your industry now — and social media can help
you do that. Set up a TweetDeck with industry leaders, competitors,
influencers, and relevant news organizations and monitor it.

Go and follow them on Facebook too and watch for announcements. For the
best results, allow all these sites to send you notifications. Instead of being in
front of a computer all day, you’ll get pinged when something important gets
posted, which makes the most of your time.
26. Discover how the public perceives your
brand.
Do you know how people really feel about your company? Measure social
media sentiment.

Hootsuite defines this as “the perceived positive or negative mood being

portrayed in a social media post or engagement.” Try installing analytics that
tracks specific positive keywords and negative mentions across all your
channels. Sentiment analysis tools provide data, including total positive and
negative mentions, the rate of those mentions, and scoring for public
perception.

27. It drives search engine optimization

(SEO).
Social media pages don’t get ranked through Google, but Google does drive
traffic to your site indirectly. Facebook lets you share links to web posts that
would otherwise get overlooked.

Meanwhile, YouTube serves as a secondary search engine for millions of

digital consumers. If you post a video tutorial on YouTube that’s helpful for
your audience, then they will visit your site to learn more about your products.
Use social media to (indirectly) maximize the performance of your SEO
strategy.

28. Social media helps you cultivate brand

loyalty.
What makes a customer loyal to your business? A combination of likability and
trust.
Both of these hard-earned sentiments take some convincing. Your business
only gets so many organic, face-to-face interactions with customers. Social
media increases the opportunity for those interactions.

It allows you to post information and photos that demonstrate how much you
appreciate your customers. You give them valuable information. In exchange,
they return to you and purchase your products and services.

Social media trades in emotional currency and, over time, help you create
brand loyalty.

29. Demonstrate your thought leadership.

Disruption turns more heads than the status quo. Don’t hoard your good ideas,
hoping one day you’ll have a bigger platform to share them.

That platform is here and now, and it’s called LinkedIn. Write LinkedIn blog
posts and present your ideas to the industry at large. Curate content that’d be
interesting to your audience.

Publish thought-provoking content on your site and promote it across all your
channels. Be unafraid to post bold, potentially controversial ideas. You’ll get
rewarded with renewed interest in your business and respect from other
industry leaders.
30. 65 million local businesses have official
Facebook business pages.

Facebook is the go-to social media platform, whether for advertising,

marketing, or both. More than 90 percent of social media marketers use
Facebook advertising. As a result, Facebook doubled its revenue per user
between 2015 and 2018.

How can you tap into this engagement-boosting, lead-generating tool? Start by
creating a free Facebook business page for your company. There are more
than 65 million local businesses with Facebook business pages.

31. LinkedIn gives B2B marketers a leg up.

In a LinkedIn survey of C-suite professionals, more than 90 percent of
executives claimed LinkedIn was the best platform for relevant content. About
half of professionals use it across multiple devices.

Roughly 90 percent engage with the content posted on LinkedIn because they
believe it’s related to their occupation and industry. Because LinkedIn delivers
professionally relevant content, it is the best platform for B2B marketers to
engage with prospective clients. According to Hootsuite, four out of five
leads generated from social media will come from LinkedIn.

Hootsuite also reports that about three-quarters of B2B marketers use this
platform to connect with current customers and new prospects.
32. Employees become your brand
ambassadors.
Studies show that engaged employees post messages, photos, and videos
about their employer. About a third of them will publicly share unsolicited
positive comments about their employer, which in turn boosts sales.

More media-savvy businesses even incentivize employees to post reviews. If

your company wants to attract top talent, you need to create a workplace that
results in engaged employees. You also need an active social media
presence, which can drive team members to post about your business and
even interact with you online.