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Before the advent of social media, businesses advertised what they had to offer through simple methods such as billboards, TV commercials, print ads and even outbound marketing strategies like phone calls, word of mouth or even door-to-door visits. These days, you might still see those methods being employed, but it’s certainly without the fervor that they once embodied because in today’s world, filled with technological advancement, advertising occurs in the blink of an eye or the click of a button on the internet. From pop up ads to website banners, the availability of information across the web has enabled the world of advertising to push forward ferociously in the digital market, but still one channel remains the king of all digital marketing and that is  social media.

Wikipedia defines social media as “computer-mediated tools that allow people to create, share or exchange information, ideas, and pictures/videos in virtual communities and networks. Social media is further defined as “a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content.”

Meanwhile, social media marketing is where businesses come into play. The use of different social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google +, Pinterest and Instagram have been the best channels for companies to utilize as tools to convert potential customers to actual ones for some time now. And as they continue to evolve and push the envelope, so too do they continue to pave new roads for marketers to take in the pursuit of pushing product. Coming to the point though, why should the power of social media be limited to mega corporations with loads of money to blow on large campaigns. The simple truth is that it’s not. Social media is important to any business, but especially your small emerging one. Below are three of the reasons why.

1. Customers Are Usually Social Media Users

Americans, according to a 2011 report published by Nielson, allocate approximately a quarter of their online time on social blogs and networks. That being the case, it’s a given that potential customers are always present, waiting online and searching for products that they may be interested in buying. A proper social media presence and strategy is essential to driving funnel them to a conversion point where they purchase your product or avail your services.

2. It Gives You The Chance To Know What Customers Need and Want

The truth is, people use their social media to express what they want the world to know. That can include the simple whims and details of their day to praise, complaints, and feedback on a variety of products and services they come across on a daily basis. You get to know the current trends based on what people post, and with that knowledge, you can take advantage of their wants and needs.

3. Social Media is Cost-Effective Business Marketing

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google +, Pinterest and Instagram are social platforms which are usually used by people searching for products and services nowadays. The good thing about social media is that they’re almost entirely free of charge. It’s a win-win situation. By leveraging these technologies properly, you can build a direct relationship with your clients and eventually continue to expand your business from small to big.

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The ability of social media marketing to effectively promote and establish a brand is widely dependent on the tools employed. These tools provide not only fast traffic to the content but also connect the target audience to brand with customization of search results. Here are some of the most effective social media tools used by the best digital marketers to enhance their brand visibility.

1. Hootsuite: Hootsuite is one of the most extensively used social marketing tool adopted by the leading marketers. With a convenient scheduling feature and Chrome plug in that lets you post across all the major social media platforms, you can see the feeds across various social networks simultaneously, and launch a critical analysis of what is working and what is not.

2. Sprout Social: Another great tool accessible via a mobile app enables you to watch the social content along with monitored keywords searches in a single stream. It also offers scheduling of the content publishing and management of social posts across Facebook, Twitter, and Google +; all on the go.

3. Mention: Most of the digital marketers rely on this powerful tool which provides great insights to the keywords used across the various digital platforms including forums and blogs. It lets you track any mentioning of your brand and also allows you to respond and share it.

4. Post Planner: Facebook is still the most preferred platform a search engine marketing company Delhi targets to take the advantage of. Post Planner is an app of Facebook which provides the customized trending content according to your niche. It also lets you schedule your Facebook posts in advance and do the analysis of most viral posts with loads of status ideas to enhance the brand presence on Facebook.

There is no shortage of both free and paid social networking tools to enhance and develop the digital marketing strategy. These are just four of the easiest tools to begin to use. Their application makes all the difference.

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Social media is more and more becoming the objective tool for digital marketing. This is not to say that other forms of digital marketing such as email, SEO, and Pay per click are on the decline. It’s just that never before have so many people be so easy to reach, and that reach really is the topic of today. How do we manage to reach thousands upon thousands of people through social media without knowing who they are. The passive answer is that we rely on people’s internet browsing patterns to inform algorithms to show them ads and products or services that may be of interest to them. But no ones browsing patterns are the same and we can’t just take a back seat and depend on the forces at work to reach people for us. We must become that force and perpetuate our own reach to some degree. The best way to increase reach on social is to treat it like a Google search: through optimization. Timelines, news feeds, streams, etc. are so commonly influenced by algorithms now that SMO should be a focus on every network.

You want to make sure to engage the people already seeing your posts, so they’ll spread to other users. You can do this by:

1. Focus on the right networks – no use in spending a few hours a week on a platform your target audience doesn’t have accounts on
2. Optimize your profile – profiles themselves should be optimized for discovery
3. Stay evergreen – since posts aren’t always shown as soon as they’re posted anymore, create evergreen social content
4. Post smarter, not more – focus on engagement and quality instead of posting a thousand times per day
5. Use targeting – some networks let you target your posts to specific segments of your audience, which you can take advantage of to write more relevant and personalized content
6. Post during slow hours – buck the trends and post when the number of users online is lower, when no other brands want to post
7. Mix it up – when it comes to post types and formats, post a variety of each
8. Promote your social presence – cross-promote your social media profiles and content on your website, collateral, and other online channels
9. Balance promotional and useful – always think of the user before your own goals, and balance talking about your business with other topics
10. Interact – engage your followers by starting conversations and replying to anyone who talks about you