05 Mar Could Social Media Marketing Help My Business Get Noticed?

Your customers are using social media — and so should your business! In 2020, there’s no reason for your business to not be taking advantage of modern digital marketing techniques, and social media is possibly the most important of them all. Social media marketing, often abbreviated to SMM, is essential for promoting your brand, engaging with your audience, and attracting new customers. 

So, how exactly can your business use social media marketing to get noticed online? Let’s look deeper into what social media marketing really entails, how it can help your business, and which social media platforms you should use.

Defining Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your target audience online, leading to the growth of your brand, boosted sales, and higher web traffic. In order to achieve these great results, however, you need to be posting high-quality content with your business’ social media accounts. You’ll also need to be interacting with your audience, running ads on your social media platforms, and constantly reviewing your analytics. Some of today’s most popular social media platforms for both consumers and business alike include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

In the first days of social media marketing online, businesses would primarily use platforms to publish their content in order to bring users to their website and increase sales. However, social media marketing for businesses today comes in many different varieties, depending on your marketing goals. For example, you may want to use social media listening strategies to learn what others are saying about your brand or industry. You could also focus on your analytics to track your stats and improve them, or you could target a specific audience with an ad campaign. Together, each of these tactics makes up what is known as social media management.

Effective social media marketing starts with a specific strategy. Outlining your strategy involves determining your goals, choosing your platforms, and shaping your content. Then, you will need to start planning how and when you will publish your social media content in order to generate higher engagement rates. Once your content is out there, see how your audience is reacting and what they are saying about it! This can be done by reading your post comments, seeing where your accounts are being tagged, reading your messages, and checking relevant hashtags. At this stage, you can also start tracking your performance with analytics accessed within the social media platforms of your choice or with the help of a social media analytics tool. Finally, you can directly draw new followers and customers in with the help of targeted social media ad campaigns.

What Can Social Media Marketing Do for Your Business?

So, now that you know a little more about social media marketing and the steps involved, you may be wondering if it’s all worth it. The answer is absolutely! Social media marketing for your business can help you achieve your marketing goals by:

• Boosting your web traffic
• Increasing conversion rates
• Connecting with your audience to form brand loyalty
• Growing your brand awareness to new audiences and customers
• Improving your SEO strategy

No matter how you look at it, social media marketing can only benefit your business, especially when it comes to outperforming your competition.

How to Choose the Best Social Media Platforms for Marketing

While your business should definitely be on social media, it doesn’t need to use every platform out there. Focus instead on where your core audience is and how each platform relates to your brand image. It’s also important to note that each social media platform requires different marketing strategies to see success — it’s not a one-size-fits-all!

Here is an overview to help you choose the best social media platforms for your business:

• Facebook — As the largest social media platform, Facebook Business Page is generally a must-have for all brands. Make the most of relatable, engaging content combined with strong visuals to see the most engagement on Facebook. While Facebook is great for connecting with your existing audience, its limitation is in organic reach, which is where a Facebook ad campaign can help you gain a following.

• Pinterest — Best for retail or niche custom brands, Pinterest is primarily image-based. It’s a great platform to show off your products and develop your brand voice with boards containing content relevant to your brand and audience interests. Pinterest’s main demographic are females, so keep that in mind and compare it to your target demographic to see if Pinterest fits your needs.

• Instagram — While owned by Facebook, Instagram is its own separate, thriving image-based social media platform. If your products or services are highly visual, then Instagram is likely a top choice for your business. Compared to Facebook, Instagram also has a primarily young demographic (but not as young as Snapchat or TikTok). Use Instagram for high-quality photos, videos, and for sharing real-time footage with the “Stories” feature.

• Twitter — Twitter’s focus is primarily text, although video and images are becoming more popular on the platform. With Twitter, you can give your brand a voice by sharing quick messages related to your brand’s products, services, industry and community. Twitter is a highly active platform that requires constant engagement, so you should only commit to it if you plan to keep up the interaction on a frequent basis.

• LinkedIn — More than just a job search website, LinkedIn has become the premiere professional social media platform. With LinkedIn, you can build authority and establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry and your community. Text and visuals are equally important on LinkedIn to keep your audience engaged.

• YouTube — Owned by Google, YouTube is one of the largest social media and search platforms on the Internet. YouTube is all about video, but your videos need to be high quality in order to keep your audience engaged. For a business, you may want to feature your products or post instructional videos, both of which can help you rank higher on Google’s video search results.

• Reddit — Reddit and other discussion-based, forum-like social media platforms can help you build a community around your content and your brand. However, Reddit is likely not the best choice for many businesses. Consider Reddit if your content already fits into a more niche yet active community. You can determine this by searching through “subreddits,” which are community pages dedicated to single topics or themes. It’s also important to post content that will get your audience engaged, not simply read like an advertisement.

• Review Websites — You may not consider Yelp or Foursquare to be social media platforms, but they are the bread-and-butter to helping your business succeed online. Grow your brand’s presence by encouraging customers to leave reviews, responding appropriately to your reviews, posting product and company photos, listing promotions, and sharing accurate contact information.

Social Media Marketing Done Right

With a business to run, you may wonder how you can fit in the time to try out social media marketing. Even if you are able to squeeze in the time or delegate employees to help out, are you confident that your social media presence is as effective as it could be? Do more with the help of our social media marketing experts at Virtual Stacks Systems UK! We have the experience and industry knowledge to help you reach your marketing goals and connect better with your customers. Contact us today to discuss your social media needs and ideas.