A Guide to Social Media Marketing for Your Business

In recent years, social media has attained popularity in the lives of the common man. With the pandemic and the social distancing norms in place, it has become the one place for individuals to stay in touch with their friends and family. As people spend a greater number of hours on different social media platforms, brands are trying to use the platforms to reach out to their target group.

At the heart of any marketing campaign lies the idea of telling people what you do and how you are a cut above the competition. In today’s world, since the target group is more likely to be present in different social media platforms, being consistent about your posts and ensuring that the digital audience does not forget you is the first step to business growth.

As social media is a vast canvas, you need to plan your marketing moves well in advance to ensure that they have the reach that you wanted. To help you in the strategic planning of your social media marketing campaigns, here are some ways that your business can opt for while looking to leverage the power of social media.

Increase the Global Reach

Unless you are an MNC, traditional marketing campaigns will restrict your reach to that of the local audience. Because of the monetary investment involved in a global advertising campaign, it is often infeasible for larger brands to indulge in it.

With social media campaigns, if you can come up with posts and videos that will catch the attention of the people, the content will get viral in no time. Considering that the global audience may not always understand the language of the video, it is a good practice to have closed captioning in all your videos.

Marketing Research

Social media is more than just a tool for connecting with people and you can use this to conduct your marketing research. With online editing tools, you can come up with a short video asking a question and upload the same in your Instagram story. The next story can have a poll or question through which your viewers can respond to the question asked in the video.

Social media also allows you to check the things that your competitors are up to. Spending time in evaluating the different campaigns they conduct, which content of theirs appeals the best to the target audience, etc will help you understand your audience and plan your marketing campaigns in a more effective manner.

Ideal for Businesses on Tight Budget

All social media tools are free to use and if you strategize well, you can achieve effective marketing results at minimal investment. While traditional methods of business promotion require the assistance of professionals, in social media marketing, you can work on your content all by yourself and build a strong online presence. 

With the sharing of relevant posts, asking interesting questions, breaking industry news, and bringing forth light and humorous content, you will catch the attention of your target group and get them to interact with your business page in social media.

All it requires is consistency and investing a few minutes daily will help in building good relationships with your target group which will pave the way for increased brand exposure and better sales. One of the best advantages of social media marketing is the fact that it is inexpensive and provides a fairground for small businesses to compete with the established ones.

Identify Which Social Media Platform to Use

These days there is a host of social media platforms which include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and a lot more. While you can always cross-promote your content across the different platforms, it is important for you to understand where your target audience spends the maximum time and use that as your primary medium.

The choice of the social media platform will depend on your target group’s age demographics, hobbies, and a host of other factors.
For example, a crockery brand whose target audience is mostly middle-aged homemakers will have more takers in Pinterest whereas a lifestyle brand with a millennial-centric target group will do better on Instagram. 

Once you have your primary platform selected, create content that works best for that platform, and then cross-promote it in other places. Make sure that the content is posted on your primary platform before you indulge in any cross-promotion.

Use Brand Colours and Brand Logo

As a business, you should aim at directing your social media campaigns in a way such that it establishes a brand familiarity. Considering that people prefer purchasing something they are familiar with, this will boost your sales. An easy way of establishing this is the use of brand colors and logos in your digital content or video content.

If you are creating a video that you intend to share in social media, make sure to utilize an online intro maker that allows you to customize the first few seconds of the video to have the brand colors, logo, tagline and the brand message. Have an avatar (such as your brand mascot or logo) as the profile picture of your social media page. While you are free to experiment with the content, having a consistent layout or filter will help in establishing brand familiarity among your target group.

Reputation Management

The reputation of a business plays an important role in deciding its growth and social media marketing allows businesses to manage any negative feedback. When you set out on any digital media campaign, you can expect some amount of negative comments. The way you respond to such comments determines your hold as a business.

To begin, make sure that you respond to any positive or negative comments promptly. Be polite about the negative comments and introspect if what they are saying is true. In that case, look for means to rectify the mistake and take measures not to repeat it in the future.
 

Thus, you see that social media is a powerhouse of marketing potential and, if leveraged well it can single-handedly steer the growth story of your organization.