There is no denying that social media plays an increasingly important role in different areas, especially business marketing. Suppose you want to promote a product or service or yourself as a brand. In that case, social media gives you a golden opportunity to shine. However, the digital world has become so competitive, making it difficult to stand out from the crowd and grow in popularity.
Do not get disappointed or decide to do away with social media entirely if you see your rivals are killing it. They have surely gone through challenges and taken small steps over and over again to get where they are now. Suppose you commit yourself to do it right from the start. In that case, you can attain most of your social media marketing goals effectively. Stay tuned!
Why should social media marketing be prioritized?
Social media marketing is a type of internet marketing that involves creating and sharing content on social networks to achieve marketing and branding goals. A social media marketing plan does not need monitoring or adjustment during its implementation. It needs a thorough understanding of the business objectives, social media, past and present marketing campaigns, and the commitment level. one of the advantages of social media marketing is better SEO, Increased traffic, higher conversion rates, and improved brand loyalty.
The number one way for companies to succeed with social media marketing is to connect with the intended audience by creating high-quality content. This will create loyal followers and grow the company’s online reputation. High-quality, impactful content is what people are looking for.
An executive summary is an important element of a social media marketing plan because it provides the first impression and highlights the primary benefits of the social media marketing plan.
A company should not select social media platforms until it has identified its target audience and its behaviors.
There are virtually no reasons not to implement social media into your marketing strategy. Develop the campaign is the first step involved in developing and implementing a social media marketing campaign.
Driving traffic is not part of the social media marketing planning cycle. Ensuring the product message is always paramount is not an important aspect of social media marketing. What’s important are:
1. Creating buzz through content to attract attention
2. Finding ways for the fans and users to share a company’s message through various social channels
3. Developing two-way online conversations with users
4. Monitoring and responding
A social media marketing (SMM) strategy should be developed to achieve a company’s overall marketing goals. The most popular uses for social media are brand awareness and building brand preference. Increasing the number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers is not considered a social media marketing goal.
Social media marketing goals must be flexible because new developments sometimes occur while using social media. When developing social media strategies, companies must consider their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT).
Whether you own a small business or a large one, or a personal brand, marketing through social media offers you various benefits that other sources cannot. You should invest in it, especially if you are looking for a cost-effective way to increase your brand awareness.
It would be best if you started boosting your social media presence due to the following reasons:
- Your potential customers are already interacting with brands through social media. So why shouldn’t you be interacting with them?
- Social media influencers can do most of the jobs for you. Seize the opportunity to save more time and money.
- SEO and organic social media marketing work together to rank your website higher in Google.
- Social media can be a leading traffic generator.
- Brand images can be improved or declined on social media sites. You need to be there in either case!
How to build your social media marketing strategy?
To make social media marketing or SMM work, you need to have a well-defined strategy to reach a quality social presence. We already know that social media platforms constantly introduce features and updates to sustain their growth, and this fact holds about your strategy, too. So, don’t be afraid to adjust your plans from time to time to make sure not to fall behind in this competitive digital world.
1.Choose the best social media platform(s)
The type of social network you choose depends on what you will share and who your target audience is. To investigate the environment and demographic data of the platform, you select. An overview of some popular social networking platforms is given below to give you an idea of where to start.
Facebook logo taken from https://www.theverge.com/
You can have a profile, a page, or a group on Facebook. Your profile is your page and not appropriate for business activities, so build a page from your profile and start your self-promotional journey. To increase engagement, you can also create a group in which people can freely share opinions.
To engage users on Facebook, you can publish images, videos, and infographics or go live to share moments with your fans. What is more, humanize your brand by sharing inspirational or entertaining content such as quotes, fun or challenge posts, or quizzes from time to time.
Since it’s hard to achieve a good organic engagement from marketing on Facebook, many businesses turn to Facebook ads to get themselves more noticed. You can analyze your page’s performance.
Some businesses and industries that are proving to be successful on Facebook are listed below:
- Cosmetics and beauty products
- Social media agencies
- Startups
- Restaurants and coffee shops
- Real estate businesses
- Colleges and universities
- Fashion brands
Instagram:
Social media marketing on Instagram
Instagram is a free photo and video sharing application. You can have up to 10 photos per post and short videos of up to 10 minutes. Longer videos should be put in IGTV format. You are free to have appealing captions on each post. People will engage by liking, commenting, messaging, viewing, sharing, or reposting. Putting stories or going live are other features of Instagram, which are very popular now. Many businesses and influencers are taking advantage of them.
