Today, social media and business go hand in hand. Given the indispensability, it will not be an exaggeration to say that a business that ignores social media will eventually be out of business.
The underlying reason seems not difficult to guess. It is due to the increasing number of social media users worldwide.
You might know that around 45 percent of the world population that translates to about 3.5 billion people, use social media for an average of 3 hours a day.
With the mass social media usage by people, businesses can leverage the trend to showcase their products and services to a large audience.
What is Social Media Marketing?
When businesses promote their products and services through social media platforms, like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, they carry out social media marketing.
But the marketing is not as simple as it seems to be. Instead, it is a complex task. And there is no one-size-fits-all formula in social media marketing strategies.
The content you post on social media platforms has to be unique and tailored to the tastes and preferences of your target audience. Only then you can increase traffic to your website, boost conversions, and increase your brand awareness.
Social media marketing is not about posting content on social media platforms and letting it do the magic. It is about strategically attracting consumers to your brand.
Social media is the intersection where your brand personally meets your target audience. It is a platform to interact with them and offer them what they need. Like that, the chances of converting them into customers increases.
You also cannot have the luxury of creating content and posting the same content on all social media platforms. Your social media content strategy has to be different for different platforms.
What are Different Social Media Platforms?
Social media platforms can be great tools to flourish businesses. But before we delve into their benefits, let us know the popular platforms that are in existence.
You can regard Facebook as the king of all social media platforms due to the vast user base. It is a popular platform used by marketers and consumers.
Ideally, it is a good platform for you to kickstart your social media marketing campaign.
Key Statistics:
- 89 percent of marketers use it for generating brand awareness among consumers
- 83 percent of users visit Facebook regularly
- 66 percent of Facebook users are followers of at least one brand advertised on the platform
The fundamental model of Instagram is photo sharing and using hashtags for social media marketing. But new features come up now and then. For example, Instagram was the first to introduce the ‘story’ feature, which now finds a place on Whatsapp and Facebook. Instagram has a large young user base, with half of its users less than 34 years and younger.
Key Statistics
- More than 90 percent of its users follow a brand
- 89 percent of marketers say it is the best platform for influencer marketing
- More than 500 million users visit Instagram Stories every day
It is one of the most popular social media platforms. Twitter is the perfect platform for you if your business is new and want your business to get discovered quickly.
Usually, Twitter usage escalates at times of significant events. Users can post and read tweets and also can retweet posts.
Key Statistics
- The likelihood of people viewing ads is 26 percent more on Twitter than on any other social media platform
- 79 percent of user like to discover what is new
LinkedIn is a professional networking site. You can even carry out your social media marketing campaigns on it, which even is better than Facebook for generating leads.
It is an excellent platform for increasing brand awareness and B2B lead generation.
Key Statistics
- It is 227 percent more effective than Facebook in lead generation
- 95 percent of content marketers use LinkedIn to market their B2B services
- 90 million users are influencer marketers
What are the Benefits of Social Media Marketing?
When you market your business offerings through social media platforms, you reach a wider audience. But that is not the only benefit, here are more:
Increase Brand Awareness
After you set up your business, it is time to let people know about it. Social media is a great tool to allow people to know about your arrival to the business community.
You can increase your engagement and boost traffic with likes, comments, shares, tweets, etc. Including links to your website or pages can help people to find you.
Generate More Leads
With social media engagement, you can generate more leads and boost conversions. You can regard people who have followed your business account on social media as your target audience.
You need to post engaging and relevant content to draw interest among your followers, and that is one of the good ways of getting a high conversion rate.
It will help if you act a bit smartly by giving them offers, discounts, bonuses, and freebies to entice them to buy your business offerings.
Build Healthy Relationships
Social media is a great tool for businesses to build strong relationships with consumers. When it comes to marketing, it is a more complex affair than advertising. Building relationships with consumers is one aspect of marketing, and social media is a great way to achieve it.
With the online platforms, you can engage with your audience, tell them your story, and make your brand a part of their daily life.
Know Your Competitors’ Strategy
Social media helps you to understand your competitors’ strategies and their business offerings. It is an excellent benefit for you as it will help you know what is working and what is not working. It will help you to tweak your strategy following the needs of the market.
What are the Types of Social Media Marketing?
Here are some types of the social media marketing that you can include in your social media marketing strategy:
Social Media Networking
Social media marketing is more or less like word-of-mouth marketing in traditional advertising.
If one person likes your content, he is most likely to share it with other people. Your content is readable by all people who follow you.
Images and Infographics
People are constantly on the run, and social media is not an exception. It will help if you make an impact within a few seconds of their scroll on the feed. It is where the role of images and infographics come into the picture. Most followers might not have enough time to read lengthy posts.
Video Marketing
If your brand does not have a presence on YouTube, you are misusing out on a large proportion of your audience. You can make videos about your brand and share them on YouTube to reach a wider audience.
Blogging
Blogging is one of the most effective forms of social media marketing. All you need to do is write valuable content in blogs to keep your audience engaged, and they will keep coming back. Blogs are a great way to improve SEO performance.
The Final Words
You cannot escape implementing social media marketing to stay afloat in today’s competitive business world. If you are yet to start, do not delay. Begin your social media marketing campaign to increase engagement and boost conversions.
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