Social media today is very attractive, pulling crowds of all ages together. It has emerged as one of the most powerful mass media that marketers should use to reach their diverse audiences, increase awareness, and generate a good level of sales with lower price tags.
Just like the solid foundation every construction work is based upon, social media marketing also rests on five key pillars. Let’s look at those vital components.
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing utilizes various channels to promote a brand’s consciousness for a defined target audience. By adopting this approach, companies may help enhance the revenue generated by brand recognition and website traffic.
A good social media strategy encompasses creating content, engaging your followers, and tracking your performance of your campaign. Marketers use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Pinterest to distribute their message to the maximum reach.
Today, in a world that is digitally driven, many management tools for social media can be used that can help schedule posts, create visual ads, and much more.
Why Social Media Marketing
However, the following poplar unprecedented introduction of social media has grabbed much attention from marketers and, hence, compelled most of them to forgo traditional marketing procedures. Social media was initially developed in the publishing industry as companies disseminated updates and responded to their audience. Today, social media performs a hundred functions ranging from generating traffic to running targeted advertisement campaigns that make high returns on investment.
Learning the fundamentals of social media marketing reveals how a campaign can help with brand image and engagement.
The Five Pillars of Social Media Marketing
1. Strategy
Before publishing any content, a strategy needs to be in place. Random posting will fill up a page, but getting anyone interested and driving traffic with this is unlikely. First define what your goals are—whether it’s brand awareness or sales – and create a strategy for building that loyal community of customers.
Identify the most widely used platforms by your target audience. Customize your content based on the mediums appreciated by your audience, such as images, videos, or links.
2. Planning and Publishing
Frequency is important in social media. Posting frequently benefits from having nearly 3 billion users active daily. Even though creativity in those postings is fundamental, posting at the right time is just as important.
You don’t need to post daily; through social media scheduling tools, you can schedule posts in advance and have a content calendar to keep everyone on the same page.
3. Listen and Engage
Social media becomes an open forum where customers say their word about the brands. Brand names have to respond to the positive as well as negative reviews, because this can make a brand’s image go strong and create customer satisfaction. Following up on mentions and messages allows you to be in touch with your audience.
Listening tools may reduce this effort for you so that you don’t miss important conversations regarding your brand.
4. Analytics and Measurement
Monitor and evaluate your social media activity to determine how well it was executed. Success from a campaign usually has to be monitored over time through analysis, using metrics like traffic, sales, and engagement, to see whether or not you’re headed in the right direction. Sprout Social, HubSpot, and Google Analytics are all tools that can provide detailed insight into how successful your campaign is being and where there is opportunity to do things better.
When you work with an experienced Chicago SEO company, they can help you devise a plan for getting the right backlinks for your business.
5. Online Advertising
Once your budget permits, social media advertising can really blow up your advertising exposure. Target ads based on interests, behaviors, and much more using social media advertisements.
There are four basic types of social media ads you can look at:
- Static Image Ads: Using great images to grab attention, and clear calls to action
- Video Ads: Short, effective ways in which to grab users with brand stories.
Some of the other advertising options available include:
Stories Ads:
These are full-screen ads that can pop up to promote offers that have a limited time and engage users creatively.
Messenger Ads:
This will allow direct conversations with customers, and it will allow people to ask questions and visit your website.
Bottom Line
Social media marketing is an effective, cost-effective way of promoting your brand. With your strategy based on these five foundational pillars: strategic planning, thoughtful publishing, audience engagement, targeted advertising, and performance analytics, you will strengthen your business and push toward the realization of your marketing goals.
To better understand the construction of a successful social media strategy, contact the experienced digital marketers at Owl Digitech today!
