Marketing plays a vital role in the success of any business. It ultimately drives the sales, and thus increases revenue for the company. Every organisation has to select the right marketing strategy to compete in the marketplace and drive the growth of the company. The marketing strategy includes the selection of the right tool for advertising and branding purposes. One technique, known as social media marketing, is nowadays necessary for all the businesses operating in today’s world. Social media is considered to be a powerful tool for marketing in today’s era of technological advancements.
Social media marketing generally means using various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. to promote the various products and services offered by business organisations. The ever-increasing use of social media has led to the emergence of social media marketing as one of the most important techniques.
Advantages of social media marketing
Social media marketing has become dominant because it helps you connect to customers all over the world. The other benefits can be enumerated as under-
- Creation and conversion of leads.
- Create a network and links easily.
- Increase in popularity among the customers.
- Growth in audiences and retaining the existing ones.
- Rise in traffic.
- Interaction with customers is possible and easy.
- You can keep a watch on your competitor’s moves.
- Comparative economic costing.
How to make social media marketing successful?
There are different points and areas which need to be focused on, when one decides to select social media marketing as a tool. To make social media marketing 100% successful, the following aspects need to be reviewed, and necessary changes should be made from time to time.
1. Aligning business goals and objectives
Be clear and well acquainted with the goals and objectives of your business. Once you know them well, you can align your marketing goals with the same. Let us assume, one of the important objectives of your organisation is the growth of sales, then the marketing technique needs to be aligned with the sales growth.
2. Selecting the right tool for marketing
Before you decide to adopt social media marketing as your key strategy, you need to ensure whether it is an appropriate tool, and will prove to be beneficial. The right tool should be chosen wisely after considering every aspect; like the target market, the demography, audiences, etc.. It should also be in sync with your business objectives.
3. Know your audience well
One should conduct proper research about the target market before framing any strategies under social media marketing. If you can understand what your audience needs, then you can rightly lead your advertisements and branding in a similar direction. One should be aware of the needs and wants of the target audience. Classification of the audience may also be necessary at times, such as classification based on age, gender, etc.
4. Selective targeting
Many times, it happens that a particular product is used only by a certain set of people. If you have a unique product or service to offer, which focuses on a particular class or category, then you should similarly adopt the relevant strategy. Selective target marketing helps you know your right audience, and helps in growing and engaging them. The conversion of leads thus becomes easier.
5. Content creation
We all know that content is king. Once you know your audience well, you can create content accordingly. Content is considered to be the strength of your marketing strategy. It should be unique, catchy, and user-focused. It should capture the attention of your target market. Keep in mind the desired results, and create content consistently.
6. Analytics
This is the most important part if you want social media marketing to work effectively. There are various tools available online to manage the data analytics part of social media. Always rely on authentic data, and take steps based on real-time data. The major areas where your analytics should focus on are the metrics, engagement, use of hashtags, followers, views, likes, shares, comments, mention in stories and posts, tag, reposts, clicks, etc. Derive analysis based on the data. Discuss the same with your team and take opinions. Once you have a common conclusion, you can make a blueprint of what steps needed to be undertaken in the near future.
7. Manage your advertisements
You may have multiple ads for your products and services, so, pay attention to every ad, and not only the profitable ones. It is important to manage and eliminate poorly performing, disliked, and controversial ads. It helps to save costs. You can always hire someone to manage and run the advertisement campaigns.
8. Campaign performance
You should undertake various campaigns to capture the attention of your audience. The goal behind the campaign should be familiar and comprehensible. You should measure the results and take corrective actions if necessary. Keep an eye on the engagement rate, the advertisements, traffic, etc. The advertisements should be properly designed, and must prove appealing to the target audience. The content should be curated engagingly. Focus on both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the results.
9. The hashtag game
Hashtags are an important part of social media marketing these days. Try to create a unique and catchy hashtag for your product or brand. It should be easy to remember and captivating. The placement of the hashtag should be rightly done, and try to limit the number of hashtags. It should be relevant to the product or service. Use of hashtags on Twitter is advisable at times.
10. Boost engagement
Try to engage your target customers more. Make them aware of your product and uniqueness first, and then try to boost the engagement rate. You can conduct various activities, contests, giveaways, etc. online with the use of social media platforms. You can announce various offers, news, discounts, etc.. Nowadays, creating a poll or a survey also helps us to know what our audience thinks about our brand or the product.
11. Focus on the existing followers
Along with focusing on the conversion of new leads, the existing followers and customers need to be retained. You can go for celebrity endorsements to retain their trust. Also, you need to monitor the keywords, their actions, and their hashtags as well. Influencer marketing can also be a good option for the same.
12. The timing and idea
The time and idea behind your social media marketing strategy should be apt. This means that if you create an advertisement or post, it should be relevant to the current scenario. For instance, before any festival or occasion, the posts should be designed accordingly. The visuals and captions also play a vital role. The scheduling of posts should be done suitably.
Conclusion
Thus, we can conclude that social media relates to the psychological and social aspects more than technological facets. Consistency and engagement are the principal components of the social media marketing strategy. Make timely changes to grow familiar, and achieve brand recognition. The benefits are beyond increased sales. Stay focused on your goals, and you will achieve them all.
Also read:
1) Which of the Social Media Platforms is Important for Marketing?
2) Social Media Ideas For Business.
3) How to Learn Social Media Marketing? A Complete Guide.
4) What Is Social Media Management? Benefits & more.
FAQs
Q. What are the important parameters of social media marketing?
Ans. The important parameters for social media marketing are social media management, managing the social media channel, content creation, media creation, scheduling, etc.
Q. How to measure social media traffic?
Ans. Various tools are available online to monitor the traffic of your website or social media handle. One of the most commonly used is google analytics to get an in-depth analysis of various statistics.
Q. What are the important parameters for a social media marketing matrix?
Ans. The important parameters for a social media marketing matrix are the views on your post, the number of clicks on your content, likes, engagement rate, customer reaction, comments, etc.
Q. How is the customer engagement rate calculated?
Ans. The customer engagement rate is calculated by dividing the total number of interactions, or engagement by the total number of followers, and then multiplying it by a hundred. This will give the percentage of customers engaged.
Q. Which social media platforms are emerging for young audiences?
Ans. The social media platforms which are emerging for young audiences can be Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc.
Q. Should a company invest in a social media manager?
Ans. Yes, the company should invest in a social media manager. The reason behind it is that the manager has knowledge, expertise, skills, strategic thinking, and data-crunching abilities in this field.
Q. Should you invest in fake followers?
Ans. Technically speaking, fake followers are likely said to be fake or the inactive set of accounts. The engagement rate coming from their end would be lower. We should focus on the real audience as much as possible, and investing in fake followers is not advisable.