Social media engagement is a critical metric for businesses. Even if you don’t use Facebook or Twitter in your personal time, the two platforms are extremely effective in terms of creating brand loyalty and generating leads. If you’re still not a believer, then consider these reasons why social media engagement is an important indicator of your marketing campaign.
Engagement outperforms advertising
The occasional search engine ad is okay, but by and large, users today can’t stand waiting for advertisements. Even if they’re relevant, users try to skip them as soon as they get the chance.
A recent Forbes article explains that millennials see ads as interruptions. According to the article, it’s better to socially interact with users as opposed to forcing ads on them:
“Today, smart brands are embracing the idea of consumer discovery rather than marketing interruption. Millennial consumers do not have the patience to sit through a minute-long advertisement before the video they want to see on YouTube. The goal for great brands is to be a part of their consumer’s Social Circle, not an interruption.”
Social media is your best bet to enter a consumer’s social circle. The way to get there is by posting original content, starting discussions, and responding to comments.
Establish your brand
Social media is great for letting users know what your brand represents. If you want to be seen as credible and trustworthy, then practice brand reputation and collect positive reviews. If you want to be seen as a thought-leader, then post high-quality original content. You can also choose to be funny, trendy, serious, or whatever attitude matches your business best.
In this respect, high engagement levels on social media validate your branding efforts. If a user sees that you have hundreds or thousands of followers, then he’ll know that you mean what you say.
Generate leads
Every business wants to increase sales, but we all know you have to learn to crawl before you can walk. Increasing social media engagement is like learning excellent body coordination that will one day result in an excellent stride.
You can use social media to generate leads. From there, your lead nurturing campaign kicks in and you’ll convert a percentage of them. Then, it’s up to your sales team to closes the deal. This recent Business 2 Community article explains how social media marketing has many indirect benefits that don’t necessarily show up in its ROI:
“As with any digital channel, analytics and reporting is key to defining and measuring success in social media. Social campaigns need cross channel attribution as they may not always result in direct ROI, but could be part of brand introduction or nurturing. After a few weeks of testing your campaigns, take a step back and measure the impact you see on your other channels and take action based on these insights.”
There’s a lot in the way between social media and sales, but high engagement levels will help you generate lots of leads. It’s a fantastic start to the sales process.
Word of mouth marketing
It’s a beautiful thing when consumers give your marketing campaign more exposure. While this is highly unlikely with advertisements, it’s always a possibility with social media posts.
With social media engagement, users won’t just like and comment on your posts — they’ll also share them with their friends, family, and co-workers. This opens the door to an entirely new audience. If your content is truly great, then you might acquire new followers or even generate leads.
Social media engagement brings your marketing campaign together and builds credibility and loyalty with respect to your brand. To talk more about social media engagement, digital marketing, or anything else, contact us today.
