A Guide to Social Media Marketing
Social media has taken the marketing world by storm. In the past decade, we’ve seen a tremendous increase in the usage of social media. Businesses have caught on to that and begun utilizing it within their marketing strategies. Yet despite the massive amount of information on the web, so many businesses struggle to wrap their head around “social media marketing” and how it works. Social media marketing perfectly aligns a brand’s business goals with how younger generations are already behaving.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is when brands and companies utilize social media platforms in order to achieve certain marketing goals like increasing sales, building brand awareness, and connecting with their audience. Social media is a network of over 3.5 billion users that just love to share, seek, and create information. Social media is an ideal place for brands looking to gain insights into their audience’s interests and tastes. The way experts see it, smart companies will continue to invest in social media to achieve sustainable business growth.
Social media marketing also empowers search (SEO, visibility within each social network, recommendations from voice devices, and more).
Why Utilize Social Media In My Marketing Strategy?
Social media is such a powerful tool for connecting with your audience, promoting your product or service, and setting a visual representation of your brand. Think of how many people use at least one form of social media, whether it’s Facebook, Linkedin, or Instagram, they have at least one platform or more. From Millennials on, generations will be raised with the normalized conception that technology is a regular part of our daily lives. It’s how many of us work and make a living. So why not take advantage of social media in your marketing efforts? It is especially beneficial if your target market is a common user of that social media platform. For example, if you are a company that sells products targeted towards gen Z, they should definitely incorporate platforms like Instagram and Tiktok in their strategy.
It is also beneficial for building a relationship with your audience. You can engage by responding to comments, encouraging users to use your branded hashtag in their posts, and starting polls on your story. Your media profiles allow potential consumers to match your brand with a visual representation. They can see your brand persona through photos, videos, and copy. As a brand, you can utilize those things to communicate with your audience. In addition, the advantages of influencing search, user-generated and multi-format content, amplification, data, and audience building also make it one of the highest ROI activities you can choose today.
How To Identify Your Social Strategy
Not every business will have the same social media strategy which will depend on a few factors. You’ll need to research the audience that you currently service (unless you’re a startup), and your target market (the audience you would like to reach) in order to determine their age range. This information will give you insight as to which social media platforms they have and use. Once you’ve identified the platforms that you’re going to focus on, sit down and craft some content to have stored and ready to post, or scheduled out using a social media scheduling platform like Sprout. Need assistance managing your social media platforms or crafting your social media marketing strategy? We can help! Follow our social media pages for marketing tips, advice, and inspiration!
