What is social media? It’s rare, or somehow it can be impossible, that a person does not become familiar with this word. In the span of digitalization, Social Media is digital-based technology. People can share their thoughts, ideas, and content through social media technology with the public. Sharing thoughts, ideas, and content can be in videos, photographs, and words.
The most famous and useable social media platforms across the world are:
YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp, LinkedIn, QQ, Douyin, and Sina Weibo.
People with an internet connection can make their profiles on different social media apps. Usually, in account creation, social media demands the Username or email. Through that profile, people can follow others, and others can also track back them whenever a person shares news, Ideas, thoughts, and any information that quickly spreads to their followers.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is related to the digital channels or electronic media through which services and products can be introduced or provided to potential buyers. Through digital marketing, creating brand awareness among people becomes more manageable.
Because nowadays, 77% of people search online for different brands. Using other social media platforms and digital marketing, we can assess the interest of potential customers. Through digital marketing, the advertisement of businesses or brands also becomes effortless or more effective.
With the introduction of the internet in the 1990s to the world, Digital marketing became popular. That was when the digital marketing term was first just used by Archie’s first search engine. Archie is the tool for indexing FTP activities following people to find specific files.
Archie was the first internet search engine. In 1993 the first clickable web advertisement banner was released, and Yahoo did the first E-commerce transaction over the net market in 1994. In 1996, smaller search engines like hot pot and Alexa were released. The Yahoo web search launched in 1998. In that case, digital marketing had already grown to one extent: Microsoft’s birth also took place at that time.
The first mobile marketing campaign took place in 2001, and WordPress in 2003. The establishment of Tom Spotify in 2008 and Google launched its first real-time search engine results. Whatsapp had launched in 2009. In 2011 Google Plus and Google Panda. Google held knowledge graphs in 2012 and launched Facebook messenger in 2013. Facebook took over Whatsapp in the year of 2015.
So, that was precisely the Digital Marketing took the mainstream one by one. That is how Digital Marketing has been in play ever since the beginning.
Importance of Social media in Digital Marketing
First, we need to know why we emphasize and think first about social media while discussing, thinking about, or doing digital marketing. According to the survey “digital around the world” in 2021. They found out that the total population was 7.83 billion. The users of unique mobile phones are 5.22 billion, and the internet users are 4.66 billion. Last but the most important thing is that the Active Social Media users are 4.20 billion.
So, if you run campaigns strategically for marketing purposes, there are many chances of growth. Here are some benefits you can get through Social Media in digital marketing.
- Increase Brand Awareness
If you run a brand awareness campaign through social media, it will show to your targeted audience repeatedly. In social media marketing, this campaign will be helpful to you in grabbing the attention of your potential candidates, buyers, or customers.
- Increase Website Traffic
Social Media is also helpful in increasing traffic to your websites if you have one. Through your campaign on social media, your targeted audience, potential buyers, click on your ad and can get access to your main website in which you’re providing your essential services. Through this, you can generate revenue without any physical effort.
- Increase Brand Value
Another benefit you can get through social media in digital marketing can create your brand value. You can explain the features and uniqueness of your services or anything you offer to your potential or targeted audience.
Brand value is beneficial in developing trust among buyers and sellers. This trust pushes the potential audience to purchase or avail of the services of sellers.
Digital Marketing without Social media
- You would have to adopt a costly way to target the audience
You can run your campaigns at a reasonable price with effective results through social media. You also get to know quickly about the interest of your potential audience.
But, if you advertise traditionally without using social media, you would have to adopt costly methods like; Billboards, door-to-door campaigns, campaigns through flexes, and many other expensive processes. Without social media, you will also face problems finding the interest of the existing, potential audience.
- Less access because of Social media Absence
Nowadays, almost 70% of people use phones. They prefer to access different brands through a single click instead of physical exhaustion.
If brands do not present on social media, it will negatively affect their awareness and create trust issues.
- Effects on Customer Retention
Strategically use of social media can help you to influence the audience through high-quality services and also help in the understanding of customers’ sentiments. Without a social media presence, you miss the critical tactics of engagement with your audience, which is necessary to make your audience happy and satisfied while continuing to grow your business.
- Become Less popular
On social media platforms, Popularity is everything. For example, if you search for anything on social media, you want to learn and prefer the reviews of the popular ones. As we say in our ordinary life, the Majority is authority, just like that on Social media, “Popularity is Authority.
If your brand does not exist socially, it will miss almost 70% of the people who share the branded content with their followers.
Conclusion
Social media marketing is an integral part of Digital marketing. Your business will be considered dead if you don’t use social media in digital marketing. Almost every brand should ensure its social media presence, whether on a large scale or small scale.
If your brand is socially present, current or potential customers feel proud of their brand and choice. You can save money on advertising costs, increase sales and awareness, and create brand value and happy customer relationships or trust.