Social media marketing (SMM) is a new phenomenon that has quickly become an essential part of any business strategy. But what exactly is it, and how can your business benefit from it?
Social media marketing is a social strategy that businesses use to increase awareness, drive traffic, and create leads using social networks like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It is vital for a company since it provides an effective way to reach new customers and engage current ones better.
Read on for an in-depth explanation of social media marketing and its key pillars, benefits, and ways to improve online marketing conversion using this strategy.
What Is Social Media Marketing and Why Is It Important?
Social media marketing is gaining social media exposure to boost reach and impact. It involves creating conversations and giving information through blogs, videos, tweets, and posts on social platforms. It is essential for businesses since it enables them to build lasting rapport with customers.
Here are some aspects of SMM that highlight its importance to a business:
Expand brand reach: This type of marketing can help you increase your social media reach and attract new followers.
Develop social connections: SMM helps maintain good relationships with existing customers by engaging them through social interactions like comments, shares, likes, and retweets.
Build rapport: This type of marketing creates a sense of familiarity between the company and its audiences. This builds rapport with social media followers.
Create publicity and buzz: SMM provides a free source of public relations material that could be used in traditional press releases. This includes quotes on social networks from influential people who are following the company.
Improve customer service: Social media marketing enables the company to share information about products and services with followers who are having trouble. This could be a response to complaints or questions.
This YouTube video explains how social media marketing is changing the face of marketing:
Here are 5 examples of companies that have used social media marketing:
The United Nations Foundation used social media to raise awareness about a campaign to unite people to solve common problems like poverty.
UNICEF uses social media to share information about new projects, videos of children affected by disasters, and updates on current relief efforts.
PayPal uses social media to create a positive impact on customer service. Notably, its social media team responds to customers more quickly and efficiently using this type of marketing.
The Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain has used social media to promote its food by sharing videos of recipes, coupons for free tortillas, and interviews with company representatives.
The Pillars of Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing pillars can be summarized into three key areas: social content, social engagement, and social selling.
Social Content
Developing a solid social media content strategy is an essential component of social media marketing. This entails engaging followers with posts, comments, and videos.
Marketers create social content to build rapport with existing followers as well as attract new ones. Therefore, your organization's social marketer should use a social engagement strategy that includes social listening and social publishing.
Social Engagement
Social engagement includes social listening and social publishing. The social marketer listens to what is being said about the company or social media followers and publishes social content that addresses these comments.
Tweeting to the social media community when a customer has asked a question about the company is an example of social engagement. It could be done by responding, retweeting, or liking posts.
Social Selling
The social marketer may also use social selling strategies to encourage followers of the community to buy products from their store. This social media marketing strategy may include emailing followers to promote a product.
5 Best Social Media Marketing Platforms
There are many social media platforms, and they each have their pros and cons. Here is a list of five of the best social media marketing platforms:
Facebook: The social network can be used to create an online community with followers who can socialize and engage with a brand.
YouTube: YouTube is one of the top social media platforms. According to recent statistics, YouTube has a subscriber base of about 1.86 billion people, making it a worthwhile platform for reaching different audiences.
Instagram: Instagram is a social network that has over one billion monthly active users as of mid-2021. Marketers can use Instagram to socialize with followers by posting pictures, videos, and comments.
Twitter: Twitter is a social networking and microblogging platform. Marketers can use social media marketing tactics like promotions and social sharing to engage with followers on this platform.
LinkedIn: LinkedIn has social networking features designed for professional purposes, making it easy for professionals to network online. Marketers can use it to promote their social media content to a professional audience.
How To Create a Social Media Marketing Strategy in 5 Simple Steps
Suppose you want to create an effective social media marketing strategy for your business. In that case, it would help to follow these guidelines:
Define Your Marketing Goals and Objectives
What is the ultimate goal of social media marketing? Is it to increase sales or to generate leads?
The objectives should be more specific and answer what you hope to accomplish. For example, is it to have a two percent conversion rate, or is it to increase the number of followers on social networking platforms by five percent?
Define Your Brand
What does social media marketing mean for your company? What is the brand's image? Is it trendy, luxurious, or friendly? This will help define social media content to be more in alignment with what customers are looking for.
Define Your Goals for Each Social Platform in Mind
Which social platform is your business looking to market on? Is it Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn? What social content will be most engaging, and what social engagement strategy should be used (e.g., listening vs. social selling)?
It is also important to define social media content that will be consistent across all platforms.
Define Your Audience
Who is the social marketing campaign for? It should focus on a specific audience that aligns with your goals and objectives. This will help define what social media content to share and how often it should be posted.
Create Content That Engages and Attracts Followers
This social media content doesn't have to be complicated. Simply post information about your brand, share other relevant and valuable articles, or respond to comments on social platforms.
Pro-Tip: For the best results, it's crucial to know the difference between social selling vs. listening - listen before you sell! Listen for what people want rather than try to force an idea on them. This way, social media social marketing content will be more in tune with what the customer wants and less likely to come off as pushy.
Final Thoughts
Social media is a powerful, easy-to-use tool that you can incorporate into your marketing strategy. You can use it for everything from advertising to customer service. Because of that, this type of marketing is effective and worth your time.
That said, you can't just set up a profile, post some random pictures, and expect to get customers flocking in droves--it's going to take more work than that. However, if you're willing to put in the effort it takes to do social media marketing right, you will be well on your way towards increased sales for your business!