Social Media Analytics

Tuesday, 28 July 2020

Social Media Marketing Guide – Build Visibility for your Brand

Unless you’ve spent the past five years locked in an underground bunker, it’s hard to deny the importance social media has taken on in marketing. What started out as a nice hobby gradually turned into a real social phenomenon, disrupting user habits … and pushing marketers to adapt their web marketing strategies! However, to launch out blindly in the very particular universe of social media marketing would be a mistake. In order to domesticate these tools, it is essential, above all, to know them – and to understand them.

That’s the whole point of this guide which shares social media marketing tips and strategies, trends in social media marketing management, and tools that can help you plan it better!

Social networks and digital marketing: what are we talking about?

For many professionals, social networks still boil down to technological gadgets used heavily for personal purposes. However, limiting social media to these uses means missing out on a formidable marketing lever with multiple advantages. And this, because from an online social media marketing perspective, these platforms allow:

To hit a large number of new targets;
To develop your market;
Increase your brand identity and visibility;
Build a more qualitative customer relationship, by opening a direct communication channel with users;
To distribute content (as part of a content marketing strategy);
To identify prospects more effectively

Admittedly, for a long time, Facebook and others were only “extras” to integrate into a marketing strategy, while emailing and natural or paid referencing did all the work. But today, these platforms play a predominant role in your presence on the web.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Basically, Social Media Marketing includes all the marketing actions that you implement on social platforms. So, as soon as it involves Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn… then it’s Social Media Marketing management.

In addition, most of the actions carried out are not specific to social networks. You just have to adapt your social media marketing plan to this type of platform.

However, the number of social networks is very large. But most brands primarily use the following networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Medium, Reddit.

Why do you need a social media marketing management plan?

Marketing can come down to analyzing the needs of your target customers and taking specific actions to reach your target. However, as soon as we talk about the Internet, your customers spend their day essentially on:

Google and possibly other search engines,
And on social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest.

To reach the largest number of Internet users possible on Google, you use Natural Search techniques or SEO. As all your customers and prospects spend time on social media, taking action on these platforms is also an opportunity for any business.

Do you doubt it?

In India, the average daily time spent on social networks is 2.4 hours (the world average is 2.5 hr)

Here is the number of active users: source

Facebook: 346 million active users

YouTube: 265 million active users

Instagram: 103.38 million active users

Snapchat: 15.1 million per month

LinkedIn: 62 million active users

Twitter: 13.15 million active users

Pinterest: 15 million active users

These figures are enough to make you dizzy.

Now, not being active on social networks or missing out on social media marketing means losing opportunities!

To summarize, whether it is by hosting your social accounts for free or by spending the budget on paid advertising campaigns on these platforms, social media marketing strategies give you easy access to a large audience.

Of course, it is necessary to devote time to publish, animate, initiate conversations, but with a good social media marketing guide and with a little time, it is easy to find new opportunities.

On the other hand, it is wrong to consider Social Media Marketing as a quick and easy way to gain new customers. Unfortunately, it is not enough to send a few tweets to receive orders. Nonetheless, there is enormous potential in properly harnessing Social Media Marketing Management for business.

Benefits Of Social Media Marketing

There are many benefits to working your presence on social networks. Obviously, it all depends on your initial goal. But here’s an overview of the main benefits of online Social Media Marketing:

Promote your offer on additional channels
Reach new audiences by promoting your content for free
Retain your customers
Provide fast customer service
Show your expertise
Increase your brand value on the Internet
Generate web traffic

Note: All these advantages are a part of social media marketing strategies and strengthen the sustainability of your business. But notice that none of the social media marketing tips directly relates to sales promotion.

Creating a Social Media Marketing Expert Plan

This online social media marketing guide helps you start by carefully defining the goal to be achieved. Then choose the best platforms based on that goal and your personas.

To do this, ask yourself these questions:

Do you sell products or services?
Do you have a B2B or B2C activity?
Who is your target customer?

Let’s take an example.

Imagine that you work in a company that offers its services to other companies (B2B). You decide to drive traffic to your website which is where you present your offer. Your end goal is to generate a steady stream of leads as a part of your social media marketing plan. This gives clear objectives for designing the approach to adopt.

In that case, here are some tips to start with social media marketing management:

Decide to focus on LinkedIn which is the best professional social network
Refine your profiles to highlight how you help your customers
Work your network
Mark the field by regularly republishing your best content published on your website
Create and lead a LinkedIn group
Follow and interact with influencers in your profession
Add a LinkedIn share button on your website
Engage in useful conversations with any contact that appears in your notifications
And why not launch targeted paid campaigns to increase their follow-up and sales

These are just a few social media marketing tips to fuel your strategy.

