As marketers, a familiarity with social media marketing and its value is now par for the course. More than ever, your buyers are sharing their opinions about you online, whether or not you’re a part of the conversation, so it’s critical to participate and engage in a meaningful way. Social media marketing is an effective way to engage your audience across the entire customer lifecycle—from creating and maintaining relationships, to driving revenue growth, to increasing customer loyalty and retention, and building advocacy.

The impact of social media transcends almost every aspect of our daily lives—work, politics, breaking news, and more. The rise in social media usage by marketers, and our audience, means that participation is no longer an option; it’s a necessity. In fact, the growth in global social media users, both mobile (17% growth in 2015) and not (10% growth in 2015), continues to climb and even outpaces the growth
of global internet adoption (10% in 2015), according to We Are Social Singapore. Social media platforms are just as critical for a modern marketing organization as any other channel. With a majority of our audience actively using social media (over 76% of U.S. adults using the internet engage on one or more social media platforms according to data from Pew Research), we need to be where our audience is, and that’s on social!

To understand the value social media marketing offers your organization, let’s look at how it helps marketers drive value across every stage of the customer lifecycle.