In today's digital age, social media has become an integral part of our daily lives. It's no surprise that businesses have taken notice and are now using these platforms to reach their target audience and promote their products or services.
In this article, we will dive into the basics of social media marketing and explore the different strategies and tactics that can help you achieve your marketing goals.
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing (SMM) is an integral part of business life and for having a strong brand you need to be present in social media.
It refers to all the activities and strategies in social networks to generate business opportunities, increasing customer loyalty, etc. Think of any social media, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Tumblr, Instagram or Linkedin are among the most famous websites in the world. There are many options for you to choose from, you only need to define a social media marketing strategy and your target. This includes appropriate platforms and networks, and a content creation plan.
Some benefits of Social Media Marketing for you are the following:
- Direct contact with customers. Social media is great for customer service. You can contact them via messages, rating, or posting. If the company reacts immediately or relatively quickly, there is a proximity to the customer that you can't discard.
- Building interest groups. Groups, blogs and forums are perfect for creating networks of common interests. Customers with real interest have the possibility of exchanging ideas and feedback, so it’s a great tool for marketing.
- Events. Concerts and events are a popular means of reaching customers, especially in the restaurant industry.
- Interactive campaigns. Giveaways, vouchers, game apps, and surveys are ways to attract potential customers.
- Reputation, image and authority. Providing solid information. Image and advertising campaigns are the way to create a good reputation for your brand.
- Viral Marketing. Certain content encourages users to share. This is an ideal content for sharing by many users and influencers.
- SEO. With a presence in social networks, your profiles on Twitter or Facebook are often present in search engines. Also, high engagement rates (likes, comments, shares) are additional positive signals that let search engines know that users find your brand interesting.
- Social Media Monitoring. Businesses have many possibilities in the fields of information, for example, to better understand customers and increase customer loyalty.
- Traffic. Social media is a great way to attract visitors to blogs or websites. A prerequisite for this is, of course, good content.
Tips for social media marketing: How to get loyal customers on Social Networks
The number of potential networks is increasing and you need to find the most relevant platform and fill it with interesting content. However, a multichannel strategy is advisable and you should create content in various networks to expand your reach.
Your target group is probably using two or three social media and their usage patterns are decisive in choosing platforms. Methods such as targeting, segmentation and monitoring allow you to reach these relevant target groups.
The first step is knowing your audience and creating a buyer persona. This is a great tactic to have a representation of your ideal customer. To create this customer prototype and nail down a profile, you need to conduct audience analysis to discover patterns in your customers' demographics and interests.
Use social media analytics tools to extract the data necessary to create these profiles and platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, among others; offer a free report with valuable information about the people who interact with your brand online, even if they are not your customers yet.
Thinking of the buyer persona as a real customer will help you make informed decisions when it comes to crafting the right content for the right consumers. Then, you need to:
- Design an attractive brand to take advantage of social networks and make your message compelling for people. You can tailor your entire corporate design, branding or corporate publications, etc. Additionally, your communications should be authentic and full of interesting content to keep your potential customers engaged.
- Engage users with the right content and establish a culture of feedback. This is the foundation of success in SMM, although experimentation is definitely appropriate to improve and update your strategy.
- Contact influencers who also play an important role in social media marketing. These are well-known people with a broader community who work for companies and recommend their products or reinforce brand awareness online. Influencers use their own social media channels like Instagram, Snapchat, or blogs.
Social media marketing can include or combine other forms of marketing. For example, content marketing or referral marketing. So, SMM is one of the best choices for increasing your brand awareness or getting leads quickly.
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Apps for social media marketing: The main social networks to attract customers
Most of the social networks offer similar benefits. They give you the possibility to interact with your followers as well as being able to advertise within the same platform. With these two main benefits, you will increase the recognition of your brand and promote your products and services to millions of people around the world. Particularly, some of the most famous social networks to attract potential clients are:
Currently, the sales possibilities from Facebook are huge. Facebook Ads has a unique way of advertising. Instead of advertising for certain searches, you advertise for a certain profile with certain tastes and details. So you can make segmented ads according to gender, age, tastes, studies, address, romantic relationship, family, etc. And it will help you reach customers wherever you want.
This is a tool that is widely used by businesses around the world and with it, you can reach a population of over 2 billion people. So, don’t miss the opportunity to advertise your products and services through this platform.
It is the number 1 photo social network and it’s growing exponentially since it was purchased by Facebook. Instagram focuses on interaction with users which, for instance, will help you set up an online store.
