The most successful businesses are those that are able to form a strong connection with the customer. People want to support businesses that they are able to connect with on a personal level. This can best be achieved by engaging with customers and potential customers using social media marketing. With the invention of laptops, smartphones and tablets, more people are online than ever before. Social media usage has exploded over the past few years, from Facebook to Twitter to Pinterest. People are addicted and businesses should take note; to effectively convey a message you must join the channels your customers are on. As a small business developing a strategy for social media marketing in Phoenix or another city should be one of the top priorities.

The following is a list of 10 reasons why businesses should be using social media marketing:

1. Build your brand. Integrating social media as part of your overall online marketing strategy will help to increase your exposure, which leads to an increase in brand recognition. When you add social media sites in addition to your website, you provide more outlets for customers to engage with you and your business becomes more credible from a customer’s perspective.

2. Make your business more personable. Social media marketing will help to make your business seem more personable as you can have conversations with your customers. This makes customers feel like they are important to you, and they will appreciate the time you take to engage with them. As a bonus, you are also able to gain some control over what people are saying about your business.

3. Bring in new business. On social media sites, you are able to connect and engage with potential customers. If you post interesting articles and comments, people will click the “like” button or share the link with their friends who may also be interested in your products or services.

4. Learn from customers. When you engage with your followers, you discover their interests, the latest trends and the kinds of things that they want out of a product or service in your industry. This is valuable information that places businesses in a great position as adjustments can be made to meet the needs of customers and increase sales and customer satisfaction.

5. Keep tabs on competitors. Monitoring what your competitors are doing right and wrong will help you to make your business stronger. Anything a competitor is doing poorly, you should strive to do with the best of your abilities in order to beat out the competition.

6. Create a community. This type of environment can easily be established on social media. Your followers all have one thing in a common: they are interested in your business, so make sure that everyone’s comments are equally appreciated and responded to respectfully. This will establish brand loyalty.

7. Achieve higher search engine rankings. Businesses should create pages on all the major social media sites that their customers are using. These sites should be integrated with one another by including links back to pages, such as your website and other social media sites you are using. Post interesting, valuable content on a regular basis in order to increase traffic.

8. Find the influencers. Research the influential people in your industry niche and find a social media platform that will best reach these individuals. Influencers are the people that the majority listen to, so achieving a share or a follow from one of these individuals can greatly benefit your business.

9. Think about the future. When you successfully establish trust and loyalty among customers and potential customers online, you create a community that is already interested in your new products before they are even available for purchase. You will have a reputation of quality by caring for your customers online, which translates to the products or services you offer.

10. Stay connected. A business has many different components that must work well in order to be successful. It can be easy to forget about staying connected with your audience with everything that’s going on, but don’t worry; there are companies specializing in social media marketing in Phoenix that can lend a helping hand. Customers can easily forget about you when you are not constantly in their mindset, so regular communication is important.

Establishing a sound social media plan will help your business to increase online exposure and reach and engage with target audiences. Social media is a time consuming process that requires continuous development of content and daily communication with customers online, so hiring a company specializing in social media marketing in Phoenix may be the best way to go. If you need help developing and running a social media campaign, please call Fasturtle at (888) 468-8785 or contact us online for more information on social media marketing in Phoenix or another city across the country.