The inception and evolution of social media platforms are continually shaping the way businesses communicate and interact with existing and prospective customers about their products and/or services. However, is it an indispensable marketing channel for every business?

In this article, we’ll discuss and analyse social media from a holistic perspective to determine if it’s a necessary investment for your business. 

What is Social Media?

Billions of people use social media, and we hear terms associated with it daily, but what is it actually? The credibility of a result relies on the depth of the understanding of the concept; so, let’s set the stage by defining the (now) common global term, ‘social media’.

Social media is a computer-based technology that enables the sharing of content, including ideas, opinions and information with virtual communities. Reasons for using social media include but are not only limited to interests, staying in touch with friends and family; staying up to date with news, entertainment and networking. The inherent design of social media to work in harmony with the internet is what brought it to the fore as a valuable digital marketing platform. It allowed users to fulfil the basal need for instant gratification. It can be argued that the concept of social media can be explained from a scientific perspective.

The Science of Social Media

Please note that the following theory is conjecture.

For those of you who took physics in high school, you’ll remember the theorem that speed is equal to the distance over time; distance equals speed multiplied by time and time equals distance over speed—shown below.

The uniqueness and power of social media are that it accomplishes each variant of the equation; thereby, satisfying business-to-customers’ needs for the dissemination and receiving of relevant, valuable information quickly. 

Essentially, whichever way you look at it, a piece of content can be sent speedily, travel a long distance to reach a targeted audience in a minimal amount of time. It could be debated that from a holistic perspective, the intrinsic design that facilitates ‘social media physics’ is the main reason why the integration of social media strategies needs to be incorporated into a marketing plan. 

Do you currently have a social media presence? If not, this is the time to speak to digital marketing experts who are well versed in account creation that can be tailored to suit your business’ needs. Now, let’s whet your appetite by discussing the benefits that social media marketing can offer your business.

The Benefits of Social Media for Business Marketing

In this case, social media is being leveraged as a marketing technology (also known as martech). It allows businesses to perform numerous multimedia activities; these include but are not limited to photo sharing, blogging, social gaming, setting up and participation in social communities, video sharing, promotion of content and the ability to connect with business networks. 

No matter which type of activity is utilised, users have the ability to interact with the content, which provides businesses with measurable, trackable data to determine which social media marketing methods are gaining the most traction, and which aren’t. Therefore, you must have an agile social media marketing plan that is flexible enough to boost the aspects that are showing positive performance and review, correct and re-implement underperforming elements. 

Below are six pertinent benefits of social media marketing. 

1. Drives targeted traffic

Social media content should be written strategically so that it can convey the same message (and context) across the plethora of social media platforms. Businesses should already have an understanding of which platforms drive traffic that will generate quality leads, but that’s not always the case.

If you are a brand-new start-up and are still in the process of finding your audience, it’s recommended that you make an appointment to have a marketing strategy consultation with a reputable digital marketing agency. If you’ve already implemented certain social media platforms, it is also a good idea to ask for a social media audit which involves a thorough analysis of all account pages and key information to determine overall performance on social media channels. Based on the results, experts will discern the types of marketing strategies that will assist you in finding, reaching out and interacting with your audience. Once applied, it will start driving quality traffic to your social media account pages which can increase the potential for reach and engagement.