social marketing, social media marketing (SMM), or some marketing is the use of various social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Social media marketing involves techniques such as search engine optimization, paid advertising using pay per click, via email blasts, or through creating valuable content with influencers in order to drive traffic to a website and increase sales. A business that implements a marketing strategy using social media platforms and websites is said to have a social media presence. Social media presence is the accumulation of a company’s reputation or popularity with its consumers from around the web based upon likes, shares, retweets, comments, and other forms of engagement with the brand.
Companies may also employ social media monitoring tools to track, measure, and analyze what is being said about their brand across the internet.
Ways to make your business stand out on social media
Get on the “Ground Floor”
When you start a new social media campaign, get in early. Many brands are already established with strong followings, so it’s tough to make your mark when everyone is already speaking. But if you show up at the beginning of a new site or platform, there is still time for your message to take off.
Make the Right Connections
Target your audience, identify your current customers and find people who are likely to become interested in what you have to say. By building a community, social media makes it easier for companies to connect with their audiences personally. Make sure that all of your posts are relevant and interesting so that users will want to follow you.
Be Authentic
Your followers are attracted to your brand because of the reasons they love it. They don’t want to see a simulation, so be honest about what makes your company great. This will establish trust with users.
Post Regularly!
Social media is an excellent way to broadcast your brand’s message, but you need to make sure that it’s interesting. People are busy and they won’t want to follow a page if all they get is an empty update once in a while. You can use social media tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule posts ahead of time so that your followers will see your posts even if you’re not online.
Be Consistent!
This is important for developing your brand’s identity. If users see that they get the same kind of posts, they’ll start to recognize your brand and be more likely to follow you on other social media platforms.
Be Creative!
Social media is a great platform to show the world what you can do. Keep things fresh and interesting! When people see that you care about your business as much as they do, it’ll build trust.
Establish Trust
Social media is all about building relationships with your users. If they know that they can rely on you to provide them with relevant and interesting content, they’ll be more likely to become loyal customers.
Be Responsive!
Social media makes it easier for companies to keep in touch with their customers. In addition to sending posts, you can also respond to comments from users on your page as well as other public posts about your business.
Be Vigilant!
Social media is a great platform to listen and learn from customers, but you can’t do that if you’re not paying attention. Make sure that your page is monitored regularly so that users don’t have to worry about getting unwanted messages from your brand.
Include People in Your Content Strategy!
Social media is at its best when it’s interactive. Ask your customers if they have questions or what other things you should post about. Make sure to respond to people who reply to you because it demonstrates that you value their opinions.
Make Personal Connections
People like feeling like they’re part of a community. Try to engage with your followers personally. Maybe create a conversation thread where you address common questions, or establish an online contest that people can participate in for a chance to win prizes.
Listen and Learn
Social media gives you the opportunity to listen to what your customers are saying about your brand. Make sure this is part of your strategy so you can keep improving where necessary.
Steps to take when creating a successful campaign on social media
1. Know Your Objective
Do you want to increase sales? Do you want more people to view your website? Figure out what it is that you are trying to accomplish with your campaign. This makes it much easier when selecting the right kind of social media sites for your campaign because you know which ones will be most useful for your objective.
2. Determine Your Target Market
Social media sites are free, but that doesn’t mean that you should use all of them at once! Pick where you want to focus your efforts and make sure it’s the right kind of site for your audience. If your target market is 18-24 year olds, a site like Facebook may be best because that’s where most people in that age range hang out online.
3. Make A Plan
Who will be the voice of your campaign? Will you have an agency do it or will someone from your company run it? What kind of posts will you make and when will you post them? These are all questions that need to be answered so your posts don’t seem random and unorganized.
4. Get Ready To Be Social
Social media is more than just uploading a few posts and hoping for the best. You have to participate in conversations with people on your site or others who may try to interact with your posts. This way, you can help to fuel the conversation and keep it going on a consistent basis.
5. Track Your Results
You want to be able to see how successful your campaign was so that you know what kind of posts were popular and which ones weren’t as effective. It’s easy to do this with the help of a social media analytics tool. These programs allow you to track metrics such as how many people have viewed your site, commented on posts, or liked what you have published.
