Social sites today have changed how society functions; the interaction, the connection, even the behavior of people have changed. With the growing popularity of social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, businesses realized that these websites can influence customer behavior and took the opportunity to reach out to them with their products and services.
Many companies became successful with it as it allowed them to contact millions of people and spread the word about their product in a breeze. However, not all businesses achieve that success. Do you know why?
Social media is continuously growing! New platforms are emerging with different features, and the old ones are getting updated in order to keep their visitors engaged. So, no fixed strategy works. It needs to vary depending on which social networks your target audience uses. Before we discuss that, let’s understand what it is and what it can do for your business.
The process of building a community on social media platforms with the target audience to generate traffic to your business is known as Social Media Marketing (SMM). It is an overall method to communicate with existing consumers and reach out to new ones on the platforms where they socially interact.
Businesses use social media marketing to promote their brand, culture, mission, and even tone. There are a variety of methods on social media networks that allow marketers to advertise their products/services, connect with their users, and interact for the purchase.
With social media playing such a crucial part at the top of the funnel, it is important to generate a fantastic marketing opportunity. And if you’re not making use of this lucrative source, you’re missing out on its great benefits.
Some benefits of Social Media Marketing are-
Having a social media presence for your brand can undoubtedly increase your company’s visibility as it allows you to reach the same level where your customers are, and create a community where your users can interact. Social networking is the most stress-free and profitable digital marketing tool that can quickly generate a large following for your company and boost your brand recognition within a limited period of time.
Communicating with customers on a regular basis and creating a bond with them increases customer retention and loyalty that every business requires. When you have social media presence your customer can easily locate you and connect with you, moreover, you can also engage with your customers and keep them happy increasing brand loyalty.
Social media marketing is perhaps the most cost-effective technique as almost all social networking sites provide free registration and account creation. However, if you decide to employ paid social media advertising, start modestly to have a sense of what to expect. Being cost-effective is critical since it helps you to maximize your return on investment and dedicate more money to other marketing and business needs.
When customers post comments on your page, they like to receive a customized answer rather than a generic statement. A firm that appreciates its clients and takes the time to craft a personalized statement is naturally regarded as positive. With the use of these platforms, you can give your company a voice that will help you build your brand image.
Another advantage of social media is that it aids in the growth of your website’s traffic. If you post your content on social media, users will be more inclined to visit your website. The more high-quality content you share on social media, the more inbound traffic you’ll receive and the higher your conversion chances will be.
Social Media Marketing Process includes simple steps:
It is important to clearly outline what you want to achieve from social media platforms. Whether you want to increase the followers or enhance sales of your company. Determine the purpose of your company’s social media presence in the first place. Without a clear goal in sight, you won’t be able to choose the best course of action.
Prefer using the S.M.A.R.T. goal framework to create your objectives
Specific- For your goal to be more effective, it is important to be specific. The more specific your goals are, the easier it will be to develop a strategy and set standards. If you want to raise brand recognition or gain followers every month, be explicit about how you’ll accomplish it.
Measurable- Specificity is a good start, but quantifying your objectives makes it easier to follow your progress and determine when you’ve arrived at your destination. You may enhance your results by tweaking your method if you are not able to achieve your goal.
Attainable- This is the moment in the process where you should do a serious self-evaluation. Companies might become too ambitious and establish unreasonable, unreachable objectives. Check to see if your aim is feasible given your resources.
Quick Tip – Reflect on whether your goal is something your team can fairly achieve or is certain to fail. Remember that your goal holds the efforts and the confidence of your whole team. If your goal fails, the confidence of your team also fails.
Relevant- Relevant goals are tightly tied with a company’s aims. This is when you must consider the larger picture. Why are you aiming for this particular goal? What influence will it have on your bottom line?
Time-bound- Set your deadlines! You and your team must discuss the time frame and agree on when a target has been met in order to accurately assess success. Discussing when the team should begin and execute can further make your goal more effective and memorable.
Set different goals for each social media platform you are using and keep a track of your progress to check the difference.
A target audience is a set of individuals who are most likely to be interested in your company. They’d have similar demographics and habits.
Remember, assumptions are bad for marketers! So don’t be afraid while researching your target audience. It will allow you to go deeper into the details and produce more relevant posts. Most of the information you need to shape your social media marketing plan is already available. It’s only a matter of knowing where to look.
