From being a social networking application, the social media of today has become a plethora of activities that also extended its arms to business aspects like marketing and sales. It is a powerful platform that is capable of influencing consumers in their purchase decisions through a multitude of methods such as content, SEO and social interactions.
A bulk of the business’ resources usually goes to its marketing. And in order to maximize the spending, a marketer should know what marketing investment will yield the best results. It is a skill that not only looks at the cost, but to the long term benefits as well. The good thing here is that there are now more marketing medium and tools to utilize that are not only packed with features, functions and benefits, but are also cost efficient as well.
But before we look at how marketing can be more cost efficient in the digital than in the traditional, let us first establish a strong foundation in knowing how digital solutions have changed the game for businesses, particularly in the aspect of marketing.
Digital Marketing Solutions
Digital marketing solutions focus on establishing a strong online presence for your business. It makes use of different online media to expose the business brand to a wider variety of audiences but remain targeted to the most valuable ones. It is the combination of technology and the understanding of human nature when it comes to purchasing decisions. For most, digital marketing solutions aren’t just trends anymore, but have already become an integral part of any marketing endeavor.
Digital marketing solutions comprise a variety of ways of helping out a business thrive online. Digital marketing strategies may differ depending on the nature of the business, and its objectives. Not all digital marketing methods will work for all types of businesses, and it is best to have a clear understanding of your goals before choosing the right one that will help you achieve it. Here are the different digital marketing methods you can use:
- Email marketing
Email, as we know, is one of the earliest forms of digital communication used. Despite of its maturity, and the number of digital channels of communication that has been developed, it remained an effective communication medium that businesses still prefer to use because of its simplicity and formality.
Email provides a direct way of marketing, wherein you can personalize the message in order to target a customer. Like with other marketing methods, it uses content to engage leads to become customers. Email marketing will only commence with the customer’s intent, when he or she signs up for it.
- B2B Marketing
Business to business marketing requires more professionalism as with any kind of marketing. It aims for sales and customer loyalty that uses content as its driving factor. B2B tends to be boring, but a little creativity can go a long way.
- Internet Marketing
Internet marketing could be the umbrella for all digital marketing methods, but for the sake of focus, it actually deals with the more technical side of engagements online which is SEO. It ties up all your marketing engagements underneath by optimizing it according to the search engine best practices. Internet marketing incorporates analytics and keyword optimization as a means to translate human behavior into machine coding which search engines can understand.
- Social Marketing
The social media marketing strategy uses a behavioral approach in acquiring leads. It is one of the best methods to use in achieving a strong online presence. Though if used alone won’t be a sufficient digital marketing strategy that can render sales, the social media is a cost effective medium to support a business’ online marketing campaign.
Social Media Marketing
One of the most challenging aspects of running a business is how to use the funds wisely. As mentioned, a huge chunk of most businesses goes to marketing campaigns, and some already resigned to it. But as the people behind the internet gets “smarter” each day, technology has now more cost efficient benefits to take advantage of. The social media is one of the mediums that paved the way for businesses to engage their customers by being on the same platform as they are. Businesses can now study its audience behavior closely and create targeted marketing campaigns, according to what they found out.
In terms of cost effectiveness, social media lets a business take advantage of its high traffic network to engage potential customers for free. It also lets a business present its products and services to its social network, much like with a website, only in an informal way.
Social media marketing is not a standalone marketing solution, but is more effective to complement the other types of marketing. Since most businesses might have already deployed bigger campaigns, the use of social media can promote and enhance it further. It is relatively free, if you just the need a basic boost for your campaigns. But with a little additional investment for a more sophisticated solution, social media marketing can be made “smarter” and one can always use it to drive more benefits other than establishing an online presence.
Technology is now advancing social media marketing to become an enterprise social media marketing, which uses a software and a set of tools for larger deployments, such the case of bigger brand awareness campaigns. This allows businesses to conduct a centralized social media marketing campaign across all its branches and networks. This also enables a social media manager to stay on top of all the social media accounts he manages.
Nonetheless, you can always expect an effective means of brand exposure and visibility for your business with the help of social media. Small or local businesses and start-ups can use it to jumpstart their marketing campaigns. With little to no funds, businesses can still utilize a solution that doesn’t yield small results.
Cost Efficient Benefits of Social Media Marketing
With the help of social media, you can make your marketing campaigns become flexible, especially during times of insufficient funding. It can also boost your existing campaigns, and you also have another means to interact with your customers. And as consumers are getting more interested with what they see online, it is time to maximize this behavior by migrating your marketing efforts to online too.
- It is relatively a whole lot cheaper to use than deploying TV, radio and print ads. The time it takes to configure a social media account is also less than with shooting a TV commercial or printing tons of marketing leaflets or large scale tarpaulins.
- You can create multiple of social media accounts using different social media platforms for free. You and your customers can also gain access to it 24/7 and using different devices like the desktop, laptop and smart mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. You also don’t need to make a separate social marketing campaign for mobile devices.
- However, the huge cost savings you achieved from using social media as a marketing medium translated to the lot of time it needs to be managed well, especially when dealing with multiple accounts. This is why social media management jobs are on the rise, and with additional investment, you can get a social media management software to effectively manage your campaigns. Through these tools, you can also measure the performance of your campaigns with analytics, so you can have much better insight about what customers are saying about you and how to improve your products and services that will satisfy them better.
You can also get the services of social media marketing providers, which can help you get the most of the social media in providing an exceptional experience for your customers. These companies can give the right focus and attention in managing different social media accounts, and also in monitoring how customers are reacting to the campaigns that the marketing is deploying. Social media marketing companies can also help start a social media marketing campaign for start-ups.
The best social media marketing providers are the best partners when you want to use the social media to complement your long term marketing campaigns.
- You achieve the most credible means of advertising with relatively no cost. Social media marketing is like a pumped-up “word of mouth” advertising, wherein customers are engaged by the experience of popular people, peers or family that are not paid any cent for their feedbacks.
- Social media enables you to reach audiences regardless of geographical boundaries. The number of social media network subscribers is growing each day, and you have practically no limits when it comes to potential customers to engage.
The most attractive aspect of social media for business may be its low cost, but the benefits it gives goes beyond it. It enables a business to be in the same place with its customers, to better understand their needs. Social media marketing also lets businesses to be proactive in dealing with its customers, especially in answering their questions and addressing their concerns.
To help you know more about the social media marketing agencies in the market today, see CrowdReviews.com’s reviews of social media marketing providers.
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