There are some people on the internet that discredit the use of social media marketing. A portion of these individuals assume that there will be instant results when using sites like Facebook and YouTube to market your business. The truth is, social media marketing is more valuable to your brand than what many of these people realize. Why should you invest the time to market your business in such a way?

1. Notoriety

It is a psychological fact that when someone walks into a store, they will buy objects by recognizing logos and brands. Imagery plays an important role in generating revenue due to nothing more than marketing the symbol to the general populace. This is also true for social media. The more people that are aware of your business and products or services, the more likely they will turn into leads and sales. It is the same reason why companies will spend millions per year to advertise on television.

Here is an interesting infographic on brand perception.

2. Broadened Scope

Social media is an integral part of society today. Whether it is the occasional person checking up on what’s happening on Facebook to the artists that perform on YouTube, nearly everyone is using one site or another. By marketing your brand on these sites, you are connecting to a range of people that you wouldn’t have access to otherwise. Let’s say that you wrote one blog post and shared it with your account on Facebook. One of your fans or friends “likes” the comment placing it in his or her timeline for their friends to see. Depending on the time of day and friends that person has, you could generate quite a few visits to your website simply because one fan liked the post.

 3. Cost Efficiency

Due to tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite, you don’t have to log into those social media accounts in order to deliver news and content. Those who say social media marketing is a waste of time clearly didn’t use such tools. Once you completed an article or blog post for your business, you simply log into one of these tools and share the post across all the favorite and most populated social sites. The best part about the entire process is that all of it can be completed for free. The only investment you make is the time it takes to write the content and post the links to those sites. Of course many of these tools do have paid subscriptions that greatly improve the functionality. However, they can be very effective as a free service.

4. Word-of-Mouth

Word-of-mouth marketing works exceptionally well in the real world. It can also be a very effective method online through social media channels. This comes in the form of being shared by those that enjoy the content. As mentioned above, “likes” can share your message with everyone on an individual’s list. Nearly every popular social site has this capability. Form a simple click of the mouse, these people can tell all of their friends and family about your business instantly.

As social media is such an important aspect in the lives of millions, you would be foolish to think that marketing on these sites is a waste of time. As long as there is interest in your product or service, you can tap a collection of people that never knew the business existed. Take the time to explore the possibility of increasing your social presence – it could be more important than you believe.

About author

Ken Myers is a father, husband, and entrepreneur. He has combined his passion for helping families find in-home care with his experience to build a business. Learn more about him by visiting @KenneyMyers on Twitter.