We live in a world where social media is everywhere and impossible to ignore. According to statistics, social media platforms allow billions of people globally to connect, search, and share information, opinions, and experiences about anything. It is an opportunity for businesses to meet potential customers and better advertise their goods and services. However, how efficient is social media marketing to businesses? Does it work for everyone? Learn more about the pros and cons of social media marketing for business to improve your marketing strategy.
Cons of social media marketing for business
1. Not suitable for all kinds of business
Believe it or not, despite popular opinion, the truth is social media does not work for every business. Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, or others, each platform has its own mission, purpose, and unique audience. Several businesses created a social media profile, and then tried to figure out what to do next. It is challenging to keep moving and get a result. Mainly because, what works for company A might not work for company B. It all comes to the type of business you run and the platform used.
2. Requires Constant Monitoring
One of the most significant drawbacks of social marketing is that it involves continuous monitoring of online brand mentions in order to respond to any engagement. Maintaining brand health requires constant work. If complaints or questions go unanswered, users might have a bad opinion about your brand. Unlike other forms of marketing (such as television, radio, or billboards), social media monitoring is an ongoing effort on a daily basis.
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3. Business Reputation at Risk
Online criminals target social media platforms because they are powerful tools for blackmailing and spreading fake news. Fake social media accounts are becoming increasingly popular, with imposter profiles for celebrities, influencers, brands, and corporates springing up. These accounts often take photos from the original page they are spoofing, create a similar name and reach out to followers of the actual page. Sometimes, they even offer discounts and giveaways, seemingly coming directly from the brands, but both the accounts and the offers are fake. The goal? Damage your business reputation.
4. Can Get banned
A ban from a social media site such as Facebook might be disastrous to your business. Especially, if you have already invested a lot of time and money into your current business page. Like many people, you did not know the rules and violated policy. In case Facebook has made an error, your ban might be lifted. Otherwise, the ban is almost impossible to lift immediately. The worst-case situation is that you lose your page forever and have no way of recovering it. Once your account is gone, it is gone.
5. Time-consuming
For an effective marketing campain, you need to spend hours online, refreshing your page with content suitable enough to keep your audience interested and engaged. It usually requires a lot of research, which consume a lot of time. According to industry studies, up to 64% of digital marketers devote at least 6 hours on social media marketing. On the other hand, 37% spend more than 11 hours on social media marketing. While publishing organic content on social media is free, generating content is a time consuming process that requires committment.
Pros of social media marketing for business
1. Affordable Rates
Without a doubt, social media is less expensive than any other kind of advertising nowadays. It is one of the few platforms that can get you in front of over a thousand people for only two dollars. It is much affordable than traditional marketing for making connections with an audience. That is a key advantage of social media marketing over traditional marketing and even other forms of digital marketing. Furthermore, most of the top social media channels are free to join and easy to start interacting with potential customers at a basic level. However, if you want to increase engagement, you might opt for a professional plan.
2. Increase Brand Awareness
Increasing brand visibility is one of the purposes of social media sites. Small businesses can use social media platforms for brand awareness campaigns by sharing content that is simple to make, such as infographics, short videos, advertising, and high-quality content that answer users concerns or cover trending topics. Companies benefit from increased brand Facebook page likes, which helps them establish an online presence and expand their circle of influence.
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3. Improve Customer Engagement & Quick feedback
Social media engagement includes likes, subscribers, mentions, comments, clicks, shares, retweets etc. So it is a way to see what people like and dislike about your services. Moreover, it is about communicating with other users, responding to their concerns, and analyzing their feedback. When people feel that you respond to their queries, they are likely to trust your brand. This improves your consumer relationships and offers an interactive environment which is lacking in traditional marketing. In any business, trust is crucial. Customers will be more comfortable to purchase your products or services if they trust your business.
4. Access to International Market
International social media marketing is a smart way for businesses and organizations to develop, expand and target new customer bases with relative ease and minimal expense. If you are planning to expand your business overseas and want to use social media to reach a wider global audience, there is nothing that can stop you. In order to attract international customers, you need to develop a plan, work with a translation service to prepare your content, and set up accounts on the appropriate social media sites.
5. Increase Website Traffic
Social media can boost your marketing strategy and increase traffic to your business, brand, or eCommerce site. The more you promote your content on social media platforms, the more visibility you give your company. It is an effective way to generate quality traffic to your website, which you can then capture and convert into leads.
To conclude, now you have learned about the pros and cons of social media for business, the most crucial stage is to build and deploy your marketing strategy. Afrikta would be glad to assist you in taking full advantage of digital marketing to promote your business, build a community, and generate leads.
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