With more than 969,000,000 active social networking users across Asia Pacific the opportunity to engage with these people has never been stronger.

Below are our top 10 reasons every business should be using Social Media as an advertising and lead generation platform:

1. Increased Brand Recognition. Every opportunity you have to syndicate your content and increase your visibility is valuable. Social media networks are simply new channels for your brand’s voice and content. This is important because it makes you more accessible for new customers, and makes you more familiar and recognisable for existing customers.

2. Improved brand loyalty. Brands who engage on social media channels experience greater loyalty from their customers. Companies should take advantage of the tools social media gives them when it comes to connecting with their audience. A strategic social media plan could prove influential in morphing consumers into being brand loyal.

3. More Opportunities to Convert. Every time you post on a social media platform is an opportunity for prospects to convert into customers. By building a following. you will also build access to new customers, along with reconnecting with previous customers and these posts allow you to interact with all of them. Every blog post, image, video, or comment you share is a chance for someone to react, and every reaction could lead to a site visit, and eventually a conversion. This is why Social Media Management campaigns must not be haphazard or ill-planned. A clear strategy must be defined, and a content strategy executed to deliver against that plan.

4. Improved conversion rates. The most significant conversion opportunity on Social Media is its humanisation element. The fact that brands become more humanised by interacting in social media channels must not be ignored or under valued. Social media is a place where brands can act like people do, and this is important because people like doing business with people; not with companies.

Additionally, studies have shown that social media has a much higher lead-to-close ratio than that of outbound marketing. A higher number of social media followers tend to also improve trust and credibility in your brand, representing social proof. As such, building your audience on social media can improve conversion rates on your existing traffic.

5. Greater Brand Authority. Interacting with your customers on Social Media regularly is a display of good faith for prospective customers. When people want to compliment or praise a business, much of the time they do this on Social Media. When these people post your brand name, new audience members will want to follow your business for updates. The more people that are talking about you on social media, the more valuable and authoritative your brand will seem to new users. A well crafted social media management campaign will assist in working this angle for your business.

6. Increased Inbound Traffic. Without social media, your inbound traffic is limited to people already familiar with your brand and individuals searching for keywords you currently rank for in search engines such as Google. Every social media profile you add is another path leading back to your site, and every piece of content you syndicate on those profiles is another opportunity for a new visitor. The more quality content you syndicate on social media, the more inbound traffic you’ll generate, and more traffic means more leads and more conversions.

7. Decreased Marketing Costs. Marketers are finding that the cost of a strategic Social Media management campaign, or Social Media Advertising campaign can cost much less than managed campaigns on Google such as Search Engine Optimisation or AdWords campaigns and is certainly more cost effective than radio, TV or print advertising.

8. Better Search Engine Rankings. SEO is the best way to capture relevant traffic from search engines, but as we all know Google evolves its algorithm and the recipe for success is ever changing. It’s no longer enough to regularly update your blog, ensure optimised title tags and meta descriptions, and distribute links pointing back to your site. Google and other search engines may now also be calculating their rankings using social media presence as a significant factor. As such, being active on social media could act as a “brand signal” to search engines that your brand is legitimate, credible, and trustworthy. That means, if you want to rank for a given set of keywords, having a strong social media presence could be almost mandatory.

9. Richer Customer Experiences. Social media, at its core, is a communication channel like email or phone calls. Every customer interaction you have on social media is an opportunity to publicly demonstrate your customer service level and enrich your relationship with your customers.

10. Improved Customer Insights. Social media also gives you an opportunity to gain valuable information about what your customers are interested in and how they behave, via social listening. For example, you can monitor user comments to see what people think of your business directly. You can segment your content syndication lists based on topic and see which types of content generate the most interest—and then produce more of that type of content. You can measure conversions based on different promotions posted on various social media channels and eventually find a perfect combination to generate revenue.

These are the benefits of sustaining a long-term social media campaign, but if you’re still apprehensive about getting started, consider these points:

  • Your Competition Is Already Involved. Your competitors are already involved on social media, which means your potential social media traffic and conversions are being poached. Don’t let your competitors reap all the benefits while you stand idly by. If, somehow, your competition is not involved on social media, there’s even more of a reason to get started, so you are the one with the head start.
  • The Sooner You Start, the Sooner You Reap the Benefits. Social media is all about relationship building, and it tends to grow exponentially as your followers tell their friends, and their friends tell their friends, and so on. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll be able to start growing that audience.
  • Potential Losses Are Insignificant. Realistically, you don’t have anything to lose by getting involved in social media. The amount of time and money it takes to create your profiles and start posting is usually minimal, compared to other marketing channels.

Some Powerful Stats and Information

  • Social is now the top Internet activity: On average, people spend 37 minutes daily on social media, a higher time-spend than any other major Internet activity, including email.
  • Facebook is still the leading social media network and continues to grow. Here are the latest facts and figures:
    • Facebook now has 1.26 billion users
    • Facebook averages 1.23 billion monthly active users
    • There are 128 million daily active Facebook users in the US
    • Facebook averages 945 million monthly active mobile users
  • Google+ is now the second largest social network at just over 50%, with Facebook still dominating at 70%. Keep in mind that a Google+ account is mandatory whenever a person creates a new Gmail account. This is pushing up the account ownership stats.
  • YouTube is more popular than television: YouTube reaches more adults than any TV network.
  • LinkedIn is still the largest professional business network and continues to grow but not at the pace of Pinterest, Google+ or Twitter.
  • Pinterest is the fastest growing social network right now. The visual web is driving the rise of Pinterest and Tumblr with growth rates of 88% and 74% respectively over the last 12 months. Pinterest is also one of the leading referral sources for organic traffic, which is a good for high search rankings.
  • Some social media networks have a more active user-base than others. Statistical research has revealed that more than 95% of Facebook users log into their account every day. That number for Twitter is 60% and for LinkedIn is 30%.

What are 2 key factors driving the social web in 2015 and beyond?

According to the Global Web Index study it is:

  1. Mobile – the number of people accessing the Internet via a mobile phone increased exponentially in the last 2 years.
  2. Older user adoption – On Twitter the 55-64 year age bracket is the fastest growing demographic with 79% growth rate since 2012. The fastest growing demographic on Facebook’s and Google+’s networks are the 45 to 54 year age bracket at 46% and 56% respectively.

So, how do we tackle Social Media Advertising?

Create Contagious Content

The key is to strike a balance between offering content that is valuable for brand positioning, and offering content that is fun and shareable on social channels. If you can show value to your followers, your lead generation efforts can have a true network effect.

At Newpath WEB, we are always experimenting with different types of ads, new content, and eye catching visuals. We also track our success using various platform insights, and Sprout Social Reporting Tools. We’ve found that to successfully generate leads on Social Media, you need:

1. Always focus on creating compelling messages

2. Make use of eye catching visuals

3. Target mass audience appeal and shareability

4. Always have a clear CTA (Call To Action)

5. Don’t take yourself too seriously, and use a bit of personality

6. Sometimes, organic isn’t enough on its own; don’t be afraid to pay to boost your presence

7. Focus on valuable content and solid offers, add value

8. Never forget that social is a two-way street

Utilising the 80/20 Rule for social

Social media has many different functions, including lead generation, brand awareness, and relationship building. To be effective, you need a good balance of promotional content and thought leadership. We advise use of the 80/20 rule—80% of your content should be informational/educational, and 20% should be self-promotional.

Conclusion

The longer you wait, the more you have to lose. Social media marketing services, when done right, can lead to more customers, more traffic, and more conversions, and it’s here to stay.

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