But it’s easy to imagine that your LinkedIn contacts will get to know you, appreciate you, and visit your website to find out more. It is the best way today to find customers at least for a B2B activity.

Social Media Marketing Guide: 8 Social Media Marketing Tips

Here are some general tips for your Social Media to consider:

1. Diagnose your social presence

First, analyze your current efforts in social media advertising and marketing:

What networks are you active on? Are they well suited to your target?
Do your contacts match your personas?
Which networks are you most successful on?
What types of posts have and have not worked in the past?
Is there irrelevant or outdated content to clean up?

Appoint one or more managers for the management of your social media marketing tools and resources.

Our advice, as one of the leading digital marketing agencies in Ahmedabad – you must also participate.

2. Define your communication style

Again, the style of communication on social networks depends on:

Your offer and your business
Your overall communication style
And of course, your audience

For example, a little sarcastic comment can go very well on Twitter. On the other hand, on Linkedin, be more concrete and provide advice.

Certainly, social networks are very well suited to have offbeat communication. But often it’s not worth it. It can even be dangerous. A joke that goes wrong or a misunderstood opinion can take a bad direction for your brand.

Make sure the person handling your social media marketing is aware of the importance of your reputation. If necessary, write a charter of good conduct with a list of prohibited subjects. But also leave room for creativity.

Finally, don’t spam your contacts by aggressively promoting your products and/or services. No one goes to social media to make a purchase. For a successful social media marketing campaign, paid or organic, don’t try to sell at all costs. Rather, try to get in touch, to start conversations. You can post promotional content every now and then, but sparingly.

The classic ratio for a good social media marketing strategy is 8 informative messages for 2 promotional.

3. Understand each of the selected social platforms

I’m not going to go through all social networks one by one. Obviously, the type of content present is different.

For posting videos, use YouTube
On the other hand, for infographics, choose Pinterest
You participated in a conference, share your presentation game on Slideshare.

In addition, the present and active populations are not the same either.

4. Finally, there are the algorithms!

Just as Google is developing an SEO algorithm to rank these search results, each platform also has its own algorithm to highlight the publications of its members.

An algorithm gives the rules of the game. You do not respect it and you go out. There are several social media marketing tools that help you understand it.

On the other hand, if you master it, you can work miracles. It is, therefore, essential to know the general principles.

Provide the best possible information on your profile and on your company page
Publish regularly
Interact with other members to get engagement, that is to say likes, shares, comments
Then, it is necessary to refine according to the platforms selected

Here are some details to understand the algorithm of Facebook, Instagram or even LinkedIn.

5. Provide customer service

For internet users, social networks provide instant and easy access to your business. No need to call, no need to write a letter, just go to the company’s Facebook page to complain.

And what’s more, it’s public.

So take all positive and negative reviews on social media seriously as you do on Google My Business. Of course, the complaint may be unfounded or unfair, but you should always respond to it professionally. And your response is also public.

In this way, you increase the satisfaction of your customers while showing it to everyone.

6. Build your network

It is certainly the most difficult thing to do if you are not a recognized brand. However, it is one of the rising social media marketing trends. There is not just one way to do this, but rather several tips to do at the same time:

Start by connecting with your customers. And by network effect, connect with the connections of your customers who are of interest to you. And so on…

Take your time and do it right. Ultimately, you will have a loyal network. Then to gain the necessary commitment, here are some steps:

Create content that your contacts will want to share to reach people beyond your network
Become an information point for your customers
Share content from other members related to your industry

Note: creating content that your contacts will want to share is what makes your social media marketing an expert strategy.

7. Invest in ads

Companies are spending billions around the world reaching audiences via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. Social media advertising is not much different from other types of advertising. You target a certain segment of people to whom you serve ads to them.

The only key difference is to use social data to create personalized audiences to target. In addition, today, platforms are decreasing organic reach to encourage more and more companies to use their paid ads.

Take the time to study each platform in detail. They all operate differently with different costs.

Either way, paid social media marketing is a great way to get to know new people. Do not dismiss them.

8. Plan your posts with a social media management calendar

Schedule your posts with a calendar. Another thing to study is the frequency of your publications. Again, it depends on the platform.

For example, one post per day on Facebook works well, while on Twitter you can reach ten.

For a business, it’s not always easy to produce content on a regular basis. So, don’t feel like you have to post on Twitter all the time. Your followers will quickly get tired of seeing the same press release several times.

On the other hand, always keep an eye on the news of your sector. This will ensure that recent events do not make your posts irrelevant or in bad taste.

Finally, also define the post times for each of the platforms as a part of your social media strategy. It depends on the time of day your personas are connected. The best way is to do tests to understand what is most effective for you and your followers.