When a small business is looking to grow, many turn to digital marketing consultants for help. While these experts can provide insight and facilitate a multi-faceted marketing campaign to spur on growth, they are a big investment. What’s more, deployment of a large-scale campaign can take a long time, meaning a slower ROI. What many small businesses don’t realize is that increasing their online engagement can help grow their company while also shaping their future digital marketing campaign.

Here are 5 ways online engagement can grow your business:

Shows gaps in the market

Moving your business online is a great way to discover gaps in the market where you could grow. Potential customers are more likely to engage with your business through social media posts and blogs and will ask for products and services that you may or may not offer. This is free market research that can help you develop a future growth campaign. Online engagement also provides insight into the locations of prospective customers, giving you data about places you might want to expand your business in the future.

Offers Immediate Feedback About Products and Services

Online engagement is also a great way to get a lot of honest and unfiltered first impressions about your brand, products, and services. While not all of this feedback is informed, it can give you a better understanding of why certain products and services aren’t performing the way you’d hoped. This feedback can also show what items are popular and in demand, which can guide your marketing campaign to boost sales and recover losses.

Builds an International Network

Small business owners know how important networking is for growth. However, it can be difficult to break out of a small network, especially if you are in a niche business or you run a brick and mortar in a small town. Online engagement can connect you with businesses and professionals around the world. This could set you up for growth opportunities that never would’ve presented themselves if you had stayed local.

Moves Your Business Up the Rankings

Where your company places in search engine rankings can determine how much new business you get. If someone is searching for a particular product or service, they are likely to select one frm the first page of search results. You want your business to be on that first page. One way to do that is through online engagement. Social media posts and blog posts will bring more people to your website. The more people visit and engage with your website, the higher your company will rank in the search engine results pages.

Improves the Credibility of Your Business

Nearly all businesses have some sort of online presence these days. Whether it’s an entire ecommerce store with products available in every country or a basic contact page for a freelance local artisan; having an online presence matters.

If you run a small brick and mortar shop, you might think that a website or social media page isn’t necessary, however these things boost the credibility of your business and can be the difference between getting a new customer and having to rely on the loyal customers you already have. Simply creating a social media profile could provide you with as much growth as you can handle, without employing a full-scale digital marketing campaign.