All businesses should have a social media marketing strategy in place. Irrespective of the size and nature of the business, social media presents the single most diverse and influential marketing platform in recent history.
Nevertheless, research would suggest that the vast majority of businesses continue to place minimal emphasis on their social strategies. This, despite the fact that social media marketing has the capacity to deliver a great ROI, but sometimes far less than investments in custom business signs.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
The term ‘social media marketing’ applies to the strategic use of social media to drive traffic, boost sales, and generate positive PR. It’s a process that involves creating and sharing quality content, engaging with your target audience, carefully analysing your performance, and prioritising continuous improvement. In both instances, the objective is to transform any given marketing spend into strong and consistent returns for the business. The success of a social media campaign can be measured against various metrics – subscriber numbers, follower counts, leads generated, conversions completed, and so on, which you can boost when you buy instagram followers for example.
There are dozens of social platforms worldwide, but the biggest and most popular by a considerable margin are Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, and Snapchat.
Why Social Media Marketing?
With such a huge variety of avenues to explore, it’s natural to question the importance of social media marketing. If you’ve limited marketing spend to play with, why invest your time, effort, and money in social media?
The potential benefits of social media marketing are boundless, though centre primarily around the following:
- Your Customers Are On Social Media
Irrespective of what you do, it’s safe to say that your customers are already on social media. Research suggests that by 2021, there will be at least 3.1 billion people on social media worldwide. Of which, the overwhelming majority access their accounts multiple times on a daily basis.
- People Respond Better To Social Messages
Most everyday users don’t see social media as a marketing platform. Hence, they tend to be far more receptive to the messages they receive and come across. In fact, studies have shown that younger adults, in particular, are far more likely to show an interest in brands on social media than those they encounter elsewhere.
- Social Media Can Boost Brand Recognition
Success stories on social media are driven by exposure. Get it right with even a single post, and you could reach hundreds, thousands, or even millions of potential leads in no time at all. One of your customers shares a post with their friends, they do the same, and before you know it, you’re trending at a viral level.
- You Can Target Very Specific Audiences
Not only do all social channels have their own unique audiences, but it’s also possible to target prospects within a social network with pinpoint precision. With Facebook Ads, for example, you can direct your marketing messages at recipients by way of age, location, gender, and so much more besides.
- Marketing Through Social Media Is Cost-Effective
It’s also worth remembering that most everyday social media marketing activities cost nothing. If you’re simply able to invest a few hours each week in your social campaign, you stand to see significant results. Across the board, a good social media marketing strategy has the potential to deliver an outstanding ROI.
- Your Competitors Are On Social Media
It’s not just your customers that are already on social media – your competitors are, too. Hence, if you don’t make every effort necessary to outperform them, you risk fading into the background. Plus, it’s worth remembering that social media can also be the perfect place to keep an eye on your competitors and capitalise on their weaknesses.
How To Improve Your Social Media Marketing Strategy
Realistically, there are only five things you need to do to improve your social media marketing strategy. Whether you choose to go it alone or hire help, these are the five cornerstones of successful SMM that should be prioritised:
- Strategizing
Before taking things a step further, you need to formulate a viable strategy. What are your objectives on social media? Which platforms are most appropriate for your business? What kind of content will you be sharing? How often do you intend to post? How will you measure your performance? Will you need outside support? How much can you afford to spend? All key questions that need to be answered, prior to getting started with your campaign.
- Planning And Publishing
Armed with the above information, you can get started on the planning and publishing process. This basically means doing as much research as necessary to come up with unique, relevant, and engaging posts on a continuous basis. You need to give both current and prospective customers a reason to take you seriously. Not to mention, a reason to keep coming back for more. It’s the quality and relevance of the posts you publish that will make all the difference.
- Audience Engagement
Always remember that the key to success on social media lies in the ‘social’ aspect of the experience. Respond to comments left on your posts, comment on other people’s posts, share interesting content you come across and so on. Lead the conversation, generate interest in what you do, and engage your audience. It’s all about becoming an active and important part of the community, rather than a passive bystander.
- Analyse Your Performance
It’s up to you which analytical tools you use, but you need to analyse and measure your performance continuously. Check whether your campaigns are performing in accordance with the KPIs established at the strategizing stage. If not, perform the necessary tweaks to make it happen.
- Paid Marketing and Advertising
Last but not least, it’s always worth considering paid marketing and advertising. If your marketing budget can stretch to it, paid advertising on platforms like Facebook can generate an impressive ROI. Nevertheless, you may need outside support to create and launch an effective campaign, unless you have an established background in paid social advertising.