SMM & Related content

WHAT IS SMM ?

Small businesses that are considering online marketing strategies will find this booklet useful. This booklet focuses on using social media marketing techniques to advertise your business. You may want to read this booklet in conjunction with other booklets in this series that profile other online marketing strategies. These booklets are entitled: “Increasing Traffic to Your Website Through Search Engine Optimization” and “Successful Online Display Advertising”.

social media marketing is marketing that concentrate on people and not products. The company can represent the product through a promotional tool if possible all that really matters is customer’s feedback. Marketers are scared about social media marketing because people provide and control the content posted, therefore negative word of mouth can be said about the brand which can spread worldwide in the twinkle of an eye. Social media does not only help companies and brands expand or create awareness it also influences consumers behavior in terms of gathering information, purchasing decision, opinions, attitude and brand evaluation. Marketers need to post topics that will introduce great conversations with consumers using the platform. Social media marketing is the application of marketing knowledge, methods, and dimension of raising social and economic needs Lazer and Kelly’s (1973). It surpasses the traditional means of business, businesses can now be heard and visible and given a platform to communicate with customers like never. Marketing is a management process that identifies, supplies, and presumes customers needs or requirement and want. Social media marketing is a platform that helps regenerate an organization marketing techniques. It helps create a new perception about the company’s product and the vital marketing programs and create a method to become an edge in the o…

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…h organically. This has made companies to turn to Instagram the daughter company as their marketing tool. She also stated that due to Instagram reliability and its ability for clients to engage in advertising of their products it has managed to capture peoples interest more effectively despite the gap Facebook have compared to it. Instagram has brought increase in sales for Facebook since they started paying attention in promoting their product more on Instagram.
Social media is relevant in marketing because it has given it a voice, created a way to communicate with people around the globe, and brought about marketers and consumers relationship.

TYPES OF SMM

1. Facebook Advertising

Facebook is THE universal social media network.

With more than 2 billion monthly users, Facebook hosts over a quarter of the world’s population, providing advertisers with an unparalleled opportunity to reach virtually anyone and everyoWhere Facebook Advertising Shines

When it comes to ecommerce, Facebook excels at lead generation.

If you want email addresses, Facebook is the place to go, with many advertisers reporting costs below $1 per lead.

The most common model used is to run a Facebook ad directly into a high-converting landing page offering some variety of a free lead magnet or bundle product.

Common examples of content for social media advertising campaigns include:

Whitepapers.
Ebooks.
Product coupons.
Sitewide discounts.
Limited-time offers.
Giveaways.
Free shipping.
These leads can then be nurtured with a targeted autoresponder that introduces them to your brand and products.e.

Facebook allows more advanced targeting than any other advertising platform on earth. Advertisers can target by location (within a 5-mile radius), job description, interests, past activity, and many other incredibly valuable criteria.

2. Instagram Advertising

While Facebook’s mind-boggling user numbers make it the undisputed king of social media, the company’s hottest acquisition is beginning to look like the king of social advertising.

Instagram now boasts more than 500 million monthly active users and commands one of the highest audience engagement rates in social media, 58% higher than Facebook and 2000% higher than Twitter
Instagram is, of course, very image and video heavy. As such, sellers of products that are visually appealing or who are able to incorporate visual media into their campaigns tend to perform best on this social media channel.

It is also worth noting that Instagram’s user base skews heavily to the 18-29 range and slightly more toward females and minorities.

If any or all of those characteristics are in alignment with your target audience or buyer persona, than odds are, Instagram will be the best ad choice for your business.

Unlike organic posts, Instagram ads can be made to link directly to a product page or other landing page, allowing for direct engagement with your products.

3. Twitter Advertising

Twitter has revolutionized breaking news and provided unparalleled access for users to connect with both niche and mainstream influencers.

With 328 million monthly active users, it remains one of the most popular social media platforms.

Where Twitter Advertising Shines

Well, it isn’t really Twitter advertising that shines…

Unlike Facebook, Twitter is still a viable network for organic engagement. Brands don’t need to pay in order to reach their followers, which enhances the platform’s value even when running paid ads.

