Everybody is on the internet these days, the UN even declared that it should be a basic human right back in 2016. See PDF link here. About 5.27 billion people use the internet on their phones, which equates to about two-thirds of the global population. Out of those 5.27 billion people, about 54% use social media as a means to research various products and services.
This provides businesses with a unique opportunity to leverage social media to gain a competitive advantage and become more profitable.
With social media marketing, companies can build a loyal following and share their message with audiences. Resulting in plenty of sales and ultimately, a successful empire!
Many businesses have been using social media over the years to relentlessly grow their brand and drive tremendous results!
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing is essentially the creation of content to showcase and promote a brand’s products and services on social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. It has become an extremely popular way for businesses to connect with a wide variety of audiences since each platform has millions, even billions of users each day!
Since its inception, social media marketing has become its own field, complete with unique terms that are essential to understanding how it works. Some of the most commonly used terms are listed here below.
Social media marketing glossary
Content
Engagement
Followers
Platform
Share
Reach
Below we give you a sneak peek into how businesses can use social media marketing to elevate their success.
1. Determine your audience
If you don’t already know who your target audience is, social media can help with this. It’s a very useful tool that you can use to find out who your audience is by studying your competitors and the audiences they are trying to reach.
Start by targeting the same audience they do or a similar existing market.
The process of identifying your social media target audience will allow you to understand if your brand’s content speaks to their needs or not. If you don’t know who your target audience is, you won’t know who your customers are and you won’t be able to market your products and services correctly to them.
2. Create a social media strategy
A well thought out social media strategy is key and will aid you in your success. So be sure to set up social media-specific goals for your brand and map them out.
Your goals should be clear and easy to measure.
To begin, develop a content plan. This will help you to get clear on certain must-haves as well as other characteristics you’d like to include in your content. Helping you maintain consistency and develop a unique brand voice and style.
Consider things like whether or not your images will be completely original, what type of format your posts will have and the number of links you’ll use in each post.
It’s also important to define the ‘voice’ of your brand. Is it playful, formal, lighthearted, serious, endearing, professional or authoritative? These details may seem trivial, but they make all the difference when it comes to standing out from the crowd.
Also, don’t forget to follow the 80/20 rule. Which involves enlightening, educating or entertaining your audience with at least 80% of your content. The other 20% can be used to advertise your products and services.
3. Build relationships with customers
Being able to interact directly with your audience is a significant benefit of social media marketing. When you are able to interact directly with your target audience, you can nurture relationships and produce loyal, long term customers over time.
When your audience interacts with your content, your brand can also use the opportunity to respond accordingly.
The quality of your content also plays a role. The more your audience shares and likes your content, the more social media algorithms will reward that content, by showing it to a larger audience. Making it easier for companies to grow their following and build relationships through social media.
4. Create authority
As mentioned, quality over quantity is best and is the key to creating authority. It’s far better to develop high-quality content across a few key social media networks (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & LinkedIn) than it is to create high volume, low-quality content and be on every social platform available.
Your company’s social media posts should offer value and not just focus on selling to audiences. People have little to no desire to follow social media accounts that are just interested in selling to them all the time. Constantly selling is not an effective means of promotion. Being relatable and producing high-quality content is!
5. Reach your objectives
Social media platforms have built-in analytical reporting capabilities that allow companies to review various indicators, critical in reaching their objectives. Some of these important indicators include:
- Followers: The more people get exposed to your brand, the bigger your audience. Which means more paying customers.
- Engagement: The more people ask questions about your product or service, the more opportunity you have to explain and respond to them. Proving to them how great your products and customer service is.
- Subscribers: Use your social media platforms to attract email subscribers to content found outside of your social media pages. For example, a blog on your website. When they sign up, they will become more exposed to your brand, which can lead to more sales.
- Reviews: Most social media platforms allow for reviews. Which is great, because collecting client feedback is an excellent way to reinforce a business’s reputation! The more reviews customers leave, the better chances you have at gaining followers’ trust and attracting new ones.
If you need help with social media marketing for your business, contact us for a tailored solution today!