Imagine the opportunity of sharing photos of your fans showing your products. This is a great way to build trust in your potential buyers and make them feel like they are part of your brand.
Adding emojis and other fun effects make your company or brand look closer and more accessible. Also, through surveys or questions, you obtain feedback from users, resolve their doubts, know their opinions about your products and anticipate their needs.
But there are many features that give you the opportunity to interact with your followers like stories. What can Instagram Stories make for your digital marketing strategy?
Instagram stories are a direct communication channel with your followers and to drive traffic to our website. With Instagram stories, you can generate the following benefits for your brand:
- Generate engagement with your followers in a fun and informal way. This enables you to humanize your brand and bring it closer to your audience, interacting in a relaxed way.
- Drive traffic to your website by adding clickable links to your Instagram stories.
- With Instagram Shopping you can include products or services in the Stories to directly integrate information about your store and the users can buy them directly from the link.
Therefore, generating engagement on Instagram is one of the best ideas to take your business to the next level. Your brand will benefit a lot from having a presence on Instagram!
It's the social network for business and it will generate visibility for your content, especially, in the B2B sphere. You can also get closer to groups in your industry. Some of the actions that you can take on Linkedin and that will benefit you are:
- Participate in groups of users interested in your sector and be active in them by providing content and commenting.
- Get recommendations from your customers and teammates.
- Exchange information, offer help and resolve doubts.
- Contact relevant people in your field.
This social network is great for your growth strategy and is aimed at linking your services with other businesses, then LinkedIn will facilitate networking with other companies in your sector.
YouTube
Offer video content on your YouTube channel because video is a format that connects users and brands very well. You can take advantage of it and show your products and how they work, give advice and recommendations related to your sector or create tutorials explaining step-by-step processes. Opportunities are almost unlimited with YouTube.
This will not only benefit you in terms of sales, but it will have a direct impact on your brand, placing you as an expert. Videos are a visibility tool and you must take care of these aspects:
- Have your own Youtube channel. YouTube is a platform that ranks very well because it belongs to Google and, in addition, it is the video social network with the most users in the world.
- Thumbnail Image. Include your logo in a thumbnail on the video. Let everyone recognize that such content belongs to your brand at a glance.
- Optimize message and duration. If you also do what you show in an original way, it will be interesting for your audience and will spread the message of your brand.
- Good technical elaboration. Sharp and quality image, good sound without static or white noise and assembly without sudden cuts. Remember you are trying to sell your products and your brand.
- Share your content. If you manage to create an original video that catches the attention of your audience, do not hesitate to share it through your social networks. Embed it on your website, which is accessible to any visitor. The visual is a delightful way to consume content and a good video strategy can be a fundamental pillar in your online marketing strategy.
Collect material and inspire your followers with Pinterest as it allows you to create thematic boards with the different kinds of products that you sell, which will facilitate their search within the network itself.
If you add a button from the Pinterest extension everything you upload to the network goes with a link to the source page. It becomes a quick and easy way to get to your store.
It may seem like a simple detail but one of the keys to this social network is that through an image or pin, it is possible to directly access your website with efficiency in directing consumers and finalizing a purchase process. This is what is giving Pinterest so much value.
Twitter is great for reaching new people who are unfamiliar with your brand and with Twitter you'll engage users in conversations by using hashtags. It is convenient to actively listen to what others say about your products since it’s a network in which opinions (both positive and negative) can reach a greater diffusion. There are tools for this, such as Hootsuite and Tweetdeck.
Specific tools like Twitter Ads will allow you to create advertising campaigns on Twitter based on the actions you want users to take such as start following you, download an application, visit your website, interact with a tweet, etc. In addition, at all times you have interesting reports and analytics about the results of your advertising, visits and the evolution of the campaign.
Slideshare
Create the content on slides and use Slideshare. If you use different formats and channels to offer content, your possibilities for sharing expand and you can reach more people.
Slideshare is a social network to publish slides in PowerPoint and documents in Word or PDF. It is one of the platforms that best positions in Google and with it you will gain visibility.
As Slideshare is an image-based platform, you can edit your visual content and take your message to millions of people on Slideshare. You'll increase your target audience exponentially.
Your options to reach a wider audience through social networks are enormous and you should not waste this opportunity. Open an account on the various social networks and start creating content and interactions which generate loyalty in your target audience. Then build a long-term marketing strategy that allows a sustainable growth of your personal and/or corporate brand.
Wrapping up!
Social media is perfect for promoting your business and getting more customers. You have platforms such as Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram; and they are awesome for offering customer service, creating customized ads or content to add value to your customers.
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