On average, Twitter users shop online 6.9x a month, while non-users shop online just 4.3x a month. And there’s particularly good news for smaller businesses: Twitter reports that 60% of users purchase from an SMB.

Ecommerce stores today use Twitter ads primarily to drive brand awareness and promote specific products for direct conversions. The most common model is Twitter website cards hosting under 100 characters and displaying some variety of rich media.

4. Pinterest Advertising

Pinterest is unique. It’s visual, like Instagram, but unlike Instagram, it is highly targeted toward women with an 81% female user base.

With 175 million monthly users, it’s also an incredibly active platform.

Where Pinterest Advertising Shines

Pinterest is widely regarded as a strong platform for ecommerce sales.

Engagement is high.
Images are often built around custom product creation.
Users intentionally use the platform to find and purchase creative products.
Promoted pins blend into the Pinterest boards and don’t distract or put off would-be Pinterest users like some other platforms do. Pinterest’s demographics suggest products targeted toward millennial women from the U.S. will do very well with their ad platform, and case study data confirms this.

Ecommerce retailers particularly love the value of Pinterest’s highly targeted search engine and use Pinterest ads to promote their brand and products.

This process is accomplished by picking a high performing pin and promoting it based on engagement or visits to your store.

The promoted pins are then placed in more relevant positions across Pinterest’s boards and are highly visible to those browsing and searching for keywords associated with your brand or related items.

5. LinkedIn Advertising

LinkedIn is another unique social platform that revolves primarily around the B2B market.

LinkedIn has an estimated 227 million monthly active users, evenly split between male and female users. 61% of users fall into the 30-64 age range bracket.

Where LinkedIn Advertising Shines

LinkedIn is where you tend to find the highest average disposable income, with 75% of LinkedIn users earning $50,000 per year or more. It’s also where you tend to find the highest quality leads, particularly in certain industries.

Unlike most social platforms, which excel at B2C advertising, LinkedIn is uniquely suited for B2B ads and social media marketing campaigns.

6. Snapchat Advertising

Snapchat is one of the newer platforms to emerge on the scene as a competitive force with 301 million monthly active users.

While it remains to be seen if the company will succumb to Instagram’s social video push, as of now, it’s a viable advertising platform with a highly active user base.

Where Snapchat Advertising Shines

There’s really only one stat you need to know to understand the value of Snapchat. On any given day, Snapchat reaches 41% of all 18-34 year-olds in the United States.

ADVANTAGES OF SMM

Social media marketing requires both strategy and creativity.

While it may seem overwhelming, its importance cannot be overstated. It’s so important that 97% of marketers are using social media and 78% of salespeople outsell their peers by using social media for their business.

Plus, its benefits extend far beyond increasing sales.

However, not all businesses are aware of the benefits of social media marketing. In fact, 50% of small businesses aren’t using social media to promote their business. That’s an alarming number. Even more concerning is that an additional 25% don’t plan to use social media in the future either.

Clearly, there is a disconnect between those who are seeing the benefits of social media and those struggling to get started.

If the latter sounds like you, keep reading. You’re about to learn how social media marketing can help build your business. Some of the benefits you’ll learn about include:

Growing your brand awareness: Social media marketing will make it easy to spread the word about your products and mission.
Increasing your traffic: Using social media and linking it to your website will increase your traffic tremendously.
Promoting your products and services: This is ultimately why you invest in marketing, right?

Using Social Media To Grow Your Brand Awareness

1. Create Brand Recognition

Gaining brand recognition is one of any business’ most important marketing goals. That’s because consumers want to buy brands they recognize. Thankfully, social media allows for easy and effective brand building.

Social media has a benefit over traditional media because it can get your brand in front of people much more quickly and easily. Furthermore, it gets your audience looking at your brand even when they aren’t thinking about your brand or product.

2. Generate A Conversation Around Your Brand

A strong social media marketing strategy will generate conversation about your brand, products, and partners.

Take this example from PlayStation. A simple post saying congratulations to Naughty Dog (the company behind the new video game Uncharted 4) for its success generated feedback on the game.

