Social media has interwoven itself into our lives. From interacting with people online, sharing a part of ourselves with the world, to finding what we're looking for. Social Media is ever-present. This blog will address the power of social media and how you can use it to improve your numbers. Let’s find out how you can utilize social media as a marketing tool and reap its benefits to launch your online business.  
 

Importance of Marketing (A-Z)

Marketing to business is like water to fish. It is a never-ending conversation with your customers. It goes beyond sales garnering your customer's trust and cultivating a dialog with them.   

In simpler words, Marketing is the process of engaging your customers, making them aware of your brand name, your products, convincing them to invest in you, and finally retaining their loyalty. Contrary to popular belief, marketing is not the act of pushing offers on your customers and nagging them to buy your product. Ultimately the fundamental goal of marketing is to communicate trust and increase visibility. This is why, when it comes to sharing in today's world, we cannot overlook social media.  

The Hottest Marketing Trends of 2022

With the ever-changing landscape of our world, trends keep evolving every step of the way. Since the "New media" has already become 'traditional,' here's everything that is 'trending' in marketing: 

Artificial intelligence - AI helps in building a personalized approach as it is considered to be most preferred by customers these days. Various surveys suggest that around 200,000+ stores will be using Artificial Intelligence for their business by 2023. 

Chatbots – Chatbots are meant to provide a better user experience by assisting users with their queries. This enables you to hold on to customers as you are prepared to solve their problems 24X7.  

Retargeting & Remarketing - This is the most common trend to hold your customer's interest. This enables running various campaigns repeatedly for a short period to make your store visible to customers for a long time. 

Social media - Being the most influential trend of the emerging times, social media is one of the most robust platforms to build a versatile and loyal customer base. Moreover, It is also helping sellers to achieve impossible goals by offering the best services. 

Mobile optimization - Optimizing your website to be mobile-friendly, can change the game for you. Many masses are only based on mobile shopping, so having a mobile-friendly website will turn the tables for you. 

Why Is Social Media Your Best Bet When It Comes to Marketing?

Social Media has revolutionized the world of marketing, and we all are witnessing its mammoth impact on everyday life. It has established itself in the world of business, advertising, and education, becoming such an integral part of our lives that we can't afford to shy away from it. 

According to Oberlo, 3.2 billion people use social media globally, 42% of the Earth's total population. This means half of the world is actively using social media. Additionally, there are 4.6 billion internet users globally, and the number is increasing day by day, according to Statista. Social Campaigns like Black Lives Matter, and the AAPI movement, have redefined the role of social media. At the same time, the meme-culture and the use of reels/short-format videos as a substitute for entertainment and even information have well-established social media as one of the biggest influencers.  

Why and How to Leverage Social Media as a Marketing Tool?

The best answer for the 'why' is that social media platforms are the places where your customers love to be. They chill, hang out and share their interests on social media itself. So why not build a strategy that lets them engage with you while casually browsing social platforms without having to take any extra effort.  

In the business world, you need to be seen and heard. The more people are aware of you, the more chances you have of your business growing. You need to be visible to be recognized because you need to remind people that you're there.  

Why Do Businesses Need a Solid Social Media Presence?

To run any business, you need to be aware of your customers, their choice, their problems, and the latest trends that are around. Social Media is a place where people can be found and reached very quickly, and it becomes easy to approach the right target audience. Leveraging social media platforms in such instances can do wonders for your business. Below are some examples that show how brands leverage social media to boost their businesses. 
 

Example 1: Instagram

Levi's "Buy Better-Wear Longer" Campaign

The Buy Better, Wear Longer campaign by Levi's is an excellent example of how Social Platforms are being cultivated to sell and raise awareness at the same time. The campaign speaks about the environmental impact of apparel production and consumption.  

It calls for wearing clothing apparel for a longer time, investing in "high-quality pieces," and reducing consumption. It even advocates buying second-hand dresses or using in-store tailor shops to extend the life of new garments.  

Some Other Great Examples of Instagram Marketing

Cupshe- A perfect example for user-generated content. Cupshe is a swimsuit brand that covers its marketing strategy through content.  

Lush- It’s a cosmetic brand that efficiently uses hashtags in social media campaigns. They ask their customers to share their “#Lushlife” with them. Their prominent hashtag is #LushLife. 

Essie- Essie is a great example of a brand using social media marketing strategy to connect with its buyers. Essie features their buyers by tagging them on social media. 

Example 2: TikTok

Elyse Breanne Design

Small Business Owner, Elyse Breanne received one thousand notebooks for her stationery shop, and in just four days, Elyse Breanne Design sold all of them. According to her, a massive increase in her sales was due to TikTok. She adds," Selling out so quickly "was pretty remarkable. Additionally, Burns had an increase of 600% retail sales." 

Chipotle#Burrito Challenge

Chiptole had its annual "Boorito" offer for Halloween this year, reducing the food price for customers who ordered in spooky outfits. Like other brands, TikTok has become a crucial part of Chipotle's promotional campaign this year. The challenge was to showcase their before and after Halloween Costume transformations, using a custom sound bite created by Chiptole.  

The top five posts that used #Booritos and #Contest were offered free Burritos for a whole year.  The #Boorito garnered a surprising 3.6 billion views throughout the campaign. 

Charlie’s Angels: Don’t Call Me Angels

Entertainment brands have been using social media platforms and are gaining significant attention from there. TikTok is no exception and is making waves in the business world.  Recently Charlie's Angels and over 15 influencers were involved in their marketing efforts and started a promotional campaign on TikTok. The challenge involved performing on the film's soundtrack, “Don't Call Me Angel”. 

Example 3: Facebook

GoPro

With 10 million likes, GoPro is an excellent example of Facebook marketing. On visiting GoPro's Facebook page, you'll see a number of videos that showcase adventure, actions, and adrenaline.  

GoPro's unique marketing strategy enables the company to capture the attention of its target market and showcase what it means to be a part of the GoPro community. With #GoProMillionDollarChallenge, they are enabling user-generated content, and over 42 million videos were uploaded by the users in four months for this challenge. 

Nike

One of the biggest athletic brands with 33.7 million likes. Nike has an exponential marketing budget for the brand. They smartly set up their Facebook page to grab buyers’ attention and are always updated.  

Thus, you can easily create a community and grow your business around easily with social media. 

Steps to Build a Solid Social Media presence

There are so many ways to strengthen your social media presence, but you need to be strategic in your approach to build it.  

Customer Engagement- Engage with your content and connect with your customers, don’t forget to follow up with your customers. 

Consistency- Be consistent; schedule your content for your audience and choose social media platforms wisely.             

Better Visuals- Use the best possible visuals; remember visuals hit differently with less time. 

Enhanced Customer Service- Focus on helping and resolving issues of customers rather than selling all around. 

Trust- Try to build a relationship of trust with your customers by following a problem-solving strategy.

Social Commerce

It is a process of selling products on social media directly. In social commerce, the entire shopping experience happens on the social media platform. Right now, social commerce is an $89.4 billion market and is estimated to grow to $604.5 billion in upcoming years.   

To Sum Up

The power of social media, when used strategically and consistently, can result in enormous benefits. Social media has changed the way of communication. Thus, this is how you can use this powerful tool to communicate with your customers effectively in order to accelerate your business growth.