Social media marketing is not just a buzzword anymore, it has become a fundamental. In the last few years, social media has emerged not only as a platform but as a building block of brand promotion. Like the laws of physics rationalize the order of the universe, there are fundamental laws of social media that determine the social behaviour of people on the internet. Let us understand the five fundamental laws of social media marketing.
- Listening - What sets social media apart from any other form of media is its power of listening. It is an interactive tool that enables you to get an insight of your user's mind and shell out what they need from you. Participate in conversations your users are a part of and understand what interests them. This will help you build your content with much more clarity.
- Focus - It is okay if you don't understand everything out there. The key lies not in being the jack of all trades, but in being the master of one. Recognize your area of expertise and hone your skills in that. Besides this, you can always keep learning other skills too. Formulate a strong content marketing strategy around your demographics and act upon it first. You can take the example of Red Bull social media campaign, that launched their Facebook page focusing only on adventure seekers. With interactive games and conversations, they created ripples of recognition.
- Quality - Quality triumphs over quantity in every aspect. Like less but true friends help you grow, less but good social connections can help leverage your brand to a larger platform. It is better to have few thousand connections that talk about you among their peers and promote your content than have hundreds of thousand connections that forget you as soon as they log in.
- Patience - Yes, with social media, things tend to change overnight, but remember, good things come to those who wait. You might not get a jumpstart in the first few months, but with good engagement activities and trending topics, you will definitely earn a great score on popularity front.
- Compounding - You put up good quality content and be assured that it will be shared across social platforms. That is how compounding works, great content beeps brightly on the radar of online influencers which share the same with their followers which in turn increase the chances of being showcased in their search results. The first step to do that is to narrow down the target group you want to influence and then weave magic with your words and creativity. Be sure not to go overboard with brand promotion because then the audience begins to lose interest. Throw in some generic content that goes well with your brand tone and viola! you have people listening you up! Also, if your brand allows, have selective interactions with your followers to assure them that there are real people behind this who listen to them.
Social media is a highly efficient tool, provided you use it judiciously and with patience for your brand promotional strategy. Remember, people don't need a someone who brags about themselves, but someone who shows what they are capable of and are there to listen to them.