3. Learn How To Connect With Your Audience Through Social Listening

Social listening is the act of monitoring social conversations around certain topics. It helps you understand what’s important to your audience and identify trends your target audience is following.

You’ll learn about what they’re struggling with, which can help you create content addressing those pain points.

You can also identify the tone and language that your target audience uses.

4. Tell Your Brand’s Story

Using social media is a great way to share your brand’s mission and share stories. Effective stories can have a great impact on your brand’s image. They can be simple or extensive depending on what you think will be most effective.

5. Gather Data From Audience Research To Improve

Audience research is similar to social listening. It searches the keywords your audience will be using, but it’s more focused on your specific product. You can use social media to gather this information.

1. Tip: Both Facebook and Twitter allow you to view the reach and the insights of all your posts.
   To view the insights on your Facebook page, simply go to the page that you are the admin of and they will be next to your cover photo. Twitter will have an option to view the insights of every tweet you post at the bottom of each tweet.

 

TYPES OF SMM CONTENT

1. User Generated Content

UGC, also known as User-Generated Content, is a brilliant way to increase engagement and reach.

It can also be the source of a warm-welcoming feeling for new and existing followers.

Through user-generated content, they’ll see that you care about your audience and engage with them by sharing their created content.

GoPro does this very well.

They’re always sharing content that their followers captured using the GoPro.

2. Podcasts

Podcasts have been around for a very long time, but recently they’ve gained momentum.

Some say they are the new radio (since they are on-demand).

Due to how popular they are, and the benefits of doing them, you should focus on marketing your podcast to get more listeners.

Because some social sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, don’t allow direct audio uploads, you’ll have to either:

Share the link to the podcast
Create a static image, place the podcast audio over the top, and upload as a video.

3. Livestreams

Live streaming on Facebook is a must.

After you’ve finished your livestream, you can choose whether you want the content to be available to others afterwards.

This allows other people to view the livestream if they had missed it.

Believe it or not, you can actually use Facebook Live as a lead generating machine.

Depending on the content you’re livestreaming, you could promote it within the stream.

Just ask viewers to click on a specific link in the comment section and fill out a form to access an asset you’re displaying on-screen or talking about.

That’s just one way to utilize Facebook Live to generate leads.

TYPES OF SMM PLATFORM

Human nature by default has been programmed to be socially active to a certain extent. Some people are more active, while others are less so!

However, people have always been looking for ways to connect and network with each other. And, in this age of digitisation, people have found ways to be socially active on the internet, which is possible with the advent of the numerous social networking platforms and apps.

Whatspp

It arrived on the scene much later than Facebook, but has been able to capture the imagination of millions of people across the world by giving them the ability to communicate and share instantly with individuals and groups. The WhatsApp call feature is just the icing on the cake!

Tencent QQ (more popularly known as QQ) is an instant messaging (chat-based) social media platform. It became international (with more than 80 countries using it), after it was launched in China.

It can be used to stay in touch with friends through texts, video calls and voice chats. It even has a built-in translator to translate your chats.

1. We chat is an all-in-one communications app for messaging and calling (similar to WhatsApp) that enables you to connect with the people of your choice. It was also developed by Tencent in China and can easily work alongside QQ. As per the BI intelligence report, the number of WeChat users are fast catching up with the number of WhatsApp users

Tumblr serves as a social media cum micro blogging platform that can be used to find and follow things that you like. You can also use it to post anything, including multimedia, to a short-form blog. Moreover, it gives you the flexibility to customize almost everything.

 

Owned by the tech giant Alphabet (Google), this interest-based social networking platform enables you to stay in touch with people by sharing messages, photos, videos, useful links to sites and so on. It also extends support for video conferencing through Hangouts and allows businesses to promote their brands and products through Google+ business pages.

Skype, owned by Microsoft, is one of the most popular communication-based social networking platforms. It allows you to connect with people through voice calls, video calls (using a webcam) and text messaging. You can even conduct group conference calls. And, the best part is that Skype-to-Skype calls are free and can be used to communicate with anyone, located in any part of the world, over the internet.