3.48 billion people now use social media. To put that into perspective for you, that’s 45% of the world’s population.
People love tweeting, liking, resharing, and tagging one another in posts. Social media has become one of our society’s main ways of communicating. That goes for B2B and B2C communications as well.
With a social media marketing strategy, your business can benefit from all the likes and retweets, too!
Keep reading to get the social media 101. With this guide, you’ll learn all about social media marketing and how it benefits your business.
“Like” that? Then let’s get started!
What is Social Media Marketing?
You’re probably already familiar with posting pictures to Facebook or sharing an Instagram story. Social media marketing involves a lot more than a quick post and witty caption, though.
Your customers are already on social media, sharing their own content.
For businesses, social media marketing is an opportunity to connect with potential customers. Immersing them in your brand creates a two-way road of communication. Instead of drowning them in content, you can help them learn more about your brand and business.
That’s the real magic behind social media marketing.
Your customers are curious. They want to know who you are, what you do, and why they should choose your company over someone else’s. Social media marketing is a chance for you to answer those questions!
In time, you can develop a community of loyal fans who support your brand.
That brand loyalty can go a long way.
The Benefits of Social Media Marketing
Before you develop a social media strategy, it’s important to know why you’re doing it, first. Here’s social media 101 on how getting social can benefit your business.
1. Brand Awareness
People won’t choose your company if they don’t even know who you are.
Social media marketing gives you the chance to put your brand out there. With every post, you’re giving people the chance to learn more about your brand. If you’re using hashtags correctly, you’re also making it easier for new customers to find you online.
Brand awareness is essential for growing your business.
The more people see you, the more likely they’ll remember who you are.
Once you’re at the top of their mind, people will choose your company over any other.
2. Website Traffic
Once you start generating brand awareness, you can use a strong call-to-action (CTA) to direct people to your website.
CTAs add urgency to your content. “Buy Now on Our Website” gives your followers direction, action, and a timeline. Instead of showing followers photos of your product or service, you’re directing them to your website with a purpose.
You can also post teasers about new blog posts, promotions, and products on social media. Then, you can use a CTA to encourage people to learn more on your website.
3. Leads and Sales
After using a social media post to encourage website traffic, you can use the same CTA to encourage leads and sales.
For example, let’s say you posted a video teaser on social media.
You can encourage people to visit your website to see the full video. If the video dives into the benefits of your product or service, people might want to contact you about it. Then, you can use a CTA on your website to encourage people to fill out a form.
If you have an e-commerce website, you can also encourage direct sales.
Be aware: social media advertising is a little different.
People don’t want to see ad copy on social media, though. They know when they’re being sold to. Instead, social media creates a path towards a sale opportunity.
With social media marketing, you’re teaching people about your product or service. As you immerse them in your brand, you can guide them towards a lead generation opportunity as the natural next step.
4. Engagement
Posting on social media also gives you the chance to generate excitement about your brand.
Ask people questions, get their opinions, and get you followers involved. User-generated content gives you customers a chance to represent your brand, too. Instead of having a passive audience, you have a group of fans who care about your product.
Their engagement will help you recognize new ways to improve your business.
As you generate these two-way conversations with customers, you also show them you care about their experience.
5. Community and Loyalty
If people know you care, they’re more likely to stick around. After all, we want to trust a brand that’s looking out for our wellbeing.
The conversations you create on social media also allow you to create a community. Your loyal fans will stick beside your company through new products, changes, and growth. Retaining customers can help lead your company to that growth.
Platforms
As of 2018, Instagram is the fasted-growing social media platform. In less than one year, the ‘gram jumped from 800 million active users to 1 billion.
Instagram is just one of many social media platforms you can choose from, though. There’s also:
Facebook
Snapchat
LinkedIn
Pinterest
YouTube
Tumblr
The social media platforms you choose to use should depend on your audience.
For example, if you want to target the younger crowd, go with Snapchat. If your audience is full of do-it-yourselfers, try Pinterest instead.
You should create a different social media strategy for each platform. Remember, your audience is a little different for each account. You’re talking to real people, so keep that in mind as you create your content.
Social Media Strategies
As you create your social media strategy, here are a few things to consider:
Develop a goal for each platform
Know your audience (who they are, what they are, what they care about)
Create content that will appeal to your audience
Create a content schedule (and stick to it)
Engage in conversations
Monitor everything and optimize as needed
Don’t forget to have fun with it, too!
Social Media 101: Start Getting Social!
It’s time to get social! With these social media 101 guides, you can see why it’s so important to have a social media presence. Head online and get people buzzing about your business with social media today.
Interesting in developing your social media strategy? Contact us!
