Eleven years.  Can you believe that Facebook launched more than 11 years ago?  I remember when the website began getting traction at my high school; its main use then was to post on your friends’ walls to make plans for the upcoming weekend.  Now, as a Marketing Manager, it’s incredible to witness how Facebook has evolved to become a tool that can be used for reasons other than connecting with your friends and family; Facebook has become a game changer in the marketing industry, and other social media platforms quickly followed suit.

Just how many individuals use social media?  A report prepared by We Are Social concludes that in January of 2015, forty-two percent of the world’s total population were active internet users— a shocking number set to increase to 50% by mid-2016!  The same report indicated that as of January 2015, active social media accounts represented 29% of the world’s population, and users spend approximately 2 hours and 25 minutes on social media per day. With such an abundance of people accessing social media on a daily basis, it’s no wonder why companies are opting to use these platforms to advertise their products or services.  Still not convinced?  Here’s a list of other reasons why social media marketing is an essential part of business today:

1. You can reach your target market in seconds. Companies must be able to identify and understand everything about their target markets—their habits, spending patterns, and more. With social media marketing, you can easily set parameters based on your target market. Facebook allows you to advertise based on interests that users plug into their profiles; using keywords that reflect your target market will ensure that the correct users are viewing your ads. Marketing on social media may also allow you to reach certain target markets that are difficult to reach otherwise—such as Millennials and Generation Z.
2. You can get very personal with your target market. Since you already know who your target market is, viewing their profiles, status updates, and Tweets can give you great insight of users’ interests.  If you discover a new interest that is shared among your target market, you may be able to expand your customer base to individuals that you didn’t even know existed!
3. Social media allows you to extend great customer service on the internet. If there’s a problem with your product or service, you’ll learn about it immediately—and you should reply immediately, too.  Having an active internet presence that takes care in responding to consumers can increase brand loyalty.
4. Increase your sales. It’s obvious that for many companies the main goal of social media marketing is to increase sales. Companies can get creative in pushing their products/services and stay relevant by using various tactics, such as contests, promotions, and more to entice individuals to buy your product or service.
5. Social media marketing is inexpensive. You can reach a substantial amount of people with just a few dollars per week.  You can easily setup social media accounts and share the responsibility among certain employees in your company, with the cost of doing so being relatively low.  However, many will agree that social media marketing is a full-time job, in which case you can hire an outside firm or hire someone in-house to take on the responsibility.  The cost of hiring someone to conduct all-things social media can still be more inexpensive than using other advertising mediums.

It’s becoming apparent that social media is the way of the future.  With all of the benefits social media marketing has, it may be the right decision for your company to integrate various campaigns into your marketing strategy.  Who knows?  Your next sales opportunity might be one Tweet or Like away!