Social media marketing is the creative and strategic use that a brand makes of its digital platforms to increase the engagement of its users and thus create a constantly growing community , with the ultimate goal of increasing sales .
To achieve this objective, it is essential to create valuable content that is distributed through social networks , among which the following stand out for their scope:
- TikTok
- Youtube
Likewise, there are tools that allow you to manage social networks and other communication channels such as blogs and email marketing emails in a more agile, organized and efficient way, for example: Hubspot and Hootsuite.
Social media marketing management has allowed brands to segment their audience, personalize their messages and have closer links with their users, followers and prospects.
Around the world more than 4 thousand 330 million people are users of some social network,
according to the latest Digital 2021 report from Hootsuite and We Are Social
Unlike traditional sales channels, in the digital world users redefine products and services through their opinions, suggestions, comments or reviews. Brands have to take advantage of this, since the better they know their customers and prospects, the better offers they can make.
Pillars of social media marketing
The virtuality of Social Media Marketing allows it to be a dynamic and flexible environment, whose precepts and tools are constantly changing. However, there are five pillars that compose it:
Strategy
- What are the objectives and needs of the business or of the specific part that is sought to communicate in social networks?
- What kind of message do you want to broadcast?
- What type of content is ideal for the message?
- What medium or mediums are ideal for the chosen content?
- How long will the strategy be carried out (including measurement of results)?
A good starting point for any organization is to create one or more buyer personas to focus the strategy and answer the above questions more accurately. These profiles do not have to be definitive, they can be updated with first-hand information left by real customers.
Some businesses use social media to build brand awareness, while others use it to drive traffic to their website. The idea is that social networks bring a company closer to the people who may be its ideal client, from which feelings of loyalty and commitment can be created .
In general, it is better to choose a few platforms where, after several market studies, you know that the target audience is. However, if the strategy is new and you want to create awareness, it is possible to use more platforms to create an omnichannel.
If you want to create a good strategy on social networks, here is an article that will certainly help you in this regard.
plan and publish
Social media marketing starts with small but important actions like having a consistent presence on social networks . By being there, brands have the opportunity to be discovered by their future customers.
Although social media posts seem simple at first, given that we all do it in our daily lives, sharing something of value and that gives good results involves a whole planning process.
Except in specific cases such as spontaneous lives , it is always better to plan content in advance. In addition, to maximize reach, it is key to give the audience something of value, so that they do not feel that they are being interrupted while enjoying their free time.
It is also important to define the days and times of publication , for which tests must be carried out and, later, choose those moments in which there was more engagement . For this, it is very useful to work in sprints (short, agile and intense work cycles that allow you to work with greater freedom and make changes at precise moments).
Currently there are various tools that are used to program and publish automatically on social networks. This can save time and reach the target audience when they are most likely to engage with the content.
Attend to create engagement
The more and better attention is given to the followers of a network, the better their perception of the brand will be, which in turn will attract more people because conversations will be generated about it.
Therefore, mentions and direct messages should always be answered , even if they are not favorable, since they just represent an opportunity to show how you handle unpleasant moments or even crises .
In that sense, when a positive comment arises, the brand has the opportunity to surprise and delight not only the person who made it, but the entire community . And when the comment is negative, there is also a valuable opportunity to offer support, correct or make amends, and learn from it.
To know all the opinions about a brand, it is advisable to use tools that search for and collect all that information: hashtags, messages and direct or indirect mentions (without the account name label).
Analytics
Once the contents are published, it is important to know how much reach they had, if they work or not for the objectives of the brand, if they have good information but the format is not ideal, if they can replicate their formula or if it is necessary to change their approach. .
These and other doubts can be clarified from the observation and evaluation of the metrics in each social network.
And to obtain more detailed analytical information, you can use some analysis tool , among which Google Analytics, SEMrush and Search Console stand out. With these data, the success or not of the social media marketing strategy can be verified, in order to continue, modify or replace it.
Advertising
In addition to posting organic content to engage and delight your audience, it’s important to allocate human and financial resources to social media advertising, as it amplifies the amount of audience you can reach.
In fact, today’s social media marketing advertising platforms are so powerful that they help you accurately target ads and target audiences can be created based on their demographics, interests, tastes, and behaviors.
This technology is also useful for:
- Manage different social media campaigns at the same time
- Make bulk changes
- Automate processes
- Optimize ads
In short , successful social media marketing requires strategic and creative use of a set of tools that must be aligned with a brand’s objectives, in order to show its qualities in a specific market and for a target audience.
