Benefits of advertising on social media

As accountants we regularly field questions from our clients on a vast range of topics. We are always gratified that they place their trust in us to advise them in a sensible and straight forward way about the myriad of topics faced by business today.

A common question is “how do we get more business?”. The internet is by far the biggest publishing platform on the planet, so we regularly recommend that companies utilise it to drive more sales. The most accessible way to do this is via social media.

Social media is one of the most beneficial marketing tools on the internet at the moment, offering business owners a way to reach and interact with their target audience in a way which feels organic and authentic. Social media also allows your fans and followers to do the work for you by commenting on and sharing your posts, meaning that it is an easy, cost effective way to build a following.

Recent studies have tipped social media as a major resource for advertisers, and social media has been found to be the most relevant advertising channel for 50% of Gen Z and 42% of millennials.

What are the benefits of advertising on social media?

 

It improves your search engine rankings

A study by Social Media Examiner found that more than 58% of marketers using social media for one year or longer saw a trend of improved search engine rankings even after a significant time period.

Social media offers you a place where you can post regularly to keep your page relevant, and where user likes and comments work towards your rankings alongside any original content that you post. You can keep your page interesting and encourage people to follow, like or share your content by posting information not only about your company and products or services, but also about your industry and employees. This has the effect of making your company feel more interesting and gives it personality as well.

Your pages can integrate your targeted keywords when posting blogs and articles, so that it ranks higher on search engines, as well as mentioning keywords in posts and updates. A great social media page might even attract the attention of influencers in your industry, who can write about your business and link back to your channels.

Social media helps to increase brand awareness

A 2018 study by Global WebIndex found that 54% of social media browsers use these platforms to research products, meaning that this is a great way to attract the attention of potential customers.

One of the best things about using social media for advertising is that the platform itself puts in a lot of the work, with algorithms showing users the pages that their friends are interested in. This means that just by grabbing the attention of one user, you have the potential to advertise to their entire extended network as well.

The research backs this up. More than 91% of marketers surveyed have said that spending a few hours per week on social media has greatly increased their overall exposure.

It makes customers feel more comfortable

Being able to directly interact with a brand helps customers and potential customers to feel secure in trusting the company. In fact, 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media say that they would recommend the brand to their friends and family (Lyfemarketing, 2018). You can use social media platforms as a place to publicly demonstrate the high value you place in your customer service and interactions.

Social media pages are a more informal place to give your brand a real personality. In 2019, people no longer want to feel separate from faceless corporations, they want to feel part of a family when they buy into a brand. Social media pages give you the opportunity to have some fun and humanise your company for your customers.

Social media saves money

You can sign up for most social media platforms for free, and begin advertising right away with your interesting, original content. In fact, the thing that social media marketing requires above anything else is your time.

Even if you do decide to go for a paid advertising option with any social network, most small businesses will agree that it is best to spend less and devote more energy to write great content and keep your accounts interesting rather than to spend more money showing bland content to potential customers.

When using paid advertising, it is best to start small and keep an eye on how well your strategy is working before spending any more on bought likes and sponsored posts.

Use your social media channels to set yourself up as a brand authority

Simply having customers mention you on social media aids brand recognition. But whether it be via a review, sharing your posts or simply talking about their experience with their friends, having people talk about you shows value and brand authority to the uninitiated. Advertising, when done by real people is strikingly effective, and offers improved brand loyalty in existing customers.

If you can attract the attention of influencers and get them to write or film a review of one of your products, this is one of the most effective ways to draw people that may not have heard of your brand over to your page.

Brands with social media have better conversion rates

Studies show that social media advertising campaigns have a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing, and are responsible for 31% of all referral traffic to websites. As mentioned above, much of this has to do with the fact that social media humanises your brand, and people prefer to do business with people rather than companies.

Social media taps into the ‘mere-exposure effect’, a term coined by psychologists, which describes the phenomenon in which the more we are exposed to something the more we notice and trust it. Posts are rarely only shared one time on social media, and are often seen again and again by people within the same network. A study by Buzzsumo analysed more than 100 million articles and found that resharing content boosts engagement by almost 700%. This is worth taking advantage of by resharing key posts and ideas, or encouraging fans to do so for an incentive.

Talk to us

Want to engage with us? As well as our help and advice on topics such as this, we offer all our clients the full range of accountancy and book keeping services. So why not call us on 01473 744 700 or email us on contactus@accountinggem.co.uk to see how we can be of service to you.