Twitter:
Social media marketing on Twitter
The Twitter audience is constantly growing, and many businesses find a large portion of their prospects there. On Twitter, users interact by posting tweets up to 240 characters long and can post images, GIFs, videos, or infographics with tweets. You are also able to use hashtags and retweet whatever catches your eyes and fits your brand. Some other features for your Twitter business page include:
- Live to tweet
- Hosting a Twitter chat
- Creating polls
- Making money with Twitter ads
YouTube:
Social media marketing on YouTube
If you think your business is more video-oriented, YouTube is the perfect choice to start your marketing on. YouTube users interact with comments, likes, subscriptions, and shares. Although not widely known, you can conduct a Livestream if you have a verified account just as Facebook live.
LinkedIn:
Social media marketing on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a platform in which users showcase their professional experiences, skills, or certificates to find new jobs or businesses can announce vacant posts for job-seekers. It is more known for building B2B connections. You can join or create groups to discuss topics you are interested or expert in.
Just like many other social networks, sponsored ads on LinkedIn help increase your visibility. To evaluate engagement on your posts and get more insights on what works for your target audience and what doesn’t, use LinkedIn’s Company Page analytics.
Pinterest:
Social media marketing on Pinterest
On Pinterest, you can post high-quality visuals and make boards on behalf of your brand. Most Pinterest users are females, so it seems it can be a perfect environment for brands associated with fashion, cosmetics, beauty products, and handcrafts. What is more, many artists and photographers are favored to put their works on display in it.
Reddit:
Social media marketing on Reddit
Reddit is somehow different from the above-mentioned social platforms. If you are working as an online marketer in it, keep in mind that you can publish unique and interesting content only. There are communities in Reddit, all of which have their own rules, and so you can set also set them as you wish. However, before creating an engaging community, you need to have a reasonable amount of karma and subscribers and note that funny or problem-solving posts are more popular.
There are many other social platforms available which Googling can find. While you can be active in several social networks, it is recommended to stick to one or two initially and then turn to other best-suited ones. Focus on quality, or you may find yourself be overwhelmed with juggling too many platforms and not getting anywhere.
2. Set achievable goals
It would help if you had certain goals in mind to assess your improvement and measure your success more easily. Don’t forget to put a deadline for each goal.
Determine your metrics and track them using analytic tools. Some of them are as below:
- Social signals including comments, likes, mentions, views, pins, votes
- Follower count
- Engagement rate
- Website clicks, email signups
- Testimonials, social media sentiments
- Return on investment (ROI)
3. Define your target audience
This step is an important one in deciding on a suitable platform, as also mentioned above. Once you know your target market, you can utilize the demographics data for social networks to pick the best ones.
The elements are as the following:
- Gender
- Age range
- Location
- Social status
- Income range
- Education
Social platform use by demographic group taken from https://www.marketingcharts.com/
4. Your bio matters
Your social media bio is the first thing people see when they come to visit your profile. Leverage your bio to display your field of activity and interests in a short descriptive manner. Depending on the type of the platform, you may be limited in terms of the number of characters, and you can make use of hashtags or emojis.
An example of an Instagram bio
Use the clickable link(s) in your bio to drive traffic to other social media accounts and gain popularity. Do not worry if you come across limitations on the number of URLs in bio, such as in Instagram. Use iLink to convert multiple links, no matter how many, into one and track the number of hits on each one and all of them as a whole.
5. Create engaging, timely contents
Try to make a balance between promotional and non-promotional or share-worthy content. Even use more of the latter to guarantee a higher engagement for your brand. People are always eager to read or see posts that add value to them, make them smile or laugh or inspire them. Write from your audience’s perspective, and do not be afraid to ask for opinions from time to time. Keep in mind if content marketing and social media marketing work together, the results will be mind-blowing.
Other tips to consider in your content marketing strategy are as below:
- Search for keywords that are commonly used in your business field.
- Please do not underestimate the power of hashtags; they will make you more recognizable and let people know what your post is about.
- Variate your content types (images, videos, gifs, webinars, infographics, stories, quotes, quizzes, etc.).
- Host giveaways or contests
- Search for the best time to post depending on the type of the social platform and your demographics.
- Use scheduling tools to post regularly and save time and energy
6. Be consistent across all channels In my opinion, you need to have a very presence across all social media platforms as far as possible. Do not confuse your fans by having different profile images and themes in different places; it will drive them away. Maintain your brand’s design and style elements such as profile photo, color themes, writing style, tone of voice, and posting frequency everywhere. This way, your fans will recognize you at a glance.
Stella Maria Baer consistent presence on social media
As shown in the above image, Stella Maria Baer, a painter, and photographer, has successfully chosen her favorite color palette and artistically puts up images with those colors in her Instagram and Twitter profiles. As you see, she has succeeded in creating a compelling personal brand by choosing the design elements that make her stand out. What is more, she is effectively conveying the message and philosophy behind her career.
To conclude
Suppose you want to promote your brand in online environments. In that case, you need to establish your brand identity across social media platforms. By sticking to the strategies mentioned above in your social media marketing plan, you will improve your chances of success by attracting more users to your social profiles and encouraging them to engage with your content.
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