Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Snapchat, Tumblr and more. Social media is constantly growing, improving and changing. This form of marketing, as well as digital marketing, are quickly taking over traditional marketing practices and the results are astounding. Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the world with over 1,870 million users worldwide. Traditionally, marketing took form in newspapers, magazines, on billboards and flyers. These forms of media are expensive and difficult to report back on.
Social media ten years ago
Social media marketing targets social networks and applications to spread brand awareness or to promote particular products. Brand awareness is the extent to which your followers are familiar with the qualities or image of your brand. Popular social media platforms include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, but there are hundreds more. It has drastically changed over the past ten years and so has the world of marketing. A number of internet users have grown drastically from 1,7 billion users in 2007 to 3,8 billion today. Of the 3,8 billion internet users, 3,1 billion of them are social media users, mostly young adults. Ten years ago only about 5% of seniors used social media, today over 35% of seniors use it. Ten years ago, mainly high-income households used social media whereas today, even those who have a low income are likely to use it on a regular basis.
Adapting to change
With the fast-paced, ever-changing marketing world, it is of utter importance that marketers keep up to date and stay ahead of the digital marketing curve. This curve shows which trends and patterns in the world of digital marketing – trends such as an increase in the use of mobile video, chatbots and short-lived content. Marketers need to take advantage of these changes. It is vital to make sure that your brand is up to date and that you are constantly finding new ways to promote your brand and remain present on your social media platforms. Social media is everywhere we go. Our mobile phones travel everywhere with us, making it easily accessible for marketers and followers.
Why social media is so important for your brand
The most beautiful part of social media marketing is that it allows your followers to watch your brand grow. The majority of platforms allow users to create and use an account for free, making it an extremely cost-effective form of marketing. It also provides your clients with a platform to engage with you, allowing them to become attached to your brand. Social media provides the necessary opportunities for engagement and connectivity that truly is the future of marketing. For brands, in particular, being able to interact with your followers is a great advantage over traditional marketing. Think about how difficult it would be for a customer of yours to ask you a question the next time they drive past one of your billboards! It is also extremely easy to measure statistics – whereas traditional marketing data can be very open-ended.
Social media increases brand awareness increases inbound traffic, it improves search engine rankings, increases brand loyalty and results in better customer satisfaction. With all the latest technologies like cell phones, live streaming and tools provided by Google -which allow you to advertise, promote, share, create and connect to many different audiences – it is no wonder most businesses need to be connected to one of these platforms.
Social media is such a wonderful way to market your business or brand as well as connect to your followers. Ensure your brand is connected to social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. and that you manage them properly to receive easy and effective advertising.
