Just in case people need reminding, a social media presence and a website have tremendous benefits for a business if executed right.
This infographic from BestWebHostingGeek.com lists some of these advantages and back them up with data.
Among the advantages of having a social media presence is increased awareness of the organization. Generally, the more people who know a business, the better it is for that organization. A wider audience translates to more potential customers.
Furthermore, social media also boosts traffic to the website of the organization. This, along with increased awareness, is generally the two goals of social media campaigns. Businesses should aim to funnel traffic from their social media accounts to their sites where these people will either be convinced to do business or think highly of the organization.
With a great website and a great social media presence, businesses can also get greater favorable perceptions. Remember, people react positively if they see social media and website ventures of businesses show that the organization put effort into them.
What is also great with social media is that one is able to monitor conversations about their organizations through it. Look at comments and what people are saying about your business and plan your posts and efforts accordingly. If you are doing it right, keep doing what you are doing.
This advantage leads to this other advantage: that social media use leads to a better understanding of customer perceptions of a brand. With better understanding come better targeting. If people perceive your brand not in the way you hoped they would, change that through your social media efforts.
Another advantage of social media is that it allows businesses to develop targeted marketing activities. Remember our posts about how business can choose the right social media platform for their goals? Study your target market and use the right social media platform and the right social media content to target them. Read more in the article below.
How Brands Can Choose The Right Social Media Platforms For Their Goals [Infographic]
5 Reasons Why You Should Customize Your Social Media Content To The Social Network You Use
For some hard data, the infographic says that 80 percent of people prefer to get coupons, promos and discounts from brands in social media. That's a lot and the potential audience is also massive. According to the infographic, 43 percent of all online consumers are social media fans or followers, 85 percent of Internet users have Facebook accounts and 49 percent of Internet users have Twitter accounts.
If you're looking for some concrete evidence that social media leads to sales, here it is: 20 percent of Facebook users have purchase something because of ads or comments they saw before and 67 percent of Twitter users are more likely to buy brands that they follow.
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With all that said, we must point out that it is not that you should choose between having a social media presence and having a website. These two work better in tandem.
The infographic has six benefits of having a business website.
One is cost-effective advertising. Websites, the infographic says, offer a low cost advertising solution. After all, you won't pay to place an ad on your website. Except for expenses for a website, advertising on one's own website is free. How do you get more people to go to your website? Use social media to drive traffic.
Furthermore, a website provides round-the-clock availability. People can browse information about a business on a website any time of the day.
Once on a website, a site owner can track a user's behavior. This is another advantage of having a website: analysis of customer behavior through analytics.
Beyond tracking behavior, site owners can also get feedback direct from their customers through their website. Ask users to rate their experience using your website. Ask users to suggest features that they think can help them and if feasible, implement them. People love businesses that listen to their customers.
Another advantage of having a website is that it acts as an equalizer for businesses. That is, websites help niche market players and levels the playing field for small- and medium-sized businesses to compete with larger businesses. A business may not have a lot of resources but by having a website, they can get their message across. Couple this advantage with having a great social media presence and a business may not need mainstream media advertising anymore.
Learn more, including the reasons given for not having a website, in the BestWebHostingGeek.com infographic below.