Social Media Marketing Defined
Hootsuite defines social media marketing as the practice of using social media channels to sell or promote a brand, product, or service.
Social media marketing can help meet several of your goals, including:
- Increase brand awareness
- Humanize your brand and make it relatable
- Establish your brand as an expert in their field
- Increase website traffic
- Engage with your audience and nurture that relationship through replying to comments, commenting on follower accounts, and doing giveaways to interact and give back to your audience
Social Media Channels
There are SO MANY social media platforms out there. It can hard to choose which might be the best for your business. The current list you should know about is:
Facebook, owned by parent company Meta, is a social networking platform that uses media, text-based posts, instant messaging, and advertising. Facebook is well-known for its ‘Facebook Groups’ – online communities of users with similar interests.
Your target audience might use Facebook more than other platforms, so it’s best to connect with them on the platform they’re using most.
When someone finds out about your business on Facebook, they’ll click through to your website to learn more about the company.
Facebook also has a detailed Business Suite that allows you to access follower demographic information and how people interact with your page. They also have a precise advertising platform that allows you to target your exact desired customer base.
Meta also owns Instagram. Facebook has similar features but Instagram prioritizes its content on media for mobile use.
Customers expect your business to be on Instagram. It’s a great place to maintain your reputation and respond back to customer issues.
Instagram is also useful for directing traffic to your website, keeping track of your competitors, and allowing customers to tag your product or service through Instagram stories or posts.
Instagram is connected through the Facebook Business Suite and allows similar demographic and interaction information as well as targeted advertising.
TikTok
TikTok is a video-exclusive mobile platform with instant messaging and comments. It focuses on short content and advertising.
The community is huge on TikTok and videos have a far greater reach than standard social media posts. Your business needs to be human and build your reputation on the platform.
TikTok also offers advertising and a Business Suite to keep track of analytic information about your audience and how your videos perform.
YouTube
YouTube is a video-exclusive platform owned by Google. They focus on long and short form content. YouTube is a great form to show off your brand and build trust through consistent video content.
If you’re a plumber, you can focus on posting educational videos for the DIY community. If you’re using Google Advertising, you can upload YouTube advertisements to play on targeted audinences.
Snapchat
Snapchat allows for instant messaging through pictures and filters on mobile devices. Snapchat might not be the right platform for every business, but it’s noteworthy.
According to Snapchat Business, Snapchat users are 60% more likely to make an impulse purchase on the platform. You can use their Insights page to see how your content performs.
The platform is best to educate, build trust with a younger audience, advertise using Snapchat Business, and direct traffic to your website.
Twitter is a social networking platform that uses media, text-based posts, instant messaging, and advertising. It’s like Facebook but has a shorter character limit on posts and focuses on text.
Twitter allows you to directly communicate with your customer base and build up trust as a responsive and customer-friendly company. It doesn’t always have to be just content.
LinkedIn is a social networking platform only for business and professional needs. They use media, text-based posts, instant messaging, and advertising.
LinkedIn offers advertising and analytics for your page like the platforms above.
The platform is great not only for job postings for your company, but establishing your brand and attracting potential leads from your engaging content.
Reddit is a forum-based social platform that thrives on member interaction and thread building.
This platform is best for educational purposes and showing your expertise in your market.
Twitch
Twitch is a live streaming platform similar to YouTube that only focuses on video games and people playing game walkthroughs.
This platform allows consistent growth, contracts with gaming influencers, advertising, and tapping into a younger audience.
The Best Social Media Content
Inspire Through a Customer Success Story
This is a customer success video from HubSpot, discussing how Crunch Gym made it through the pandemic with online fitness classes. They used HubSpot products to achieve this goal, showing that they’re a reliable company.
People trust customer stories more than they do a business tooting its own horn. Sharing customer stories or testimonials opens a bridge of trust and communication for your company.
Blogs, eBooks, and Guides
This is Colvin Electric blog about electrical upgrades for home remodels. The topic is relevant to their service area, Austin, Texas, and they made sure the information was easy-to-read and at their audience’s level of understanding about electric repair.
Show off expertise in your field by sharing your own knowledge. Not only does it take traffic back to your website, but it builds trust with your potential customer base.
Announcements and Discounts
Everybody loves a good deal!
Clean Slate Ink offers a 10% discount for new customers that take a tattoo removal quiz. This quiz allows the customer to:
- Fill out a form
- Provide information to the business so they can properly assess their desired tattoo removal
- Offers a discount after the customer filled out their form
The best way to share news with your potential customers is to post it on social media. If you’re running a sale, you’re more likely to get people in the door and clicking through to your website by telling them about it on social media.
According to a survey from RetailMeNot, customers are two thirds more likely to make a first-time purchase on a discount.
Social Media Community Building
The value of your community is crucial to your company.
- Invite your friends and customers to your pages
- Add social media links to your website and encourage users to follow
- Use popular hashtags for your industry and niche
- Interact with other brands and respond to comments
- Use popular trends to create memes and fun content
Social Media Management (Platforms and Schedule)
Typically, it’s best to make your social schedules in advance. When you employ this method, you can map out what strategy you want to take and have more time to post on the fly. We recommend posting between three to five times a week.
With your posts curated in advance, you’ll have more time to hop on trends.
Social Media Measurement
Social media is easier to track now than ever.
You can track your progress natively in the business suite for each platform. This provides insight on how your followers are interacting with your page and if they’re clicking through to your website. It also supplies key demographic information to help you plan better.
If you want a comprehensive look at all your social media platforms’ performance at once, we recommend using HubSpot.
Ashley Walker is a writer and content marketer focused on creating engaging content that helps business owners piece together the marketing side of their enterprise. In her spare time, she writes creatively, binges network comedies, and entertains her corgis.