Introduction
- Social media marketing (SMM) entails the use of social networking sites to optimize a company’s visibility and website traffic.
- Social networking sites include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit YouTube and Google+.
- 73% of online adults use one or more networking sites.
Social media marketing (SMM) is the art of using social networking sites to optimize a company’s visibility and website traffic. This is achievable through creation of content that interest the social media user, who eventually share it with their networks. 73% of online adults as at September 2013 were using one or more networking sites.
- Facebook alone has 1.4 billion users, which accounts for 11% of the world’s population.
- Over 2.5 million websites currently integrate with social networking sites.
There are several social networking sites. These include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit YouTube, and Google+. Facebook alone has 1.4 billion users, which accounts for 11% of the world’s population. Over 2.5 million websites are currently integrated with social networking sites.
Classical vs. Social Media Marketing
SMM portends a greater potential in reaching the market compared to existing classical marketing approaches. The internet has already overtaken classical advertising such as the television.
Why Use the Social Media in Marketing?
- More people prefer to get information from the internet.
- The internet has totally revolutionized the way companies ought to market their products and services.
- The social media is the most effective online platform for companies to achieve their marketing targets.
More people prefer to get information from the internet. This has totally revolutionized the way companies ought to market their products and services. The social media platform is the most effective way for companies to achieve their marketing targets.
The next slide takes us through the process of undertaking an effective SMM.
Social Media Marketing Process
Develop a social media marketing strategy:
- In any business undertaking, planning is key.
Signup for social media:
- Facebook is the largest social media site (1.4 billion users). You can start by creating a company page).
- Twitter normally uses short messages to reach the clients. You will need to have a twitter handle.
- LinkedIn is often for professional networking. Start by creating a company page
- Others (Instagram, Reddit YouTube, and Google+).
Generate content and get clients involved:
- Post updates and tweets about your products and services. Reply to clients’ questions, posts and tweets promptly.
- Follow and like pages of competitors in the industry. Give offers to loyal clients.
Review performance of your SMM :
- Conduct market research on the performance of your products/services occasioned by SMM.
- Improve on the shortcomings of your strategy, if need be.
Advantages of Social Media Marketing
- SMM increases the traffic in a website, thereby improving its visibility.
- It is very cost-effective. Using the social media to market is often free.
- It helps companies engage directly with its clients and boost the loyalty of its customers.
- It aids in increasing product/services sales for a company.
- SMM helps in building and managing a company’s image.
SMM increases the traffic in a website, thereby improving its visibility and by extension, its products.
It is very cost-effective. Using the social media to market is often free. A company just needs to tweet about its product, post a product review, or share a product photo on Instagram.
It helps companies engage directly with its clients and boost the loyalty of its customers. There is opportunity to engage more clients at a personal level with SMM.
It aids in increasing product/services sales for a company. It is however important to point out that SMM is not a panacea that will magically increase sales. It must integrate other customer relation and retention strategies.
SMM helps in building and managing a company’s image. It is always the responsibility of a company to communicate what it wants the public to know. The social media is a reasonable avenue to do this.
Conclusion
- Marketing has evolved and using classical means to do it could cost a company a lot of clients.
- In SMM, if you do not communicate what your clients want, they will always communicate to you what they want.
Marketing has evolved and using classical means to do it could cost a company a lot of clients. SMM is evidently a progressive and innovation strategy that has set the stage for a more responsive marketing platform.
In SMM, if you do not communicate what your clients want, they will always communicate to you what they want; and this is often instant.
