There are 3.96 billion people using social media globally—that number alone should be enough to illustrate why social networking is crucial for your business. However, beyond the volume of people who are active on the numerous platforms available today, here are some important reasons your business needs social media.

1. It can help build your authority and boost your reputation

Your social media profiles help you inform and communicate with your target audience—and ultimately, make your brand look good. What you communicate on your various platforms can boost your credibility and authority in your niche. This helps establish your relevance in your field and industry while building loyalty among followers. Because social media allows you to easily share content, this also means you get to expand your reach across a wider audience base.

2. It can go a long way towards building real rapport with your audience

Social media helps you connect with your audience. Where customers once only had a hotline to reach you, they now have multiple platforms where they can share their thoughts about your business—good or bad. This means social media can be a very powerful way for customers to share authentic experiences with your business. Positive testimonials can boost your reputation, while negative comments can be an opportunity to demonstrate your brand’s ability to address customer complaints and concerns.

3. It helps you gather important analytics and insight

Social media platforms track and monitor follower behavior to deliver key insights about your target audience. Based on this data, you learn what posts readers respond to and how, what content they find most interesting, and more. These insights can help you refine your communications strategy and messaging. Social media helps you understand what makes you stand out from the competition and how you can better position your brand and products to stay relevant with your core audience.

4. It provides marketing opportunities

Any opportunity that allows you to put the spotlight on your brand, service, or product should be highlighted—and that’s what social media does. Anything you post on your social media platforms will reach your followers—this means if you focus on posting high-quality material and content, you’re likely to reap the rewards of your efforts. You also have an opportunity to drive your social media followers back to your website.

5. It can support your SEO efforts

There’s an indirect relationship between social media and SEO—content that gets shared a lot and gets good interaction and engagement on social media also helps boost your search ranking. So, if you have the opportunity to support your website’s SEO efforts through social media, do so.

Hope my answer helps! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to join the conversation on LinkedIn or Twitter or leave a comment below.