Social media marketing is a versatile tool that can benefit businesses of all sizes. According to research, people spend an average of two and a half hours a day on social media. Powerful social media users may spend half of their waking time sharing content and interacting with followers and friends.
Multi-million dollar brands have been launched on platforms like Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. All use similar strategies that help them build trust, increase conversions and revenue, and get their customers raving about their products and services.
Getting started with SMM
Social media marketing is the art of building a brand using social media. SMM experts promote products and services using various platforms and tools to find new audiences, expand user bases, and gather data to launch advertising campaigns and improve offerings.
Content is at the heart of social media marketing. Platforms allow different forms of content to be published and shared. They include short texts, longreads, images, GIFs, videos, carousels and reels. Well-crafted content gets promoted by social media algorithms and goes viral.
Two forms of content
- Organic content is posted for free for the brand’s audience to share and interact with. It is often used to improve brand awareness and warm up cold leads.
- Paid content can reach a much larger audience. The brand also has more control over who sees a paid promotion and how often it is shown. Almost any piece of content can be amplified using paid methods as long as it complies with the platform’s terms of service.
IMPORTANT:
A successful SMM strategy uses a mix of organic and paid content. Creating such a strategy requires careful planning, constant testing, and study of your audience. It can be further optimized to reduce your expenses or increase conversions.
Reasons to Use Social Media Marketing
On average, 9 out of 10 marketers use at least a few social media marketing tools. Social media marketing is one of the most affordable and cost effective ways to promote your business.
1. Build trust and brand awareness
Cybercrime is on the rise. Potential customers avoid buying even from legitimate online stores due to the risk of theft or manipulation of their sensitive data. New online businesses often struggle to convince buyers to make a purchase.
Social media is one of the most useful tools for allaying the fears of your potential customers. An active, organic social media presence can convince most visitors that your online activity is legitimate and safe.
- To increase trust, make sure all your branding and design elements are consistent across multiple platforms.
- Your business pages and email accounts should provide a secure link to your primary e-commerce site.
- Leave replies to comments and answer questions.
- Use your profile to share reviews, videos, and other user-generated content about your products.
- Keep the same tone of voice on social media and on your business website.
IMPORTANT:
Linking your website content to social media and having a website widget that displays recent posts or user comments is a great way to build trust.
2. Increase customer satisfaction through better service
You can respond to user comments and messages publicly or privately via direct messaging. Make sure your brand personality and voice remain consistent in your communication. Use a checklist to answer the most common questions and concerns. As a general rule, you should respond at least within an hour of a user mentioning your profile.
Using chat-bots with machine learning and AI can help you automate 80% of user queries.
3. Transform communities using brand values
Buyers increasingly want to be represented by your brand. If your brand values represent a certain group of people, create a community devoted to their personal interests, concerns, and stories. Sharing stories about how your products are used and the benefits they bring to people builds brand loyalty.
Successful brands like Nike or Starbucks have a large loyal following who serve as brand ambassadors to their friends and family members.
IMPORTANT:
Your brand community should remain a safe space for its participants. Focus on real people and their experiences and let them tell their stories as freely as possible.
4. Follow trends
Understanding the viral trends, fads, and challenges your audience is engaging with is a surefire way to make your content go viral. Monitoring popular topics and hashtags can give you insight into what’s hot right now. New memes quickly appear and fade into oblivion, be sure to stay timely and relevant.
5. Use the power of social shopping
According to experts, 7 out of 10 shoppers browse a brand’s social media before making a purchase. In-app stores, widgets, shoppable images, and other e-commerce tools can be integrated with social media platforms to increase conversions and revenue.
Press release distributed by The Express Wire
To see the original version on The Express Wire, visit 5 Ways Brands Can Benefit From Social Media Marketing
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