In this digital age, people are searching for ways to connect with other individuals. Some of them are looking to connect with friends, while others are looking to connect with potential business partners. In order to make the most out of your marketing efforts, you must consider how you can interact with your audience. One method is through social media.

Marketing through social media allows you to connect with people where they are, when they’re most receptive to your message. With many platforms to choose from, you’re guaranteed to find an audience and engage them to move products.

Here are five benefits of marketing online:

1. It’s Easy To Set Up

One of the biggest advantages of marketing online is how easy it is to set up. With platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you don’t need a professional web developer to set up a website page. You simply need to input the information into the platforms and watch the engagement take place.

Since these platforms are digital, all you need is a decent digital camera to take pictures of your products and use the online tools to attract and engage potential customers. You don’t need to purchase expensive equipment to run a successful business in this format.

2. It’s Easy To Measure The Results

Even the most sophisticated amongst us cannot resist a vanity metric. When a company can provide the warm fuzzy feeling of metrics without the complexity of actual numbers, we’re all for it.

With the click of a button, you can track the results of your Facebook or Twitter efforts. While it can be difficult to determine the exact impact of online marketing when viewed through the lens of vanity metrics, it’s definitely there.

Since you don’t have to physically handle sales to determine the effectiveness of your marketing, it’s easier to improve your results. You can compare the performance of one campaign to the next, and identify what’s working and what’s not. This form of measurement also allows you to determine the optimal scope and scale of your online marketing efforts.

3. It Provides High Converting Traffic

With PPC (Pay Per Click) marketing, you can target your ads to appear on relevant websites that are likely to offer your product or service.

By understanding a little bit about conversion optimization, you can maximize the effectiveness of your online ads. For example, if you’re using Google Adwords, you can look into changing the landing page or developing a new one to get more conversions.

Depending on your target audience, you can determine which websites are most relevant to them. If you can get visitors to take the desired action (e.g. make a purchase, fill out a form, subscribe to receive notifications, etc.) then you’re likely to gain a profit from online marketing.

4. It Provides Highly Personalized Interactions

Since these platforms are based on people, people like you, people like me, and people like anyone, you can create highly personalized interactions with your audience.

If someone you follow on Twitter mentions or links to your website, you’ll see a message like this:

“Hey Michael,

Thanks for checking out my blog post on XYZ. Just wanted to say that I think you’re going to love my latest podcast episode on ABC News – it’s all about drones and the future of flight.

You can find the link in my blog post DEF.

Thanks for taking the time to read my blog post. I hope it was helpful. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Best,

Steve”

This type of interaction can create a greater connection between you and your audience, which provides better marketing and engagement opportunities. Since these platforms are centered around content, you can utilize your existing content – whether it’s a blog article, a podcast episode, a case study, or a Facebook Live video – to engage with your audience.

5. It Provides A Learning Opportunity

Even the best marketers can learn from the mistakes of others. By taking the time to watch other companies’ campaigns and measure their results, you can determine what works and what doesn’t.

In addition, you can find free tools to help you learn. For example, Google Analytics provides you with a birds eye view of your PPC efforts, including the traffic that resulted from each campaign. Using this tool, you can easily determine how many times a certain article or piece of content was referenced in comparison to the total number of times it was viewed. This learning opportunity alone can be worth the effort.

While creating online communities and engaging with customers through social media is essential to any business, it’s also important to develop a plan to measure the effectiveness of your marketing. By doing this, you’ll be able to gain a deeper understanding of what works and what doesn’t, allowing you to continually improve your results.