Social media marketing is a great way for businesses of any kind or size to flourish and achieve their goals and satisfy their customers. Customers are more likely to confront ads on social media and websites rather than traditional newspaper and TV. If you have not yet set up a social media presence for your company, no matter how big or small it is, you are missing out on potential clients as we speak. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest are great platforms where you can pitch your clients. Great marketing on social media can bring remarkable success to your business, creating devoted brand advocates and even driving leads and sales.
Social media marketing, or in short, SMM, is a category of of internet marketing that pretty much deals with composing and sharing content on social media networks in order to accomplish your marketing and branding goals. Social media marketing comprises procedures like posting text and image updates, videos, and other content that stimulates engagement from the audience’s end. It also includes paid social media advertising.
We’ve created this guide to provide you with an introduction to social media marketing and some starter social media marketing tips and training to improve your business's social presence.
With these tips, you can begin developing your own social media marketing expert plan.
One needs to brood on his business goals before starting a social media campaign. A social media strategy that incorporates specific business goals in mind is an ideal point for any company to start off with. What you seek should be campaign that can fulfill long-term goals.
Here are some questions to ask when defining your social media marketing goals:
Social media marketing can help with a number of goals, such as:
Are you someone’s who’s about to take baby-steps of social media marketing? Here are a few tips to kick off your social media campaigns.
Here's a brief overview about how to use social media for marketing according to each platform’s unique user base and environment. Different social media marketing sites require different approaches, so develop a unique strategy tailored for each platform.
Facebook’s casual, friendly environment requires an active social media marketing strategy. Start by creating a Facebook Business Fan Page. You will want to pay careful attention to layout, as the visual component is a key aspect of the Facebook experience. Facebook is a place people go to relax and chat with friends, so keep your tone light and friendly. And remember, organic reach on Facebook can be extremely limited, so consider a cost-effective Facebook ad strategy, which can have a big impact on your organic Facebook presence as well!
Google+ entered the scene as a Facebook competitor, but it now serves a more niche audience. It won't work for everybody, but some communities are very active on Google+. On Google+ you can upload and share photos, videos, links, and view all your +1s. Also take advantage of Google+ circles, which allow you to segment your followers into smaller groups, enabling you to share information with some followers while barring others. For example, you might try creating a “super-fan” circle, and share special discounts and exclusive offers only with that group.
Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media marketing trends. Pinterest’s image-centered platform is ideal for retail, but anyone can benefit from using Pinterest for social media purposes or sales-driving ads. Pinterest allows businesses to showcase their product offerings while also developing brand personality with eye-catching, unique pinboards. When developing your Pinterest strategy, remember that the social network's primary audience is female. If that's your demographic, you need a presence on Pinterest!
Twitter is the social media marketing tool that lets you broadcast your updates across the web. Follow tweeters in your industry or related fields, and you should gain a steady stream of followers in return. Mix up your official tweets about specials, discounts, and news with fun, brand-building tweets. Be sure to retweet when a customer has something nice to say about you, and don’t forget to answer people’s questions when possible. Using Twitter as a social media marketing tool revolves around dialog and communication, so be sure to interact as much as possible to nurture and build your following.
LinkedIn is one of the more professional social media marketing sites. LinkedIn Groups is a great venue for entering into a professional dialog with people in similar industries and provides a place to share content with like-minded individuals. It's also great for posting jobs and general employee networking. Encourage customers or clients to give your business a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile. Recommendations make your business appear more credible and reliable for new customers. Also browse the Questions section of LinkedIn; providing answers helps you get established as a thought leader and earns trust.
YouTube is the number one place for creating and sharing video content, and it can also be an incredibly powerful social media marketing tool. Many businesses try to create video content with the aim of having their video “go viral,” but in reality those chances are pretty slim. Instead, focus on creating useful, instructive “how-to” videos. These how-to videos also have the added benefit of ranking on the video search results of Google, so don't under-estimate the power of video content!
Social media platforms like Yelp and FourSquare are great for brick and mortar businesses looking to implement marketing on social media. Register on these sites to claim your location spot, and then consider extra incentives such as check-in rewards or special discounts. Remember, these visitors will have their phones in hand, so they will be able to write and post reviews. A lot of good reviews can significantly help sway prospective visitors to come in and build your business!
Reddit, or similar social media platforms such as Stumble Upon or Digg, are ideal for sharing compelling content. With over 2 billion page views a month, Reddit has incredible social media marketing potential, but marketers should be warned that only truly unique, interesting content will be welcomed. Posting on Reddit is playing with fire—submit spammy or overtly sales-focused content and your business could get berated by this extremely tech-savvy community. If you have content you believe the Reddit community (majority is young, geeky, liberal, and internet-obsessed) would enjoy, you could reap tremendous benefits and earn valuable traffic. Using social media in marketing does more than improve site traffic and help businesses reach more customers; it provides a valuable venue for better understanding and learning from your target audiences.
Social media marketing functions on the principles of social media optimization (SMO). It’s a new uprising field in the internet marketing world. To upgrade your business or brand sales, it is important to utilize social media to get in touch with the targeted audience. And successfully conducted social media marketing will not only upgrade your sales but will also aid you to boost your brand’s goodwill.
Social media marketing is a great opportunity for you to promote your business, company brand and its products. You can also tell your customers about your product and services with the help of social networking sites. To get the successful and fruitful results from this powerful channel (SMM), you only need to manage your social media effectively and know how it can work for you.