Why Social Media Strategies Are Essential
Social media has been increasingly influential within the public and will only continue to do so over time. Nowadays, we use it for just about anything. But what if the brand you were looking into didn’t have it? Would it feel weird to you? Or would you trust it just as much as any other brand? Keep this in mind as we dive into why social media is important, and why the strategy behind it is essential.
But first, let’s talk about why social media is important to begin with. Social media can increase the amount of income your company can make, and can be incredibly beneficial to your brand. According to Why Social Media Is Important In 2020 by WebFX, there are a number of reasons why companies should have it. As stated in the WebFX article, social media is important because it allows you to reach, nurture and engage with your target audience, no matter where their location may be. If a business uses social media, it will allow them to reach, engage, and update their target audience accordingly.
The article mentions many reasons why it is necessary, one of them being to “get more qualified leads”. Social media allows companies to directly connect with their audiences, rather than in the real world. In the real world, a company can attempt to connect with their target audience, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that their target audience will like them back. However, if they have people that follow their brand on social media, there is direct communication with people that enjoy it. Brands are able to talk to these people directly, and update them on any new products they might have.
The second reason the article mentions is to “build a community”. Social media allows for people who like the brand to talk to each other online. They are able to talk about their likes and dislikes, and have the ability to express how they feel about new developments.
The third reason is to “grow your brand’s reputation”. Social media allows for people to share a new product or development much easier. If they enjoy something, with the click of a button, they have the ability to share it with multiple individuals. This makes it much easier for brands to grow and receive attention from strangers.
The last reason is to “use advanced target options easily”. This is extremely important because it allows for companies to use targeted ads in a specific manner. Some social media platforms have the ability to pick out people who could potentially connect to a company or product the most, and display ads on their feed. This is beneficial to the company because it spreads engagement and saves money all at once.
Now that we have discussed the importance of social media, let’s talk about why strategies are necessary.
Why We Need Strategy
Without strategy, it is much harder to drive results for a brand or particular product. In the 6 Reasons Why You Need A Social Media Strategy article by Dhariana Lozano, Lozano explains why social media strategies are important and how they can help a brand. She uses the following reasons: to build a strong presence, save time, make sure your goals are covered, target your audience more effectively, leave room for creativity, and get ahead of the competition.
Oftentimes, social media strategists create a content calendar that will plan the upcoming months for different social media platforms. Laying out a strategy will allow for all ideas to be scheduled in a way that can save time. The more organized that you can keep your content calendar, the more effective the strategy has the potential to be.
Additionally, in 7 Advantages In Having a Social Media Strategy, Samuel Birnie highlights the advantages that social media strategies can have for a brand. Birnie discusses the advantages and ends each section with a result of it. He uses the following advantages of using strategy within the article: it creates direction, you can measure and improve, everything is more efficient, you’ll remain active, it enables better campaigns, it keeps you consistent and you can prepare for everything.
As stated by Birnie, strategy gives you the ability to improve and create new opportunities for brands. You are able to analyze what works and doesn’t work with strategy, and can see how to improve based on results. Having a strategy also forces you to remain active, which will keep your followers excited about upcoming developments. It also gives you the ability to prepare in advance, and will give you the opportunity to plan in case of unexpected scenarios.
There’s a large variety of ways that strategy is helpful, but have you ever thought about what would happen if you didn’t have it?
What Would Happen Without Strategy
In 4 Reasons Not Having a Social Media Strategy Can Hurt Your Business, Nathan Mendenhall discusses the consequences of not having a social media strategy. One of the reasons he mentions is that social media is a very smart move in terms of saving money. If there were no use of social media, it would be much more difficult to save money. The article mentions that using Google Adwords versus social media platforms such as Facebook could be almost 12 times as expensive! A lack of social media could also allow consumers to leave, because 67% of consumers use social media sites as a form of customer service. If they do not see the brand on social media, then they will most likely not buy the product. Another reason that the article mentions is that strategy boosts SEO. Social media makes it easier for people to search a particular product and send it to their friends, it is as simple as that. Without it, it would be more difficult for people to search particular products.The last reason is that it keeps customers engaged with both the company and each other. Without social media strategy, customers would not have a sense of community, and therefore become less interested and active within the brand.
It is also important to note the mistakes that can be made in regards to strategy and create a mess for your brand. In 5 Reasons Why Your Social Media Strategy Isn’t Working, Your Engine Room discusses mistakes that can often be made in regards to social media. The mistakes include: not being authentic, overly self-promotional posts, using the wrong channels, no fresh content and expressing results too soon. All of these mistakes are unfortunately made often, and should be avoided.
So what can we conclude after discussing social media strategy? It is always useful, and could be very harmful for your company if not used correctly or not used at all.
