Social Media

Nowadays every organisation needs a social media presence. It does not matter if you run a small or international business. Social media is an essential tool that can help your company to grow and develop.

What is social media?

Websites and programs that focus on collaboration, sharing of information, interaction, and community-based feedback are collectively referred to as social media. Social media is used by people to connect and communicate with their friends, family, and other communities. Social media apps are used by businesses to track consumer complaints as well as sell and promote their products. Businesses may track, evaluate, and analyse the attention their firm receives from social media, as well as brand perception and consumer intelligence, using a variety of technologies.

Types of social media

There are four main types of social platforms:

• Social networks. These networks are used by people to connect and exchange knowledge, ideas, and opinions. These networks often have the user as their primary focus. Participants can find other individuals who share their interests or concerns by looking at their user profiles. Two examples of such social media types are LinkedIn and Facebook.
• Media-sharing networks. These networks are content driven. For instance, user-created videos are the main point of engagement on YouTube. Other examples of media-sharing networks are TikTok, Instagram and streaming platforms like Twitch.
• Review board networks. The emphasis on these networks is on a review, often of a good or service.
• Community-based networks. Similar to a blog forum, this kind of social network focuses on in-depth conversation. Users provide debate starters that develop into in-depth comment threads. Communities often develop around particular subjects. An illustration of a community-based network is Reddit.

Social media marketing

Social media marketing is a type of digital marketing that makes use of the strength of well-known social media platforms to meet your branding and marketing objectives. However, it goes beyond simply setting up company accounts and posting whenever you feel like it. A dynamic approach with quantifiable objectives is needed for social media marketing and includes interaction with influencers, followers, and clients; responding to comments, answering questions, and monitoring your company’s reputation; maintaining your profiles; posting content that represents your brand and attracts a targeted audience.

How to create a successful social media marketing strategy?

Such a strategy may vary depending on the size and type of company. But we prepared the common steps that will be useful for each business:

• Know your audience. You need to find out what platforms your targeted audience use, when they do it and how often, if they follow your competitors and what content they prefer.
• Create a brand identity. You need to have a certain message that you want to deliver to your audience. Moreover, it is important to know how you want your followers to feel after seeing your content.
• Build a content strategy. While it seems like social media is only improvisation and does not need any forward preparation, it still needs a content strategy. Without it, you will not be able to produce quality content and attract potential customers.
• Use analytics. Insights will let you know whether your strategy is working, whether you reach your targeted audience, whether the followers are satisfied with your content, when it is the best time to post and so on.

How to create a social media marketing plan?

It is time to implement your social media marketing plan now that you are aware of its fundamental components. It gives structure to your work so you can assess your progress and determine how effectively you are using your resources. Here is how to draft your plan for social media marketing:

• Choose social media platforms. You should choose platforms that are popular in your industry and among your targeted audience. However, it does not mean that you have to choose a dozen of platforms and then struggle with their management. It is always a good idea to start with one and add more as soon as you are confident in your content.
• Set your objectives and goals. At first, such goals will be simple and general. For example, set up the profile, post twice a day for a week, etc. But as soon as you get your first insights these objectives will be more specific e.g., increase the number of followers by y%.
• Analyse and update regularly. Use analytics platform to assess your progress, to see what type of content is the most engaging and so on.

Tips for social media marketing

• Stay consistent. To progress you must stay consistent as people need new content regularly.
• Create diverse content. Make sure you post interesting, useful, and valuable information that your targeted audience would find helpful. Moreover, try to deliver your content in different forms: news, statistics, articles, quick tips, videos, pictures, and tutorials.
• Participate. Posting content does not mean actual participation. Do not just follow the schedule you have in your marketing plan. Social media is a big community that needs constant interaction. You need to answer the comments, respond to likes and shares, run live streams, etc.
• Try paid versions of social media. Of course, social media are completely free. However, modern platforms offer several features that might help your business to grow. And the good news is that you do not need to spend a lot of money on this. Most social media platforms offer targeting features that can be used with any budget. But even with little funds, you will be able to promote your content and reach your potential clients.

Advantages of social media for your business

• Increase brand awareness. With billions of social media users, such platforms are one of the best places to reach new customers.
• Increase website traffic. This is a huge benefit, especially for online businesses. Using social media postings and advertisements to promote your website is essential. Sharing content from your web page or website is a fantastic strategy to acquire followers.
• Cooperate with influencers. Consumer decisions are greatly influenced by reviews and recommendations from friends and family. People talking on social media about your business or product helps you establish trust and increase brand recognition sales.
• Engage with your audience. The opportunity to engage with your audience is yet another fantastic benefit of social media. Social media interaction with your audience is advantageous for your business since it promotes brand loyalty. Anything that resembles commenting, responding, or sharing is engagement. It makes it possible for potential customers to discover your company.
• Better Customer Satisfaction. Social media is a platform for networking and communication. Customers love knowing that they will get a customized answer rather than an automatic message in response to their comments on your pages. Acknowledging every comment demonstrates your awareness of your guests’ requirements and commitment to giving them the greatest experience possible.

Disadvantages of social media for your business

• Negative feedbacks. Because it is difficult to please everyone, there is always a chance of receiving unfavourable consumer feedback. Every poor review on social media is accessible to all of your subscribers, including your existing and future clients. However, there is a method to make this drawback a benefit by using a customized approach, responding to complaints right away, and providing a practical solution to the customer’s issue.
• Ad campaigns may be costly in case of a mistake. As we previously stated, one benefit of social media marketing is the freedom to modify your promotion settings on well-known social media platforms. Additionally, social network advertising is generally relatively affordable. There are significant dangers that might result in the loss of your social media advertising budget if the target audience, the language of the advertising campaign or the region is incorrect.
• Time-consuming. Expecting immediate results from social media is unrealistic. Additionally, it will be challenging to get the first few hundred subscribers since consumers find it more comfortable to subscribe to a profile that is already well-liked. In social networks, having a big number of subscribers acts as a sort of “quality assurance.”