Social Media Marketing: The Best Pros and Cons 2022

Social media continues to define how businesses interact with their clients. Discover why firms should consider investing in social media marketing and have a sizeable presence on larger social networks such as Facebook and Instagram.

Social media has evolved from a medium for people to connect/socialize to one of the most powerful brand marketing and promotion channels.

What is Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing (SMM) refers to any effort conducted via any social media platform, such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. The significant benefits that SMM offers are driving its astronomic rise. 

More businesses are integrating SMM into their advertising campaigns, and those who already have an SMM strategy are boosting their budgets in this area. However, social media is both a straightforward and tricky marketing tool.

On one hand, social media management platforms are excellent for sharing interesting content, staying in touch with your target audience, analyzing trends, and launching well-targeted ads.

On the other hand, they make brands more vulnerable since the public’s reaction/response to a specific strategy isn’t always predictable. 

Should you leverage social media for your brand marketing and promotion? A quick spoiler: Yes. So why should firms consider investing in a presence on larger social networks?

Why Should Firms Consider Investing In A Presence On Larger Social Networks?

Digital transformation is well underway. This wave of transformation, accelerated by 2020 events, represents a shift in how brands and consumers perceive, use and value social media. 

If you’re wondering when to start investing more in social media marketing, the time is now! 

The sooner firms embrace social platforms as a core business function, the farther the strong social tide will take them. But those who don’t comply might be left behind.

Advantages of Social Media Marketing

The benefits of leveraging social media marketing include:

Cost-Efficient

One of the main advantages of social media marketing over traditional marketing and even other forms of digital marketing is cost-effective. 

All of the major social media networks are free to join, and it’s also free to start communicating with potential clients on a basic level. 

If you want greater revenue from your company, you can hire a professional and invest some money in marketing. 

That will result in higher returns for your company at a fraction of the cost of attaining the same results through traditional marketing.

Easy to Measure

Any firm that wishes to succeed must have a thorough understanding of its clients. What are their needs/desires, opinions, and passions/interests?

Because of the high level of user engagement on social media, businesses may use the platforms to obtain market data and improve their goods and services.

In addition, social media sites are a goldmine for analyzing trends and popular topics for discussion.

Using Google Trends, you can identify the most popular Instagram and Twitter hashtags, as well as trending themes for your social media postings. 

Analyze the information supplied and develop your ideas on engaging your audience and getting them to participate in the discussion.

Easily Adjustable Ad Campaigns

Each popular social media network is distinct and offers you new perspectives. Therefore, it’s a good idea to work with multiple social networks at once, even if you’re new to social media marketing. 

By adapting and repurposing your content, you can reap the benefits of social media marketing and make the most of each platform’s features.

• For instance, You can repurpose a video you made for your YouTube channel on IGTV.
• You can share your infographics on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Instagram.
• You may post the URL to your slideshow on Linkedin and other social media networks.
• Beautiful product photos work as well on both Instagram and Pinterest.

One of the most appealing aspects of social media is that it allows for almost limitless experimentation and creativity.

Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing For Businesses?

Some of the risks associated with social media marketing include:

Complete Dependence On The Views Of Your Audience

One of the issues with social media is that it attracts different types of people, including the nasty and vicious. 

What you post online, particularly through social media outlets, has the potential to go viral and spread like wildfire. If it yields positive results, this could be advantageous to you.

On the other hand, you have no control over what you post online, and everything is accessible to everybody – including harmful and destructive components. 

Spammers, scammers, trolls, and other nasty individuals are among the harmful elements out to destroy your online reputation. Negative comments are included in this category, and while the majority are genuine input, some are simply meant to propagate negativity about your brand.

They can exploit your materials to make personal attacks on you or circulate false information that will harm your online reputation.

You can respond to unfavorable feedback on social media and other channels as soon as possible to provide customer support. 

Alternatively, find a social media marketing firm specializing in reputation management and hire them to do an audit, correct any problems, and get you back on track.

If Configured And Managed Incorrectly, It Can Be Costly

Depending on the social media platform you use, creating content might take a lot of time, effort, and money. 

If you want to use TikTok, you’ll need to make clips regularly, which will put your resourcefulness and creativity to the test.

If you have no prior experience with social media, you may face a steep learning curve. And if you or an employee spend a significant portion of the day studying the ins and outs, the opportunity cost may result in a disappointing return.

Hire someone who can hit the ground running to save time and money, or partner with a reputable social media marketing firm to cut long-term expenditures. 

Even startups can find a small business SEO consultant to help them execute their ad campaign optimization.

In either case, your selected route should provide you with a lot of value because it streamlines the process for your company.

Data Retention Policy Is Not Always Transparent

The rules of engagement regarding the management of user data on social media platforms remain foggy. Some social platforms might engage in unauthorized use of user data which might cause your target audience to be reluctant to give some details about themselves.

Conclusion

SMM isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. As a result, it’s simple to get it wrong. So before investing in any social media marketing campaign, engage an SMM company to help you research and design a workable solution to satisfy your marketing and sales goals.

Bio:

Tim Absalikov is the Acting CEO of Lasting Trend SEO in NYC. Tim is an expert in technical optimization. He has a deep understanding of SEO, SEM, UX and UI considerations, shopping campaigns, PLA, RLSA, dynamic retargeting, works with E-Commerce and Web Analytics.