Social Media Marketing

 

Social Media has become the number one place to stay connected to your friends, family, and colleagues. You have the opportunity to engage with your customers in real time.

 

So, what exactly is Social Media?

 

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines Social Media as,

“Forms of electronic communication (such as websites), through which people create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, etc.”

Nobody needs to tell you how big Social Media is and how fast it has grown in recent years.

Take Facebook, for instance.

In 2010, Facebook announced it had 500 million active users.

However, it had almost three billion monthly active users as of the first quarter of 2023.

And that’s just Facebook.

We haven’t taken into account the users on other popular media channels.

According to Statista,

As of October 2023, the number of internet users worldwide was 5.3 billion, which amounted to 65.7% of the global population. Of this total, 4.95 billion, or 61.4% of the world’s population, were social media users.

With such a far-reaching scope, social media platforms have become very valuable tools for business.

And most importantly,

If you’re not speaking directly to your audience by posting on Facebook, trending on Twitter, or sharing pictures on Instagram or Pinterest, you are missing out on a great opportunity to increase the reach of your business. You are behind times. You’ll lose in the long run.

 

Social Media Marketing

 

In Social Media Marketing, we use Social Media Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc. to promote products or services.

This involves creating content tailored to the context of each platform.

You share this content with your networks which may help you increase brand exposure, get more traffic, and even drive leads and sales.

Eventually, it may bring remarkable success to your business.

What are the ways of performing a Social Media Marketing campaign?

You can perform a Social Media Marketing campaign in two ways.

The first is free. This includes activities like posting text or images, videos, blog posts, running contests, etc.

The second is paid advertising. In this marketing campaign, you have to pay to advertise your products or services. For example, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and Twitter-promoted accounts.

You have to create quality content keeping in mind that each platform is different.

For instance, Facebook allows for sharing so many things. Here, you can share updates, images, videos, join events, and many other different activities.

And on Twitter, people share short messages or updates.

LinkedIn is a professional business-related website. Here you can create a professional profile for yourself as well as your business to network with others.

Instagram helps companies to reach their respective audiences through captivating imagery.

Related: Best Social Media Management Tools To Grow Your Business

 

What are the most popular Social Media Platforms for your business?

 

Wikipedia lists over 200 active social networking websites.

All the platforms may not be suitable for your business. You should focus your Social Media Marketing efforts on reaching your potential customers.

The different segments of customers frequent different social networks.

So, it makes no sense to spend time and money to promote your product or service on a network that your target audiences don’t use.

The following list of leading Social Networks shows the number of active users as of October 2023:

	Network Name	Number of Users (in millions)
1.	Facebook	3,030
2.	YouTube	2,491
3.	WhatsApp	2,000
4.	Instagram	2,000
5.	WeChat	1,327
6.	TikTok	1,218
7.	Facebook Messenger	1,036
8.	Telegram	800
9.	Snapchat	750
10.	X (Twitter)	541
11.	Pinterest	465
12.	Reddit	430
13.	LinkedIn	<350
14.	Threads	100

 

 

How to set goals for Social Media Marketing?

 

Every marketing needs goal-setting.

Goal-setting helps you to know how your work is producing results.

Without goals, you’ll not be able to know whether the marketing strategy you are trying out is working or not and what time is the best time for you to post.

Not only for Social Media Marketing goals but for any goal to become a reality, one of the popular and long-lasting techniques is SMART goals.

SMART is the acronym for:

Specific – While setting your goal, you have to be specific. Make it clear, simple, and achievable. Only then will you be able to see what exactly you are going to achieve.

Measurable – You have to ensure that you can measure your success.

Achievable – Is your goal achievable with the available resources? For example, can you get 500 new people to engage on Twitter?

Relevant – The marketing goal should be relevant to your business objectives or vision.

Time-specific – Give your goal a definite time frame. For instance, get 300 new people to engage on Twitter in one month.

So, to ensure that your work is as effective as possible, make a reasonable goal that is measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-specific.

