A Guide To Social Media Marketing

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As we continuously scroll through our social media feeds every day (perhaps multiple times a day…) The power of social media marketing is a forever impacting technique that can be the reason why someone chooses you, over your competitors.

As an avid social media user, there is nothing better than finding a company who provides on-brand, creative and aesthetically pleasing content and posts. But, it takes a thorough approach and organisation to help fully achieve this.

Something as simple as using the same filter and theme within every post (especially on Instagram) provides a satisfying and artistic flair that can help keep current followers engaged and also attract new followers, as they see that the company they are viewing is professional and organised when it comes to their overall approach and outcome, and that is only the beginning.

You want to create a social media presence that is going to be successful., so let’s take a look at the importance of social media for your business and an insight into the ever-popular platforms.

Why Is Social Media So Important?

Using social media marketing can be a technique that helps to validate your overall brand and grow your presence, and when done right, using social media can tell consumers that your brand is constantly active and focused on a thriving communication to help consumers.

In fact, 78% of small businesses alone use social media to attract new and potential customers.

I Like The Sound Of This! But What Exactly Is Social Media Marketing?

To explain it simply, social media marketing is the technique of creating content that is used to promote your business, services and products on various social media platforms. However, you need to undertake research into each individual platform, as your posts should be tailored to the style of the specific platform, in order to open up a higher chance of boosting conversions and increasing brand awareness to the right audience members.

Using social media marketing can help you meet your target audience and enable social interaction in regards to your brand. Also, using social media is incredibly beneficial to business growth, but you need to make sure you nail the differing strategies.

So, let’s take a look into a few insights for each platform. 

Now that we can see the individual purposes of these social media platforms, let’s take a look at how they can have a positive impact on your company and overall brand awareness.

They Can Help Build All Important Relationships

The impact that social media has brought to newer generations is incredible. 

In fact, the amount of active social media users has passed the 3.8 billion mark, with an overall increase of 9 percent compared to that of last year. Resulting in 321 million new users since 2019.

So, if you build your social media awareness, connect and engage with your social media followers, then you can gain long-lasting relationships just by interacting with your viewers. This can be done by interacting with them individually on your posts, answering queries and providing them with help and support for when they need it.

Social media is also a fantastic way for people to receive real insight into your company before they consider purchasing from you, and if they see the continued support and interaction, then they know that you are the one to choose over your competitors.

You can also promote product launches, host giveaways and feature a more personal and trusted insight into your business.

Generates Leads

Social media can be an amazing way to boost your sales. You can share your products and reviews which can improve lead generation and boost your conversations.

LinkedIn is the best social media platform for generating leads. You can find out how to increase your leads using LinkedIn by reading our blog all about it.

If you promote your business in a way that entices your target audience, then this can result in people not being able to resist your products or service and leads to those all-important sales.

Additionally, you should consider including links to your websites that feature promotions, implement effective social media marketing campaigns for your separate channels (e.g. product launches) and also look into the breakthrough of product selling on your social profiles.

For example, Facebook Shop Section and Instagram’s Shopping Feature can allow your visitors to click on the featured products and view more information in terms of price, sizing availability etc, they can easily carry through the transaction (without even leaving the platform) and purchase directly from you.

Be The Number 1

For every industry, it takes time, continuous research and adaption for companies to work out what the best techniques and promotions are for their targeted social media audiences, which is why taking notice of your competitor’s achievements are vital, but always create content that is your own!!

Take a look through the kind of products/services they like to promote, campaigns and how much they reply and interact with their audience.

Social media gives you the power to find out what is and isn’t working for your competitors and helps you then decide what needs to be changed and implemented for a better and more enticing approach. It can also help you see what you can do to stand out and keep your competitors on their toes.

Now, you might be wondering…

“Holly, this is great, but where am I supposed to find the time for this?”

Well, the answer is, schedule. Currently, there are 100’s of scheduling tools that can be used for separate social media platforms, making it simple to maintain and manage. For, example if you have a week’s worth of posts, then you can create them, organise them all and have them scheduled, within a matter of hours.

Sprout Social

Sprout Social is a social media management and optimisation platform that caters to any brand and agency, no matter how big or small they may be. This platform is one hub for social media publishing, analytics on your posts and overall engagement rate, across all of your social media platforms.

Hootsuite

Hootsuite also caters for the majority of social media platforms and helps in terms of scheduling, finding, managing and reporting on all of your live content. You also have the opportunity to schedule all of your posts on all of the channels that you use at once, whilst measuring your ROI with thorough content analysis.

You will also find that on certain social media platforms, such as Facebook, will provide their own scheduling tool. So, you can plan, create and schedule all of your posts all on one platform.

Now, It’s Your Turn

Take this opportunity to stand out on your own social media profiles and consider your business goals. You might wander, and sometimes get lost within the process, but that is the excitement social media brings, and when you find the right content for your audience, then you will excel and increase your profits.

So, let’s end this with some questions you need to ask yourself in terms of your business –

What do I really want to achieve from social media?

Who do I target?

Which platforms would my target audience be using?

What message do I want to convey as a company, with the use of social media?

 Take this time to broaden your company’s horizons and open the opportunities you will find using social media within your marketing strategy. You won’t regret it.