What is Social Media Marketing ? Complete Starter Guide
What is Social Media Marketing?
First, Social media platforms are websites or apps where people communicate and engage with their audience. Sharing content and engaging with the community are some of the main aspects of social media. As a result, many businesses and entrepreneurs use social media marketing as a way to market and promote their products or services.
Second, Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing. Where brands create and share content for their audience. Done through social platforms to achieve their marketing and sales goals.
Social media platforms have integrated data analytic tools. As a result, brands have more knowledge of their digital marketing efforts.
What activities are involved in social media marketing?
- Social media strategy: designing a social media strategy is the first step. In the social media strategy a brand defines its goals, target audience, the global strategy, publishing calendar, etc.. This becomes the blueprint of the entire marketing effort.
- Creating content: this is where the images, videos, and text are created. Creating content must always reflect branding.
- Publishing content: Having a content calendar will make publishing content an easier task. Also, a content calendar will tell you what days to post, what time, and what content piece.
- Engaging with the audience: social media is about engagement, interacting with one another. Social media allows a business to interact with its customers and hear what they have to say about the brand. Also, an excellent form to receive feedback.
- Customer service: social media plays a role in customer service. You can answer questions, explain matters, and help a customer through the sales funnel.
- Advertising: paid advertising is distributed to the selected audience.
- Benchmarking: learning what your competition is doing is always important, and this can easily be done through social media benchmarking. You can see what they are communicating, advertising, and any promotions they have.
- Measuring statistics: measuring the effectiveness of any effort is vital. Social media allows you to measure with real time data.
- Public relations: social media are becoming official platforms where a brand can maintain a favorable public image. Social media platforms are also used in crisis management.
What are some of the most popular social media platforms?
Facebook:
FB is a web and app social platform. Users on Facebook can share photos, videos, articles, comments, thoughts, and much more. Along with, Facebook Pages are public profiles created for businesses, brands, influencers, etc.
YouTube:
Is a video sharing platform. Users can search, watch, and upload videos. YouTube is not only a social platform, but it is also a search engine. Also, there are 3 billion searches per month.
WhatsApp:
WA started as an alternative SMS service. For business purposes, you can download the WhatsApp Business App.
Instagram:
IG is a photo and video social network. There are more than 1 billion active users and 60% of them say they discover new products on the app. If you are using Instagram for business purposes you should activate your account as a business one. View more about Instagram Business Accounts here.
Tumblr:
Is a self-expression blog / social network platform. Tumblr’s mission is for its users to express themselves and connect with other people.
TikTok:
A social media platform focused on short videos (15 – 60 seconds). 60% of TikTokers are Gen Z, more than half of its users are teens or young adults. Being said, even if your target audience is older they might be using the app.
Twitter:
Is a text-focused platform, where you can share messages of 280 characters. Also, adding photos, GIFs, and videos to your tweets is available.
Reddit:
Is a massive collection of forums where people share news and comment.
LinkedIn:
Is a professional business networking site. Companies and professionals can create profiles and share content.
Snapchat:
Is a photo and video messaging social platform. The photos and videos are only available for a short period. The average age in Snapchat is around 18 – 24 years.
Pinterest:
Is a social network platform and an image search engine. It’s a visual discovery engine. Pinterest main demographics are women between the ages of 25 – 34.
What are the benefits?
- Direct conversation with your audience: likes, comments, and messages are forms where the audience can interact with the brand. The brand receives positive or negative feedback from its audience. This feedback allows the brand to hear what the customers truly want.
- Drive traffic to your website: posting a link to your website will drive traffic to it. Remember it is always necessary to add a call to action.
- Evaluate performance: as mentioned before social media platforms show statistics on the performance of communication efforts. Both organic and paid efforts are measurable.
- It is free: a brand can post organic content (which is free) and gain great results from it alone.
- Cost-effective advertising: if you desire to boost your social media then paying for advertising is the way to go. Also, advertising will give you very beneficial and fast results at affordable prices.
What are the goals my brand can achieve through social media marketing?
- Increase website traffic: website traffic refers to the web users who visit a site.
- Raise brand awareness: this refers to the extent to which customers can recognize a brand.
- Brand loyalty: this refers to the tendency to buy goods from the same brand rather than competing brands.
- Community engagement: this refers to interacting with the audience and receiving feedback from them.
- Strengthen online branding: Building a brand and establishing itself as a distinguished identity through online platforms. Also, it is vital to know your audience when creating a brand.
- Promote sales: Including a call to action in social media will promote sales.
All in all,
Social media networks allow brands to promote their products and services. Implementing social media marketing has many benefits. Like, direct conversations, real-time data, and cost-effective advertising.
Also, social media marketing will enable your business to achieve various goals. Such as increasing website traffic, raising brand awareness, and promoting sales.
Remember, having a personalized social media strategy is vital for the success of your marketing efforts!
I hope this post was useful and gave you more insight on social media marketing.
Feel free to comment down below.
Talk to you soon,
Laura