WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?
Across the globe, 3.5 billion people spend their time on social media. That is approximately 45% of the total world’s population. Marketing your business to such a vast population is simply amazing! So is social media marketing. Taking your business/products/brand/services to millions of people around the world through social media platforms either by paid or unpaid ways is social media marketing.
Why is social media marketing important?
- Reach is the only way to get your brand before millions. This is easily done by social media marketing.
- A cost-effective way to promote your business. In the fast-emerging world, getting an opportunity to present yourself before potential customers is a gift.
- Two-way communication is essential for building brand loyalty.
The business deserves marketing and more precisely effective marketing. Social media is the absolute place for promoting your business with less cost and more reach.
Different methods of social media marketing
Similar to different kinds of advertising on the Internet, marketing on social media also has varieties.
Social Review Sites
Reviews form the backbone of your product’s quality assessment. If you sell products or services, make sure your products are reviewed on various social networking sites. This will act as a catalyst to spread the brand name.
Campaigns
You wouldn’t have forgotten Dove’s Self Esteem Campaign or Burger King’s Burn That Ad campaign. These are concentrated efforts to bring the target audience into a particular concern and to influence them to act upon it. This will benefit brand awareness and increased brand loyalty.
Image/Video sharing
One of the common forms of social media marketing involves putting upright posts and the right visuals that appeal to a great audience. The message you are trying to convey shall be in the form of video clips, images, animations, GIFs.
Social paid advertisements
Demographically targeted ads can elevate your brand image. The ads must be interactive, crisp, and with a perfect call-to-action. The consequent landing page should also align with the goals of the ad. You have to pay the platform to use the ad space.
Community Blogging
Blogging has evolved as a powerful weapon to reach your audience. Make your presence in community blogs and share your business experiences or awards you received and the backstories.
This is again an emerging trend. Especially with many YouTubers reaching million+ subscribers, your advertising platforms should also grow. You can employ great bloggers and video makers/celebrities to endorse your product or service.
What are the important social media platforms?
There are few must-have platforms in which your business should hold a permanent presence. However, the content should be updated regularly and there should be incessant activity. Otherwise, your followers might forget about you and think that you are out-dated.
Be it paid ads, be it sponsored posts, be it organic content, the very moment your user comes across your post, our brand name should implant a pleasant feel in them. Here are some of the platforms where you should modify your content according to our respective audiences.
Facebook offers you a variety of ad formats with unique features. Ads you post on FB reach a wider audience. However, the structure and content should be unique, capable enough to attract users. B2B or B2C, Facebook is a simple and powerful tool for your paid ads. You can also come up with Influencers here.
Instagram is famous for ‘Drive Awareness.’ Your ads when modified into amazing visual content, attract millions of users. If your business goal is to create awareness and increase web traffic, Instagram is the right place. Campaigns can be done best with Instagram. IG is offering good opportunities for small scale businesses and skill-based businesses. If you are a newbie, you should definitely give Insta a try.
Twitter also offers you a variety of advertising options but choosing the right one is essential. The platform is famous for ‘Product Launch.’ Similar to Instagram, Twitter allows you to enlighten people with your brand’s mission and vision statement. The world’s best campaigns were successful on this platform. Hashtag speaks about you if you present the accurate picture.
Linked In
Linked In has a narrow audience. All linked in busy bees constantly investigate the motivation, job offers, skills to be improved. Contents relating to skills, leadership, and inspiration are likely to get more clicks and of course, likes too. Linked In is highly professional and you must curate adaptive content to emerge successfully. There is a wide scope for advertising your business with LinkedIn Advertising.
You can speak on Pinterest only using pictures. So this is identified as the best platform to drive immediate sales of your goods/services. Right images drive traffic and boost sales.
What is a marketing funnel?
A user to become a customer has to pass through many stages from ‘awareness’ to ‘purchase.’ These stages are depicted in a marketing funnel. It is more likely a journey guide the customer has with you. After the illustration, you get a chance to evaluate and examine the weaknesses thereby improving in the areas to promote more sales and driving more profits.
Influencer Marketing
How to design a perfect social media marketing funnel?
The social media funnel is the report on what route the user takes to become a customer of your business. This allows you to peep into the customer experience. So it becomes easy for you to understand the audience and provide a customized experience to your users. We’ll tell you how to design your marketing funnel in order to achieve maximum conversion rates.
Finding your brand
The customer is for the first time getting to know of your business/brand. This might occur on social media platforms where you have an account, or you put up a paid ad there. They can also discover you by the campaigns.
- Keep your ads crisp and engaging
- Respond properly to all the audience
- Answer their queries
- Provide genuine informational content.
- Use intriguing banners and videos.
Intention
In this stage, the customer is attracted and wants to know more about you. Target your ads in such a way that it leads to the next stage- Conversion.
- Use promotional codes
- Work on coupons and discounts
- Offer location-based concessions
Conversion
This is the stage where the user turns into a customer. He adds to the sales by purchasing any of your products/services. Here, you can ask them to rate you and comment on your social media posts.
Building loyalty
In this stage, the customer should be satisfied with the product or service. He/she should be in a convinced state to start recommending your brand to others.
- Work on curating the right content
- Advertise the awards and certifications you received
- Spread testimonials
- Share work experiences
Always quantify your business results and work on improving the brand image.
You can easily identify your weaknesses with the help of the marketing funnel and rectify the errors. Jeff Ragovin says “Brands that ignore Social Media will simply die.” So make your presence on various platforms and make your presence felt by a larger audience.