You’ve probably heard about some of the negative effects social media can have on our lives. And while they may be true, they by no means have to be the standard or even the norm.The truth is that social media can also be beneficial for society. It can help individuals connect and deepen their relationships. Social media also encourages students to learn and grow. And it can empower businesses to build their audiences and boost their bottom line.
The positive effects of social media are plentiful. According to a Harvard study, routine social media use is positively associated with social wellbeing, self-rated health, and mental health. We just need to be mindful users and keep a healthy perspective about social media's role in our lives. Then we can use it to inspire, educate, show empathy, and become better communicators.
Summary
The Positive Effects of Social Media
- Building Relationships and Staying Connected
- Finding Your Voice
- Showing Empathy and Kindness
- Offering Support
- Better Communication
- Spreading News
- Building a Business
- Establishing Authority
- Driving Traffic
- Enhancing the Customer Experience
- Learning and Education
- Motivating Young People
- Creativity
Social Media is a Powerful Marketing Tool
The Positive Effects of Social Media
For Individuals
The following list is full of benefits anyone can experience. If you’re a regular social media user, you’ve probably encountered some or all of these positive effects at some point.
1. Building Relationships and Staying Connected
Social media can make it easy to find groups of like-minded people or make new friends. Finding a close-knit community can help us feel valued and accepted. Social media is also an easy way to nurture existing relationships with family and friends who have moved away. Send messages, share photos, call, or host video chats to stay in touch.
On social media, you can reach out to new connections and start developing relationships with them as well. Whether they live nearby or on the other side of the world, you can easily communicate and share content. This level of connectedness is a unique advantage of digital media.
2. Finding Your Voice
People of all ages can use social media to develop a platform with a larger audience than they’d have in any other setting. This can help individuals build confidence, gain new communication skills, and quickly spread positive and important messages. Take TikTok, for instance. Teens and young adults have successfully grown enormous platforms where their messages reach thousands or even millions of people regularly.
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3. Showing Empathy and Kindness
People often share things online that are personal or that they’re struggling with. When you relate, you can show empathy by supporting and encouraging others through messages and comments. Show your friends (and even those you’ve never met) that you care about their situation and understand where they’re coming from. Seeing others work through tough times can also be inspiring and help us see things from a new perspective.
4. Offering Support
You can use social media to raise awareness about a cause you believe in or support others who already do. You can also offer and receive support for the work you’re doing – whether it’s starting a new business, sharing photography, or writing poetry. Find others in your niche to connect with and share what you’ve learned.
5. Better Communication
Social media is known for bringing up new topics. While many conversations (or arguments) may seem too controversial and divisive, they can bring up important themes to discuss with people you care about and trust. You can also join groups for specific hobbies or industries to engage in discussions, learn, and grow.
6. Spreading News
News from just about any part of the world can spread like wildfire on social media. While this can be overwhelming at times, it can also keep us in tune with important events. This can be an outstanding benefit if you need to get the word out fast about something. For example, if someone from a small town lost their dog, they could get the message out on social media. Everyone in the area could keep an eye out and report back with information instantly.
For Brands
B2C and B2B businesses should take full advantage of social media marketing. Various platforms – like Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram – are designed to help companies grow quickly. Here are some of the advantages of investing in social media as a business.
7. Building a Business
As a new business that wants to get the word out about your impressive offerings, you can use social media to build an interested audience. Share valuable content and establish a brand voice that resonates with your target consumers. Social media is also an excellent place for more established businesses to grow and sell through marketing and advertising.
8. Establishing Authority
By sharing expert content and building relationships with individuals and other brands on social media, you’ll start building trust and authority. More and more people will spread the word about your great business and content.
9. Driving Traffic to Your Website
If one of your goals for social media is to increase inbound traffic, you can share helpful content and advertise to send people straight to your website. By sharing more valuable content, you can boost traffic, leads, and sales. Through advertising, you can run campaigns that target your current audience or those with aligning goals.
10. Enhancing the Customer Experience
Social media can also help businesses improve the customer journey. Answer questions quickly and reply to comments so your followers feel valued. Demonstrating excellent customer service across your social media channels will help you get people’s attention and build trust. When they need something you offer, they can come straight to you for help (with their credit cards ready).
For Students
Here are some of the top benefits of social media for students of all ages.
11. Learning and Education
By students, we don’t just mean the high schoolers and college kids. Anyone can be a student. There's no limit to our knowledge with all the online courses, content, and complimentary webinars people offer today.Social media is a great place for students to find mentors and training programs to learn new skills and take steps toward future career goals. It’s also a great place for businesses to advertise their services, software, and programs. On YouTube, you can find amazing tutorials to hone your skills for free. The sky’s the limit when it comes to online learning opportunities today.
12. Motivating Young People
There’s no end to the number of successful businesses, entrepreneurs, and influencers on social media. This can be inspiring for everyone, but especially students and young professionals with big dreams and goals. Many influencers will openly share their knowledge to help others grow. Following people that inspire you to hold to your values, dream big, and change the world can be life-changing.
13. Creativity
If you’re in the creative business or want to start sharing your art, social media is one of the best platforms to do it. People will offer honest feedback. Of course, negative feedback may also trickle in, but every social media guru must learn to ignore the haters.
Again, you can connect with like-minded individuals who can encourage and guide you in a specific area. Learn from them and build bonds that can take you farther than you’d go alone. If you’re courageous enough to share your passion with the world, you might just be able to turn it into a full-time business someday.
Social Media is a Powerful Marketing Tool
As you’ve learned throughout this post, social media offers incredible benefits for businesses of all kinds. You can market your products, build an engaged audience, and turn leads into customers. The opportunities are endless. If you’re ready to take full advantage of all social media has to offer, we’d love to hear from you.
Kubbco is a full-service social media agency. That means we take care of strategy, content creation, management, monitoring, reporting, and everything else your business needs to succeed. We love thinking outside the box to create a unique presence for every client we serve. Our well-tuned processes are tried and true. If that sounds good to you, let’s connect!
Contact us to start the discussion.
