What is Social Media Marketing?
Social Media Marketing is a form of online marketing that involves creating and sharing content on social media platforms to achieve marketing and branding goals. Social media marketing includes activities like posting text and image updates, videos, and other content that drives audience engagement, as well as paid social media advertising.
Start with a plan
Brands that want to create their social media marketing campaign must consider their business goals first. Crafting a social media marketing campaign without a proper social media strategy in mind is like wandering around a forest without a map - one might have fun but will eventually get lost.
Here are some questions brands should ask when defining their social media marketing goals:
- Who is your target audience?
- What are you hoping to achieve?
- What message do you want to convey to your target audience?
Top 5 Effective Social Media Marketing Tips
Are you ready to kick off your marketing campaign on social media platforms? Here are a few social media marketing tips to help you get started:
1. Social content planning: Building a social media marketing strategy is crucial for brands that want to stay relevant in the digital age. To keep their content ideas interesting, brands should consider keyword search and competitive research.
2. Great social content: Consistent with other areas of online marketing, content is king when it comes to social media marketing. Brands must make sure to post regularly while offering truly valuable information that their ideal customers will find helpful and interesting. The content that brands share on social platforms can include social media images, videos, infographics, how-to guides, and more.
3. A Consistent Brand Image: Using social media for marketing will enable brands to project their brand image across a variety of different social media networks. While each platform has its own unique environment and voice, a brand's core identity, whether it's friendly, fun, or trustworthy, should remain consistent.
4. Social Media for Content Promotion: Social Media Marketing is the perfect avenue for brands to display their best site and blog content with readers. Once a brand builds a loyal following, they will be able to post all new content while making sure their readers can find the right stuff right away. Moreover, blog content will also help brands acquire new followers.
5. Measuring Success with Analytics: Brands won't be able to determine the reach of their social media marketing without data tracking. Google Analytics can be used as a great social media marketing tool, helping brands measure their most triumphant social media marketing techniques, as well as determine which strategies to not use. Brands should use analytics with each social platform for further insights into their best performing social content.
How to choose the best social media platform for marketing
Below is a brief overview of how to use social media for marketing according to each platform’s unique user base and environment. Different social media marketing sites require different approaches, so brands should develop a unique strategy tailored for each platform.
Facebook: FB's casual environment will require an active social media marketing strategy. FB is a platform where people go to relax and connect with friends, hence brands must remember to keep their tone light and friendly. And since, FB's organic reach can be pretty limited, brands must consider a cost-effective strategy.
Instagram: eCommerce performance is highly impacted by product images, making visually-dominated IG a key driver of brand awareness for online businesses. Regularly sharing product images and lifestyle posts relevant to a brand can go a long way to expanding their audience.
Pinterest: Pinterest has been one of the fastest-growing social media marketing trends. Pinterest allows brands to showcase their product offerings while also developing brand personality with eye-catching, unique pinboards. Pinterest's image-centric algorithm makes it an ideal choice for retail.
Twitter: Twitter is the social media marketing tool that lets brands broadcast updates across the web. Using Twitter as a social media marketing tool revolves around dialogue and communication, so brands must be sure to interact as much as possible to nurture and build their following.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn is one of the more professional social media marketing sites. LinkedIn Groups is a great venue for entering into a professional dialog with people in similar industries and provides a place to share content with like-minded individuals. It’s also proved useful for listing jobs and general employee network.
YouTube: YouTube is the primary place for creating and sharing video content. It can also be an incredibly powerful social media marketing tool. But brands must be careful when aiming for "viral" content as chances of that are pretty slim. Instead, brands will be smart to focus on creating useful, instructive “how-to” videos, as videos rank higher on Google search results.
Benefits of Social Media Marketing
There are a number of reasons why your brand should use social media marketing. Some of the most important benefits are:
- Enhance brand awareness: Social media has been proven to boost brand awareness by driving up engagement. Social engagement includes things like comments, likes, shares, and re-posts. Social media will help brands increase awareness by directing traffic straight to their site.
- Generate leads and boost conversions: Promoting and sharing products on social media is a simple and effective way to improve lead generation, boost conversions, and increase sales. To generate even better leads, brands can create contests, host live videos, and more.
- Foster meaningful relationships: Brands will be able to build lasting relationships with their social media followers by engaging them with interesting content. Brands can also do this by interacting with them on posts, responding to their questions, and providing them with any help they might need.
Planning your content
- Company vision: One of the most important aspects of social media marketing that brands must never forget is staying true to their vision. This will help brands go a long way by encapsulating their core ideals and providing a road map of where it wants to go in the future.
- Meeting consumer expectations: A brand must be careful moderating their social media channels to effectively develop personal connections with their audience. Failing to do so will only hamper the brand. Responding to audience queries will build trust and make a brand more accessible.
Social media users want a genuine response from a real person; tailored to their specific condition or situation. When a brand's audience receives a tailored response, they are assured that the brand cares about them, and a certain trust is built.
- Community building: Putting in extra efforts to build a sense of community among audiences will go a long way in ensuring success for a brand. It is essential for a brand's audience to feel a sense of belonging in order to commit to the brand. Brands become more credible on social media when audiences feel like they can connect with the brand anytime.
Final thoughts
Social media marketing is a powerful way for businesses of all sizes to reach prospects and customers. Great marketing on social media has the power to bring remarkable success to any business, creating devoted brand advocates and even driving leads and sales.
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