Social media has not only revolutionized how we talk to each other, it has also revolutionized how we interact with brands. With over 3 billion people around the world using social media every month, businesses cannot ignore the power social media has for the success of their companies. Indeed, not having an active social presence is like pulling out a flip phone at a high-tech business meeting and then wondering why you are getting left behind. While there are many reasons why social media is important for business today, three reasons in particular stand out.

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1) Improved Brand Awareness

With just one click, a message can be instantly shown to millions of people. No other marketing medium in history has been able to raise awareness for brands or introduce a product in such an immediate and comprehensive way. And while the term “brand awareness” may sound “old hat,” studies show that it remains a social marketer’s top priority in 2018. Given how competitive the contemporary modern digital landscape has become, the overriding concern to become more than a face in a crowd isn’t much of a surprise.

Businesses can raise awareness of their brand in many ways. One of the most important is to give your social presence a memorable personality. This means you shouldn’t just post a link and a couple of hashtags and then call it day. Don’t play it safe. To stand out, people want to see more than just promos and links, they want personal, people-centric content. The way business do this varies, but some ideas include creating unique visuals, generating compelling content, tagging others to generate conversations, and leveraging trends. An often overlooked strategy is to carefully track your efforts. You can only build a brand when you what works and what does not work for your audience.

2) Keep Tabs on Competition

Social media is also important to businesses because it allows them to keep tabs on both their competitors’ weaknesses and strengths. It’s easy to “spy” on competitors, and there are several ways to do it. One way is to set up real-time news feeds that features a company’s top competitors. A company can track keywords within the streams in order to get a feel for what is going on in the industry.

Because social media allows a company to hear what people are saying about its competitors, a company can get a free analysis of how consumers are responding to a company. They can “overhear” what trends, events, or news items are creating a competitor’s conversations, which competitors posts are people responding to, or who the top influencers in the industry are.

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The upshot is that “the more you know, the more you grow.” Keeping tabs on the competition through social media offers invaluable insights into the ways a company can grow its own brand in a particular field.

3) Create More Meaningful Connections with Your Audience

Gone are the days where business could post impersonal ads and then move on. To be successful in a digital age in which personal identities intertwine with products, marketers need to make meaningful and lasting connections with their audiences. Using social media in this way can help a company turn passive followers into loyal customers and long-term brand advocates.

There are various ways to create meaningful connections through social media, such as creating a Facebook community, maintaining discussions on Facebook or Twitter, including posts that aren’t just business oriented, and giving your customers the inside scoop into the goings on within the company. When people feel included, they are more likely to share a post and generate buzz for a company.