What Makes Social Media Convenient to Customers?

Since the increasing use of technology and the internet, social media marketing has become essential.

• In the first place, these emerging developments made huge impacts and differences in marketing. It also means changes in marketing require adopting new skills and strategies.
• Overall, we all have an idea of how marketing changes into social media marketing in some ways. 
• As it seems, digital marketing is now more customer-centered and meaning very responsive to people in general.
• Though what are the things that work for the customer to persuade on social media?

Benefits of Social Media

As studies have mentioned, companies should acknowledge the essential role of the needs and benefits of customers². It also shows that companies can improve their values if they intend to fulfill the basic needs of customers through social media ¹.

• For this reason, companies are concerned about using social media and willing to adopt strategies that serve their intention.
• In this view, things that motivate people would be about the benefits of using social media, need to be concerned.

What works for social media?

Specifically, to increase attention and persuasion, consumers have always been in the public eye. Similarly, for what makes social media convenient to the customer, we should understand the needs and benefits of using social media. 

• Research shows people use social media for its gratifications and benefits³. We can categorize these into three groups of their overall gratifications.
• So that we try to see these groups as they would also make social media marketing convenient to us.
• These categories are information, communication, and content.

1.Information Need

Before anything else, one of the basic needs is seeking information and the first thing to concern. It matters and makes a difference. Because of the need to know, we are not comfortable with the unknown, and it causes us to feel stuck.

• Regardless of digital marketing getting more attention, it doesn’t make any exceptions about this need. Indeed, information is a great deal in social media. 
•  Above all, we are always seeking knowledge, a cognitive need to know that we all share. Companies need strategies in the hope of fulfilling this need on social media.

With this in mind, even a very well-known company or product still needs to give a piece of information about itself that leads to persuasion.  To utilize the benefits of social media, information must be provided to the customer⁴.

Advantages of Information

• Giving up-to-date information about the brand and products is essential for the cognitive need to know and reduces uncertainties.
• While it helps with the need to know, the brand still can promote products by sticking with its values.

2. Communication Need

After sufficient information is met with a customer, communication is the next thing. It makes social media marketing convenient through interactions with a company and just to express-self. Altogether, insisting on interactions confirms the intention of care and willingness to engage.

• Firstly communication is a great way to lessen possible other uncertainties and concerns of customers. Moreover, it is a primary tool with a potential to engage with the brand on social media.

• Therefore, companies should be motivated to initiate interaction and strategies that lead to engagement with the customer.
• To achieve this, they need to be available and try to be ready for interactions.

Expressing of Self

Secondly, social media is more convenient to express self more than ever. In particular, expressing self on social media includes interaction and information sharing between customers about a company and product.

• Essentially, being limited in physical appearance and nonverbal cues on social media makes it easy to interact. Though it also has the advantage of recreating a desired new identity and freedom in expression and interaction⁶.  

• Eventually, it’s way too convenient for people to express themselves to the company if they feel like doing so.

What to do?

• To ensure self-expression among customers and increase participation in discussions, customers’ motivation about social interaction is to look for⁸. 
• Regarding this, companies might try to create a place for expression and information sharing among customers.

Advantages of Communication

• Strategies that emphasize customer relationships lead to more customer involvement on social media¹. 
• Interaction helps in engagement and in the same way as knowing the company would be ready to contact at any time.
• More likely to stand out from other social media accounts only if maintaining good interaction and engagement with the customer. 
•  Then, many contents of the brand on social media ultimately become noticeable to the customer⁵.

3. Content

Lastly, demands of people to spend time and entertain themselves also need consideration⁸. At the same time, Social media can be used as a tool for entertainment, to spend time and escape from reality. So the need to spend time and entertain certainly depends on the content at any rate.

Advantages of Appealing Content

• If there is something worth spending time on within the content, it will result in customer engagement⁹.
• Indeed, appealing content we all would like to spend time on. It might also increase the time spent with the brand.

Conclusion

As previously mentioned, people use social media for its various benefits related to gratifications. So to utilize these in social media marketing, we can prioritize the needs of people and how to turn these into beneficial to them.

• The first thing is the need to know we all seek information about the company and products, one of the basic cognitive needs.
• Along with this need, communication and content are other primaries which people find convenient about social media marketing.

Finally, it seems that the needs of people are motivators, and strategies to serve them would work at best. It does not only bring benefits to customers but also the company.

For more details and blogs, visit: https://thedigitalmarketinginstitute.org/

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References

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