Social Media Marketing allows brands to market their products and services online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
With digital marketing budgets increasing and traditional or offline advertising budgets being cut. Word of mouth marketing has been identified as one of the most valuable forms of marketing. This can easily be achieved through a successful social media marketing campaign. One that consumers trust above all others which is likely to lead to an increase in sales.
According to Nielson:
“92% of consumers believe recommendations from friends and family over all forms of advertising”
One of the most important things to consider when using social media marketing is to connect and engage with your consumers. Many brands get caught up in ‘collecting’ social media fans and not actually engaging with them. Having a Facebook or Instagram community of 500 fans that love your brand and share their experiences is much more effective than 100,000 followers who have just signed up to win a competition or have liked your page through sponsored advertising.
“The main objective for a successful social media strategy is not only to build a presence across key Social Media channels, but also to Engage, Educate and Reward your followers”
Social media marketing has become one of the most powerful and essential marketing tools a brand or business can have. It allows you to reach consumers on a more personal and engaging level through platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and more. With Facebook recently announcing that they had passed 400 million member. The average user spending 55 minutes per day on the site with an average of 130 friends. Facebook is the ideal environment to start growing your brand. However it’s important it is done to the best advantage. A study recently found that there was very little difference between the frequency of standard posts and the engagement of consumers. However by adding different forms of media such as links, photo’s and videos the engagement significantly increased. Therefore it is important to focus on quality of content rather than posting several times a day with little engagement.
Social media channels now enable businesses to select age range, gender, location and interests of consumers they would like to target their content to be seen by. This new digital era not only enables businesses to target potential consumers through channels like Facebook, but by using search history, consumers can be ‘followed’ on the internet so they see adverts from similar brands, services and products.
When creating a social media strategy it’s important to ensure your content reflects the channels you are using. Many brands make the mistake of using a ‘one fit’s all’ strategy. Posting exactly the same content across all channels. Whilst you may experience some success following this strategy, it will not enable you to reach your maximum potential. For example Twitter is used to discover that is happening in the world, here and now. Therefore this channel should be used as more of a news channel, posting live tweets from your events. With hundreds of millions of users worldwide and over 500 million Tweets being sent each day, there is a great opportunity for businesses or brands to reach a global audience of new and existing customers, providing they are sharing the right content.
Instagram is a great platform to tell your brands story. This can be done through creative photography or short engaging video clips. Instagram is also brilliant for word of mouth marketing. Consumers regularly share their own experience of your brand with their followers. For example an image of their favourite beauty product, or the latest gadget. Before you know it you have a genuine review of your product that has been shared and recommended without you having to do anything!
Whilst social media marketing is great for interaction and engagement with your consumers. It’s also important to recognise that it may not always be positive feedback. Therefore it’s essential all your accounts are constantly managed and any feedback is responded to immediately. Whether it be addressing issues of concern or giving recognition and thanks for positive feedback.
Contact us for more information on how we can Amplify your social media marketing campaigns and help you stand out from the crowd.