Social media has influenced a lot of industries; hence, social media marketing was born. Perhaps, you are wondering why you should invest in this kind of advertising. It is because virtually, all people have an account on social media sites. There are many social marketing strategies that you can utilize, and some of them will be discussed in this article.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is an approach used by various businesses to connect with their target customers through the Internet. Some famous social networking sites include Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Similar to traditional marketing strategies, the goals are to make the brand known and increase sales.
10 Techniques in Using Social Media to Increase Your Business’ Exposure
1. Sign up to as many social networking sites as possible
Although Facebook is undeniably the most famous social media site, you should not limit your social media marketing on this platform alone. It is indeed “the more, the merrier” when it comes to online marketing method. Thus, you should explore other social media platforms such as Google + as it is gradually gaining popularity in the social media realm.
Social networking sites that center on sharing pictures and videos such as Snapchat and Instagram are also popular online marketing media. If you aim for much exposure for your enterprise, you ought to register to these media platforms.
2. Customize your content depending on the social media site
For social media marketing, the content is not a ‘one size fits all’. Most entrepreneurs and Internet advertisers use the same content for all the social media platforms they have. You should not make this mistake since you will not be able to give your target market a one-of-a-kind experience from the different social sites.
Your marketing strategies will be more effective if you try to connect with your audience through your unique content. Moreover, there are categories for the users from these websites, so it is not a good idea to present the same content. For instance, Instagram users prefer images, so your content should concentrate more on showing high-quality pictures that are relevant to your target audience. Basically, it is all about trying what content works best.
3. Share stories rather than doing sales talk
One of the marketing strategies that you should know is that most people tend to avoid products that are directly sold to them. Since this is one of the goals of your social media marketing, how can you subtlety do this? It is possible through storytelling. Netizens enjoy learning new information or news from stories and shared videos and images. As a result, they will pay attention to your content and become more interested in your brand. Then, they will look forward to what your business has to offer.
4. Make videos and photos to share
Many social media platforms have video uploading feature. When Instagram made this possible, there were a million uploads within the day. Therefore, you have to include this in your marketing strategies because it can help get the attention that you aim for your business. Advertising through videos and pictures make your brand more memorable.
Another social media revolution is micro video. This kind of video is a short video that usually lasts for a few seconds or minutes. It is a great approach since many people have a short attention span. Moreover, sharing it is very convenient. For your images, you can post on Tumblr and Path. Stimulating the brain with visuals is an effective approach to social media marketing.
5. Hold a contest for your members
To be able to build good rapport, you should connect with the users through promotional events and contests. They will feel more excited about your business. You can be as creative as you want with the contest, but make sure to connect your primary account with your other social media accounts when planning the contest. Doing so will guarantee you more exposure.
6. Make your content informative
According to one study, websites that have educational content generate more traffic. As a result, the market becomes bigger. Making content regularly that is relevant and engaging is the best approach for this strategy. You can do this by putting up a weblog and posting updated information. For instance, if you have a skin care product business, you can create posts that are targeted towards people who have difficulty achieving or maintaining fair skin or updates about the latest breakthroughs in skin care.
7. Offer many giveaways
Who does not like getting freebies? This method is no fail even in doing marketing online. Giving a discount to your customers is also effective, but it will be more effective if you give free stuff away from time to time. In addition, you will gain more loyal followers with this.
You do not need to give your products as your freebies. It can be something practical like free access to training or online seminars. The more they receive stuff, the more likely they will become paying customers.
8. Concentrate more on social media applications on mobile
It is a well-known fact that many people own a smartphone. Because of convenience, various social media platforms are accessed on mobile. Therefore, you must put more time and effort into this marketing strategy so that you can connect with a lot more people. According to Facebook, there are almost 1 billion active users on its mobile application. So, don’t miss out on this powerful trend and make sure to integrate this strategy into your advertising campaign.
9. Do not ignore comments that are either positive or negative
Social media has made it possible for people to easily share their opinions. However, as the saying goes, you can’t please everybody. This does not mean that you should ignore the negative feedback or complaints. Most of them expect a response fast. On average, users want an answer within an hour.
It is truly important to have interaction whatever marketing strategy you utilize. You will be able to establish a very good reputation when you know how to handle opinions. For the complaints or bad comments, do not lose your cool and do not delete them because you will lose more potential customers if you do that.
For the users who left positive feedback, be grateful to them for giving time to leave you a comment. These people will favor your business more. As a result, they will keep coming back which makes your brand familiar to them.
10. Stay updated with the latest online trends
Because you are doing online marketing, you should know the latest happenings that concern your target market. You should know what issues they tackle. This will help you determine the right keywords and subjects for the optimization of your SEO. There are many programs that analyze this kind of data. It can also help you build your future social media marketing plans.
Final Thoughts
Social media is one of the best marketing platforms you can use. You do not need to spend as much as compared to other marketing approaches. However, you must know how to use it so that you can acquire much exposure for your brand. You cannot achieve it overnight, but by following the given strategies, you will surely get the online attention you deserve.
Great Article!