For any freelancer or small business owner today, the importance of social media marketing cannot be understated. Developing a strong social media presence is especially important for your brand to flourish.

And here’s why.

In 2021, there are approximately 4.48 billion active social media users. That is

more than half the world’s population. Imagine that! With a potential audience that large, establishing a social media presence would play a very significant role in generating leads and helping you grow your business.

However, with social media marketing, Consistency is Key. Engaging your audience 6 times in 2 days, and then disappearing for another 5 days before resurfacing is not proper engagement. You are better off engaging once a week, as long as you can guarantee doing that every week.

Right now as a freelancer, I always make sure to engage my audience 2 times every week on all my social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram & LinkedIn). I cannot stand Tiktok and Twitter, even though they are really good for reaching potential new clients. But that is a personal choice.

I also post a relevant blog post each week. Coupled with the 2 posts each week, these allow me to remain fresh in the minds of my existing audience, while also building my presence into an authority that attracts new clients .

But mind you, I am only doing that because I have a separate full-time career job and freelance part-time. On the other hand, bigger brands can guarantee multiple engagements per day for obvious reasons. Regardless, maintaining a social media presence will not only help establish your brand, but it will help you develop connections with existing clients and build trust with potential clients.

Other Benefits of a Strong Social Media Presence.

As a freelance copywriter based in Dublin, Ireland, I have a potential reach of 3.7million out of 5million people nationwide. And by using social media marketing, I can:

• Build brand awareness and trust: By using Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn to tell my story, I also give clients a chance to get to know me as a person. I also use it to share what services I offer, provide goodwill industry tips and share relatable industry memes. (Who doesn’t love a good meme?)

• Generate leads and build a community: Some posts can create room for open discussion in the comments. And discussion is always a sign of good engagement. By listening to customers and what they have to say, you give yourself a chance to learn something new.

• Measure marketing statistics: Social media platforms and management tools enable you to track key performance metrics (KPIs). Campaigns on Instagram and Facebook come with very insightful analyses about various demographics that you can use to make even better decisions on targeting, and the content you wish to put out. I check my Google Analytics and WordPress Jetpack stats for my website everyday in order to gauge engagement and get a good idea for what to write about next.

But now that I mentioned statistics, I would like to add more to this because this a very important aspect of social media marketing.

Statistics are crucial for professionals.

As shared by Daniel Ku on postbeyond.com, we can see that the important social media marketing stats below:

• 89% of marketers say social media is “Very important”, with 30 percent saying it’s “Somewhat important” to their overall marketing strategy, according to Buffer.

• Youtube accrues more than 1 billion hours of watch time each day.
• 82% of B2B marketers report using LinkedIn as a means of networking and making professional connections. They also use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and Pinterest.
• In 2017, 80% of social media B2B leads came from LinkedIn. (LinkedIn)
• 53% of the world’s population is now active on social media. (We Are Social)

If the above statistics do not convince you to take social media marketing seriously, then I hope the fact a solid social media marketing plan (as compared to traditional marketing) can give you access to a HUGE, relevant and globally convertible audience almost for FREE.

That’s right.

With the constant, increasing tech advances in media, advertising costs for smart business owners have been greatly reduced. And the reason for that is simply because social media is very accessible.

So there you have it.

Do you have any reasons why you do not use social media as a small business owner? Please share with us in the comments why. And if you are a new visitor to my blog, feel free to read more or reach out to me at derrick@thewriteguy.ie if you have any questions.

Thank you x