The Advantages of Social Media Agencies to Small, Medium and Large Companies

Social media has garnered international attention because of its ability to connect people across the globe. From a business perspective, social media is being used as a digital marketing channel to expand businesses. They have opened up a large variety of opportunities for small, medium and large scale companies. Social media agencies are entrusted with handling all customer interactions of the company in various social media forums. Generally, the common benefits include an increase in productivity, expansion of customer base and cost cutting. However, social media marketing, if done correctly provides exclusive benefits to each type of business. We shall discuss these individually in brief. (Information credit: GILL Solutions)

Advantages for Small Scale Businesses

Probably the hardest part of initiating a business is to get noticed. This is extremely difficult in the modern marketing landscapes which are dominated by industry leaders and large scale entities. Social media agencies arm themselves with effective online communication tools that enable them to garner the same level of influence on the market, equalling their large scale counterparts. The various advantages are discussed in brief below.

1. Cost-effectiveness: Probably the most obvious advantage that social media has provided can be attributed to its cost-effectiveness. In a market where there are several medium to large scale businesses using similar marketing tactics, it becomes increasingly difficult for small scale businesses to keep up. Moreover, small businesses do not have a big advertising budget to splash on billboards, TV, radio and print media. Social media agencies level the playing field in this respect by harnessing the power of the internet. Using social media is almost negligible compared to other advertising media and has been proven to have better results. Through successful campaigning, customer interactions and shares or retweets, a small scale business can spread its message across in a way that was not possible earlier. This gives them a chance to compete at an equal level with their larger counterparts.
2. Exposure to a wider audience: Small scale businesses who have limited markets benefit from social media in increasing their customer base. As social media has a much wider reach than other advertisement media, digital marketing agencies can form strategies to tap into previously unexplored market sectors. This helps in spreading brand awareness and ultimately leads to the expansion of the customer base.
3. Helps build relationships with customers: Social media bridges this gap and gives small businesses the opportunity to directly interact with the customer base. Through various social media platforms, group chats or blog posts, proper interaction with customers is possible and queries can be answered online without incurring any additional expenditure.

Advantages for Medium Scale Businesses

Companies that fall under this category do not have to worry so much about cost-effectiveness, even though it is considered. They tend to focus more on brand development, business expansion and customer satisfaction. Some advantages are,

Understanding competitors: Medium scale businesses often find themselves competing with other medium or large companies for a decent piece of the market share. As social media advertising is very transparent in nature, it gives medium scale industries the chance to observe the strategies adapted by its competitors which include posts, ads and tweets. They can accordingly shape their marketing strategies and implement them for better results.

Prolonged customer engagement: Medium scale businesses often find themselves overshadowed by competitors, especially if they are operating in similar industries. Social media acts as a public relations tool and keeps the company thriving by word of mouth. Through sharing posts and retweeting content, they stay fresh in their outlook and in the minds of customers.

Advantages for Large Scale BusinessesAlthough social media marketing is most advantageous and favourable for small or medium scale businesses, it can even prove beneficial to large scale companies and even multinational ones. Industry leaders have started taking advantage of the marketing platform provided by social media. It has opened up new avenues of communication with the customer, which was previously not possible for large scale companies. Some of the advantages include,

Customer preferences: Large scale and multinational companies have a huge customer base, sometimes stretching across several countries. It is not feasible to conduct surveys or polls using traditional methods and human resources. Even if it is possible, it will eventually experience logistical and financial limitations. This creates a problem for large scale organizations in the event of a new product launch or getting customer opinions about existing products. Social media provides a cheap and effective way of asking questions to customers. Through social media forums, companies can get the data straight from the customer by using forum posts, polls, surveys, etc. They are no longer solely dependent on their sales force.

Targeting a specific customer base: Large scale companies, which include Mutlinational Corporation, have a global fan base and a wider reach. However if the company wants to expand its business to newer markets and customer bases, they face problems. Social media ads like Facebook and Bing ads provide geo-targeting tools which can target specific audiences in specific areas or regions. This makes social media an excellent promotional tool to introduce existing products into a new market. It has a greater impact than using traditional advertisement media as well as being cost-effective.

It can be concluded that social media marketing is a vital part of a digital marketing campaign and is fast emerging as a dynamic marketing tool that can be used by any organization. Because of its ability to work with the most cost-effective media while producing satisfying results, it has become a staple in all modern marketing campaigns.

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