The top 10 pros of social media...

1) It's low cost and effective

If you are running a basic social media campaign, then the software is free and there are
no subscription costs.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and more are all free to join and use which means
getting up and running with social media costs significantly less than almost any other
marketing channel.

It is perfectly possible to run effective and successful social media campaigns with little or
no budget.

The bottom line is that social media is simply one of the best and most economic ways to
market your business.

2) There's a huge potential audience (reach) and a chance to go viral

Social media platforms are now ubiquitous, with the world and his dog checking in on a
regular basis.

Facebook has over 2.2 billion users worldwide for example. With such a huge reach you
have the possibility of getting your message in front of the largest possible audience.

If you post something that captures your audience’s imagination, then it can be shared,
giving you a chance that it will go viral and increase its audience exponentially.

3) It’s not just marketing

Social media is not just marketing – it’s a channel used for customer service, business
intelligence, news, messaging, help and so much more.

4) It starts a conversation

Social media is, by its very nature, social. It's a chance to get intimate with your prospects
and customers.

You have a completely different kind of relationship with your prospects and customers
on social media than in any other marketing channel. It’s a two-way conversation that
allows for a much deeper level of engagement. As a form of communication, it is about as
close as you can get to holding a conversation with someone without being in the same
room.

5) You get real-time feedback

Because social media is a 24/7 communications channel you can get instant feedback on
your marketing campaigns – enabling you to update and fine-tune your marketing posts.
It can also provide you with an immediate and honest assessment of your organisation,
products, services or posts – for better or for worse.

6) It's a great market research tool

There are many simple, free or low-cost monitoring tools for social media that will allow
you to learn basic information about the market you are in. You can gain intelligence on
competitors, prospects and clients, and get insights on your organisation, products and
services.

7) It creates loyalty and makes referrals easy

By engaging with your customer base you can create a group of loyal followers, and as
long as your product or service quality is meeting their needs, you will are likely to gain
unsolicited testimonials and referrals.

Social media is all about the sharing, so this can work powerfully in your favour with
customers becoming online advocates for your business.

8) You want data? You got it!

Because of the nature of social media, there is always plenty of data that can be collected
and analysed. This should enable you to track your progress and see how effective your
posts are. It will also tell you when your target audience is online and what kind of
content they respond to. Using this information allows you to target the timing of your
posts and maximise the potential for engagement.

You can also look at what your customers and prospects post to learn more about them
and the topics that interest them. If you have a customer relationship management
system, you can add this information, providing you with valuable insights.

9) It helps you get found (SEO)

There is a lot of evidence to show that being active on social media helps you to be ranked
in search engines such as Google.

The key though is is to do it through the creation of valuable, useful and quality content.

And don’t forget that many users of social media actually search within those channels –
so if you are not on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc, then you won’t be found in those
searches.

10) It's an ideal way to promote content

It’s no good producing loads of great blog posts, eBooks, web content and the like if you
don’t tell anyone about it.