Here is the list of some common Social Media Marketing goals:

• Drive Traffic to your website.
• Improve Brand Awareness.
• Enhance Public Relations.
• Generate Sales and Leads.
• Connect with your Audience.
• Advertise or Sell a product or service.
• Establish an Online Authority.

All the marketing goals on your list will be a reality and will be easier to attain if you have bigger and more engaged audiences on your Social Media Networks.

 

What are the benefits of Social Media Marketing?

 

You have access to huge audiences on Social Media Platforms, with free as well as paid ads.

Nothing is free in this world.

You’ll agree.

If not money then you got to invest time.

Yeah!

You have to invest your time to post your content on Social Media Platforms.

If you strategically create the overall plan keeping in mind your marketing goals, then investing even a little amount of time can work wonders for your business.

There are so many ways Social Media Marketing can help your business grow.

Just take a look at some of the ways it can benefit your business in getting exposure, recognition, and ultimately, conversions and sales.

 

• The cost involved is very low:

It costs you nothing to create accounts and make postings on Social Media Platforms.

There are also Paid Advertising options which are relatively low cost compared to other marketing tactics.

Paid Ads allow you to reach larger audiences within the social media community.

You can significantly increase your conversion rates and get higher Returns on Investment just by spending a small amount of money and time.

 

• Brand Recognition:

Brand Recognition is one of the most important marketing goals of any business.

With Social Media, you have the opportunity to syndicate your content and increase your business’ visibility. It allows you to engage with thousands of people around the globe at any moment.

So, implementing a Social Media Strategy will greatly enhance your Brand Recognition.

All you need to do is create profiles for your business on popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, or Pinterest and begin interacting with others.

Every time someone shares your post, it will help you grow your reach larger and larger.

For instance, if 30 people share your post on Facebook with an average of 500 friends and followers, then 1500 (or even more) people will be able to see your post. The more people who know about your business, the better it is for your business.

Best of all,

If you post your content regularly and interact with your followers constantly, it will create a picture of credibility and help build the reputation of your business.

 

• Brand Loyalty:

Developing a loyal customer base is also one of the main goals of almost all forms of marketing.

And the best part,

Social Media Platforms allow you to build brand loyalty for free.

You just need to engage with consumers regularly, develop a bond with them, and keep them happy.

Listen to your consumers’ opinions which will raise the level of their satisfaction and make them loyal to your brand.

A study by Convert and Convince says that 53% of Americans who follow brands on social are more loyal to those brands.

 

• Increase Website Traffic:

Sharing quality content from your blog or website to social platforms is a great way to drive traffic to your website.

Every new piece of content you post on social media channels allows you to acquire a new set of visitors.

You have to be consistent and also need to follow a set schedule for syndicating quality content on your social media profiles.

Being consistent will help you generate more traffic which means more leads and more conversions.

Why follow a set schedule?

Following a set schedule will give you time to edit your content and you can also ensure that your content was posted at the most effective time. This may help you with your SEO.

 

• Go Viral:

Social Media has the great potential to make your post go viral.

In fact, without Social Media, it would be impossible to make your post go viral.

How does your post go viral on Social Media?

You post quality content on your social profiles. People start liking and sharing your content with their networks and their networks also share it with their respective networks. And this way your content may get thousands of shares and reach even millions of people across the internet.

Your content will get tremendous exposure which will help you in generating more leads and conversions.

 

Conclusion

 

So, do you see any reasons not to implement social media in your marketing strategy?

First of all, it’s cost-effective. You’ve nothing to lose here.

Besides this, if you implement the right social media marketing strategy, your site will have increased traffic, better SEO, high conversion rates, improved brand loyalty, and much more.

What are you waiting for?

If you haven’t created the profiles for business on social platforms, do create them.

And start posting some engaging content consistently. This will help you gain more followers, improve your public image, and you’ll have a strong social media presence.

How has social media marketing helped in the growth of your business? Do let me know in the comments below.