With the right technologies, marketers can quickly research their target demographic. There’s no need for professional market research or data science expertise.
We already discussed the increasing periphery of social media and distinct features that the platforms own. You can’t just incorporate every social media network in your approach because there are hundreds of them. It’s critical to perform some research before deciding on the best platforms for your marketing plan. Approach the ones that are most relevant for your brand and help you reach a large audience. Â
You also need to understand that a distinct collection of users interact in distinct ways on different platforms. So, you cannot post the same material across all platforms as your audience won’t like it.
Here are some pointers on how to pick the best social media platform:
Facebook- Facebook has almost 2.7 billion users that love to develop relationships and stay in touch with old friends. As a result, Facebook is an excellent medium for increasing client loyalty but for attracting a new audience it has an enormous user base, and you might need to go for ads to make your posts reach a large number of people.
Consider your company goals when you evaluate Facebook as a possible platform.
Learn Facebook Ad Targeting Tips to Drive Conversions for Your Business.
Twitter- Twitter is a wonderful tool for increasing brand recognition. A hashtag is a tool used by Twitter to arrange conversations around a word or phrase. You may discover what others are talking about by Googling hashtags and tailoring your tweets to join in on the topic.
Many companies mix Twitter with offline interaction, such as events, because Twitter is frequently used to offer real-time information to an audience.
LinkedIn- LinkedIn has the distinction of being the most popular platform among citizens between the ages of 30 and 49. LinkedIn is also distinct in that it has a specific emphasis on educated users. LinkedIn is used to look for employment and network professionally. As a result, the platform is beneficial for generating B2B leads, general networking, and personnel recruitment.
LinkedIn serves as a hub for in-depth, industry-specific material that is more niche than what you’ll find on Facebook or Twitter.
Pinterest- Pinterest is a social media platform for “scrapbooking,” or preserving material by “pinning” photographs or videos to a virtual bulletin board. The Pinterest demographic is dominated by women. Recipes, styling suggestions, breathtaking images, and DIY projects are among the most popular pins. You’ll need good images to captivate consumers on Pinterest because it’s a visual site. Strong retail sales have been connected to successful company usage of Pinterest.
Instagram- Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks, especially among millennials and Gen Z. Instagram, like Pinterest, depends on photographs or videos to generate interaction. As a result, this platform is ideal for enterprises that are visual in nature, such as art, cuisine, retail, and beauty. There is less noise than on Facebook because it is a growing platform. As your reach is broader, the platform is excellent for generating leads.
It is no surprise that we are already aware of the importance of content. Content is the core of any social media marketing plan. Based on your goals, audience, and brand identity, you should have a very clear sense of what to post at which stage.
Here are some suggestions and ideas to get you started-
Conduct keyword research- While keyword research and analysis are essential for advertising success, doing keyword research on social media may substantially boost your exposure.
Post in the form of Stories- Stories aren’t going away anytime soon. Story-style content is both participatory and can’t-miss. An appealing story can help your brand’s account “jump the line” and stay in the mind of your followers.
Engage with conversation- Ask questions, give answers! Drop the statements that can initiate conversation. Show more of your human side as people love interacting rather than getting instructions. Â
Quick Tip – You can conduct a competitive analysis to check what your competitors are up to.
It’s difficult to get your work seen on the internet, especially on social media, where nearly half of all information is shared with no one.
Post your content on the right platform at the right time to reach your target audience. Customers are not available on all platforms at all times. You need to check the density of the visitors on the specific platform and post the content during that same time so that it reaches the maximum viewers.
Moreover, follow the 80/20 rule to get the most out of your social media: “spend 20% of your effort developing content and the balance (80%) advertising it.”
Your social media marketing plan is crucial to your overall marketing strategy. It’s difficult to get everything properly the first time.
As you begin to implement your plan and track results, you may discover that some of your approaches aren’t as effective as you had hoped. Keep track of your performance and compare it to entail your top-performing material.
By this point, you should have a clear vision of your social media approach. However, you must be able to change your plan as the year progresses. There’s no doubt that a lot of social media is a learning process. Real-time monitoring can help you to make incremental adjustments to your social media marketing plan.
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