The number of active Internet users hit 3 billion last January 2015, and with that comes the growing popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. With the growing number of individuals on social media, there is great potential to gain leads, generate sales, and promote your brand in this lucrative online marketplace.Here are 8 benefits that businesses can enjoy when they implement a good social media marketing campaign:

1. Compete against big brands & attract share of traffic

Social media has made it possible for small brands to become competitive online. It levels the playing field, providing small and medium enterprises the chance to compete against the big boys, and attract their share of targeted traffic.

2. Cost-effective than Traditional Marketing

If you’ve been marketing products since before the dawn of the Internet, you know how expensive it is to advertise on television, billboards, and print. While traditional marketing may still prove useful, you can consider alternate marketing method that is cost-effective and quick in delivering the result that you are looking for.Social media allows you to promote your products on various social networking platforms to your customer base without a big marketing campaign budget. Spending a few hours a week to develop content and publish them on social networking sites is the minimum investment that can help you promote your brand.

3. Cater to the Mobile Consumer

A study shows that there are more mobile devices in the household than toothbrushes. More and more people are browsing the Internet and logging in on social networking sites on their mobile devices.Lori Ruff said, “Be where your customers are…” If your target market is spending considerable hours on their mobile devices, you as a business owner must find a way to be visible on the mobile platform. Luckily, social media paves the way for you to cater to mobile consumers.

4. Channel Traffic to Your Website

Social media is a good way to direct traffic to your website where you sell your products or offer services. Promote your products, offer assistance to consumers, or share valuable content published on your website to introduce your main virtual storefront to your social media followers.

5. Create and build brand recognition

In social media, you can create your brand and build a good reputation over time. It is up to you what content to post on social media and how you will present yourself to your potential and existing customers. The key is to have a strategy and be consistent with your message. This will help develop trust in your brand and gain you leadership in the industry.

6. Customer insights improve over time

Social Media allows you to get insights about your customers’ daily lives, demographics, interests, and more. With these new insights, you can adjust your marketing strategy and activities that are tailor-fitted to your target audience.

7. Connect and engage with users

The big difference between most traditional marketing methods and social media is how easy it is to connect with your users online. From the word “social” itself, you can facilitate interaction, respond to inquiries, comments, and resolve problems with the quick feedback system that social media platforms have made possible. You have the ability to resolve problems or issues right away. You may even quickly modify your strategy if you see that your content is not engaging a lot of users. It is now easy to reach out to consumers on a more personal basis. In this way, you also increase the level of trust that consumers have on your brand.

8. Convert audience to customers

The ultimate goal is to convert your audience to actual customers. Your investment in social media marketing will bear fruit once you see actual enquiries coming in and sales generated from your social media promotions.With a good social media marketing strategy, implementation, and diligence, this will all be within your reach.