Why You Should Be Marketing on Social Media Sites

Effective marketing campaigns no longer incorporate only direct mailers, posters, and bulk e-mails. With the rise of social media sites, companies and organizations alike need to turn their focus to marketing on sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, if they want to survive and thrive. Most consumers now are even more likely to visit a business’ Facebook page before visiting the company’s primary webpage to gain further insight about offered products and services.

Don’t believe that marketing on social media sites is worth the expense? Consider the success of Ford’s marketing campaign last year. In July of 2010, Ford exclusively released the company’s 2011 Explorer on Facebook, and the results were astounding. Not only did Ford’s website traffic increase 104 percent, but the company’s return on investment for the Facebook reveal was far higher than the company’s return on 2010 Super Bowl ads which had only increased business by 14 percent.

Since Ford’s success on Facebook, dozens of other companies have followed suit with many hiring an internet marketing agency to manage their campaigns. Now you can’t even watch a TV commercial or hear a radio announcement without a company or organization’s Facebook page being given.

What perhaps is the largest benefit to marketing on social media sites is the large audience that is provided. Traditional marketing campaigns can only go so far. However, social media sites have millions of users, and open companies up to a wide range of potential customers whom they would have never been able to reach otherwise. An online social media marketing campaign is also more cost effective as it allows you to reach more individuals for only a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing campaigns.

Another benefit to marketing on social media sites is that it both increases your company’s visibility while simultaneously raising your search engine rankings. Your company’s visibility is increased by creating different platforms potential customers may be able to find you on, and then further increases your visibility by raising you higher in the search engines. Every time your business is clicked on or every time a visitor clicks on a Facebook or Twitter link to get to your website, you only increase in popularity and therefore, page rank.

Although marketing on social media sites has numerous benefits for a business, it also creates more responsibility. Because of the large number of social media sites, business’ using them need to employ proper online reputation management to keep their brands protected. Aside from needing to focus on brand management, using social media sites is an easy and cost-effective way to promote business.