Is there really any better substitute for our last week of 2017 trends than social media marketing?

Let me first say that by “social media marketing,” I mean any and all business-related functions using a social media platform. For example, CRM and customer service may not seem like major areas of importance in the marketing field, but without them businesses wouldn’t have an audience to market to.

In fact, using social media in similar departments has become one of the most common ways for many of today’s companies to do business. And why not do business through social media, when— according to an article by Andrew Perrin of the Pew Research Center— “73{a2396c2253210e4fe96a9350db4998fead2ccefaff88800abc5f9217fb562a1a} of Americans [are already] online on a daily basis.”

Of course, that’s not all you can accomplish for your business using social media. Companies from all over the world have found success in using various social sites for promotion techniques, advertising, digital marketing, lead generation, and even hiring purposes. For these reasons and more, we have a feeling this popular trend is nowhere near it’s end.

Don’t agree? Let’s take a look at a few of the reasons social media marketing has become one of 2017’s biggest trends in the industry.

1. Social media is user-friendly.

Marketing through social media is quick and easy for both marketers AND consumers. For consumers, communicating specific wants, needs, and opinions is made easier through the use of social media. Simply go online, log into your account, and search any brand name or company you wish to communicate directly with. In today’s digital society, they’re sure to have a page that consumers can use as an outlet.

Similarly, social media can also be used as an outlet for marketers— just in a reverse context. Marketing on social media sites provides businesses the ability to easily, yet effectively reach consumers, whether they are existing or potential customers. Brand representatives and marketers are able to pull information for social media on why a customer is satisfied or dissatisfied with the brand.

2. Social media is good for research.

In comparison to other research methods, social media can be far less tedious, time-consuming, or expensive while still producing similar results. Almost anything a marketer could want to know about existing or potential customers can be found on social media sites via audience member pages. On social media, consumers tend to be extremely vocal about their thoughts, feelings, and opinions— especially towards brands they’ve had a previous positive or negative interaction with. Get enough audience members with similar demographics and psychographics on a brand page and ask them a few basic questions, and you’ll have a rough idea of research results that would otherwise be costly or time-consuming to produce.

3. Social media fits into the consumer’s life.

One of the most popular reasons for consumers to join a social media site is because they view it as a personalized product. On social media, consumers are free to post, say, and do whatever they want whenever they want, and with little to no repercussions.

This is a major benefit of marketing on social media because it gives businesses a platform to sell without consumers feel like they’re being sold to. In a way, consumers who see marketing tactics or advertisements on their social media pages group it in with everything else they see— meaning they don’t feel as pressured to give the ad a longer view or even make a purchase.

Think about it… As a marketer, what could possibly be better than reaching your audience in a piece of their own little community? After all, a comfortable consumer is typically a confident consumer when it comes to purchasing behaviors.

4. Social media can increase reach and frequency numbers.

Last but not least on today’s list: reach and frequency. To a non-marketer, these words may seem a little vague. But to a marketer, they’re just about everything.

In case you don’t already know, reach simply defined is the number of audience members who see your marketing effort. Frequency, on the other hand, has to do with the number of times your marketing efforts makes an impression on one audience member. So why is social media marketing such a great tool for increasing these numbers?

Social media has something that many other traditional marketing and advertising platforms don’t: share-ability. I challenge any reader to find me a social media feed without at least half a dozen shared posts, pictures, or videos in it at any given time. And with the ability to share so easily and frequently, comes new leads, increased awareness, and even more sales. In simpler terms, the more you’re marketing efforts are shared, the more consumers you’re going to reach.

In addition, social media is also an extremely useful tool for marketers because it’s consistently used— which can quickly and positively impact frequency numbers. Social media users are notoriously active. Even those who don’t frequently post on their own profiles are actively concerned about what others are doing on theirs. Luckily for marketers, this consumer interest in staying current extends to businesses and brand names as well.

For example, if someone follows their favorite clothing brand on Facebook, they’re more like to talk to others about it or purchase from it. Why? Because— assuming the brand posts somewhat regularly— their marketing efforts will serve as reminders that the brand is still a viable option the next time the consumer wants/needs new clothes. Reminder advertising, like high frequency numbers, can have a critical part in building consumer loyalty and ultimately increasing revenue.

As always, thanks for reading and happy marketing!

—Amanda Myers, Copywriter at BoydTech Design, Inc.