Are you a small business owner looking for a levelled playing ground where you can compete with other small and big brands? Social media may be the key to your success! With over 2 billion active users each month, small businesses like yours can put their name in front of all these social media users.
But then, what is social media marketing, and how is it even done?
What is Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is the practice of using social media to create brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, promote products and services, and engage with your audiences. The leading social media platforms include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.
Core Elements of Social Media Marketing
Here are the 5 pillars of social media marketing that you need to know:
Social media marketing strategy
Your efforts will likely not bear fruit without a proper social media strategy. You need to decide what goals you want to achieve – brand awareness, promotion, advertising, or traffic.
Once you determine your goal, choose a platform that best suits your needs. If you aren’t sure which platform to use, do an analysis of your target audiences and which platforms they use most.
Finally, evaluate which metrics are most important to your business. Your goals will dictate these metrics.
Publish
Publishing is the process you follow to put your content in front of your social media followers. You want to create a consistent publishing schedule and determine what tools you need to help you do it.
Community engagement
Once you publish your content, you must have a community engagement plan. You will need someone within your company or set up an automation tool to answer questions and respond to comments and brand mentions.
Paid posts
Social media platforms allow you to post content for free, but the extent of its reach depends on the number of followers you have and the algorithms. Social media advertising allows businesses to promote their posts through paid posts.
These posts often have better reach, and you can choose from a set of target audiences. Moreover, ads reach more people than you usually would with non-paid posts.
Analyse the metrics
You need to monitor and analyse your social media analytics, considering the engagement, clicks, mentions, and reach. With an understanding of how your social media marketing campaigns are performing, you will know what’s working and what’s not.
Tips to Grow Your Business through Social Media Marketing
Identify a platform that suits your business
With so many social media platforms, you obviously can’t have an active presence on all of them – choose one that suits your business. For instance, Instagram is a great platform for businesses that need to showcase many images, such as those in the jewellery and apparel industries.
Twitter works great for businesses that aim to interact and forge great relationships with target audiences. TikTok is ideal for companies that use a lot of videos for demos, while Facebook works great for businesses looking to reach many people while incorporating both visual and written content.
Analyse your Competitors
You must analyse your competitors’ actions to develop a solid social media marketing strategy. Look at how often they post, what type of visuals they use, and which posts receive a lot of engagement. With this understanding, you can easily create a better plan than your competitors.
Keep track of the Trends
If you want to remain on top of the game, keep track of what’s happening in your industry. The best way to stay informed is by joining relevant groups, subscribing to newsletters, reading news blogs, and observing consumer behaviour over time. Knowing what’s trending will help you develop your content and products better.
Go Live
The live feature available on most social platforms helps businesses put a human face to their brand. Your followers and potential customers want to know that you are real for them to trust you, and live videos can help you do that.
Use live videos to demonstrate how to use a product or show the behind-the-scenes of what goes on within your company. You can also use this feature to show the world the team behind your business. Moreover, going live can help you engage your audiences, especially on days you don’t have any content planned out for the day.
Host Contests and Giveaways
Your customers want something interesting from you, and hosting contests could be a great way to divert from your usual content while giving your followers a challenge to work on. Such contests will not only give you more engagement, but they will also drive traffic to your accounts and website.
Work with Influencers
If you have some budget to pay an influencer, it will give your business more exposure. However, ensure that you work with influencers relevant to your company; otherwise, they may promote your business to people not interested in your products or services. For instance, if your business produces sports shoes, working with a famous athlete makes sense.
Include Compelling Call-to-actions
Social media posts allow you to include a CTA on each post. Small businesses can use this feature to redirect fans to their website or online stores. Ensure that the landing pages you redirect your visitors to are well-optimised and contain all the information they need to convert.
Plan Your Social Media Marketing Strategy Now!
Social media will put your brand in front of so many people using social media daily. You must first identify the best platform to suit your business needs and goals. The most important thing to remember when using social media is consistency. You want your followers to find helpful content consistently to keep returning for more.
Social media management can be time-consuming, and not every business has the time. That’s where Buzzword comes in! We are a leading digital marketing company specialising in social media management services so that you can focus on other essential business functions.
