The Importance of Social Media Marketing for Local Businesses

There are over 327 million people in the United States. According to Statista, as of October 2018, there were 204 million Facebook users in the US. This means that approximately 2 in 3 people in the US were Facebook users at the time. Taking these numbers into account, it is evident the importance and benefits of social media marketing for businesses.

Facebook and other social media platforms give small business a huge platform to promote their business and their brand. Engaging with social media can substantially increase a small businesses reach, as well as help their business grow. Here are some reasons why social media marketing can be a great boon to small local businesses:

The power of recommendations

Social media is not only a way for self-promotion but it also allows for your customers to positively promote your business. Facebook has two features that could benefit your business - it allows users to write recommendations on the Facebook page for businesses and it also allows for users to ask for recommendations in a certain locality.

Once customers share their feedback and provide recommendations for your business, be sure to highlight the good experiences and positive feedback from customers to entice more people to use your product or service. If there are bad recommendations, show excellent customer service skills by attempting to solve issues brought up by the customer.

Cut your costs

The great thing about social media advertising compared to traditional advertising is that the costs of social media advertising range from free to cheap.  You can use location as a very easy and effective way to target your ads on social media to people who are based in the area or passing through. There are other demographic details you can employ to target your ads, with low costs and high efficiency.

Additionally, social media allows you to get to know more about your audience and what they like. So, instead of having to pay for marketing surveys, social media can be a great way to generate leads and find potential customers.

Build a community

Social media marketing can be a great way to build a community of loyal and passionate followers around your brand. Social media marketing creates a community of like-minded people for your brand to engage with and have conversations around your product or services. If you want to create and encourage long term relationships with your customers, then social media can be a great way to facilitate those relationships by providing a platform for your company to provide excellent customer service and customer engagement. 

Promote your new product or service without hassle

Social media provides an easily accessible and effective tool to spread news about your company. If you’re launching a new product or service, getting the word out has never been easier than using social media. You can use words, pictures, videos or infographics to spread the word and get people excited about your new product. Furthermore, if you create  and share good content,  your audience will help you market your product by sharing content with others!