The past few years witnessed the tremendous rise of social media, pervading the online consciousness of Internet users from all over the globe. It did not end there however as the influence of social media reached beyond commercial and business circles.

Hubspot reported that as much as 92% of marketers from surveys performed in 2014 highlighted the importance of social media marketing for their business.

The State of Inbound 2014-2015 Report, also from Hubspot, placed social media as one of the most important lead sources for the more than 3,500 online professionals surveyed in this report. It’s no wonder then why as much as 97% of marketers now participate or at least have a significant presence in social media as confirmed by Social Media Examiner.

The problem however lies not in having a social media presence but as to how these businesses place social media to good use. From a small business perspective, social media marketing is more than just merely gaining likes, fans, repins and retweets, but rather getting the following top benefits, and more, that will make a great impact on the business.

1. Social Media Marketing Increases Website Traffic and Search Ranking – The Hubspot report mentioned earlier claims that business do treat social media marketing as an important business tool. What’s more notable however is that 80% of these marketers claimed that social media is indeed effective in helping generate more website traffic. This may come not as a surprise, considering that more than 73% of adult online users make use of social media networks.

2. Social Media Marketing Generates Leads at Minimum Costs – What’s even better with social media marketing is that you can generate valuable leads at just a fraction of the cost of what it would take you when using traditional techniques – saving you as much as 80% of your lead generation costs.

3. Social Media Marketing Boosts Content Marketing – Changes in search engine algorithms have placed greater importance on content, particularly in the creation and distribution of high-quality content that generates leads and converts them into sales. In fact, content marketing was touted as the most commercially important digital marketing trend for 2015 according to the recent digital marketing trends poll from Smart Insight.

4. Social Media Marketing Increases Brand Awareness – With its huge user base, social media presents a great channel for increasing brand awareness and new customer generation, as what 78% of small businesses that use social media marketing have experienced.

5. Social Media Marketing Legitimizes Your Brand – Consumers do search for more information about a brand online and according to Ballihoo, 63% of such consumers will engage with a particular brand if they find more information about them through social media.

6. Social Media Marketing Increases Sales – Engagement generates a following and brands that have developed such fan base can generate sales from as much as 71% of these followers. That’s how effective social media marketing is for generating sales. People like, share and recommend content through social media, and in many cases these content are embedded with sales and marketing elements – and people believe them.

7. Social Media Marketing Gives You Great Audience Insight – Pew Research Center highlighted that up to 96% of of internet users aged 18 to 29 years old from the African American online community use social media.

8. Social Media Marketing Improves Brand Loyalty – One of the major strengths of social media marketing is engagement. It is the “social” in social media, where brands can have a great opportunity to interact and engage with targeted audiences. It is from the strong connection developed through engagement where loyal customers and brand ambassadors are born.

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/infographics/top-8-benefits-social-media-marketing-small-business-infographic-01240453