How Social Media Marketing Works: Quick Guide

What is Social Media Marketing? 

Social media marketing includes the use of social media to put out the right message to reach the right target audience. It involves tailoring content for each specific social media platform to market your product or service. Social media marketing involves creating content in the form of text, images, short-form videos, and long-form videos.

Before we know how social media works, let’s discuss

It is beneficial to the growth of the company due to its high reach and ability to send targeted messages to the right audience. 

Course Recommendation – This short online course on Social Media Marketing will help you gain an in-depth understanding of social media with 16+ hours of Live Class. 

Why is Social Media Marketing Important? 

Social media marketing is extremely important today. This is because most users check social media for additional information and reviews for a product or service. This is because this is where one can find others talking about the business. 

• 70% of consumers said if they had a positive experience with a brand on social media, they are more likely to recommend it.
• 90% of the millennial generation and over 80% of the Gen Zers are on social media

Social media is a great place to understand your target audience’s tastes, and preferences and gain insights into their buying behavior. In order to build a good rapport with their audience, many companies today are investing in social media marketing.  

Here’s How Social Media Marketing Works

Social media marketing works by getting in touch with your target audience through social media. It will not only get you more business but also add to your brand’s goodwill. 

• Research

The first step is to do research and understand what is it that your audience needs. Accordingly, formulate a marketing strategy. 

• Find new opportunities

With its high reach, social media is a great space to look for new opportunities in international markets as well.

• Grab these new opportunities

Keeping your business goals in mind, grab these opportunities by prioritizing them and understanding which ones would yield you the most business. 

• Analyze Findings

Always analyze findings and make business decisions accordingly. Apply these learnings to improvise existing campaigns and as a reference for future campaigns. Use digital marketing tools for this. 

Bonus Read – Check out tips on Choosing the Right Social Media Platform. 

To know more about Socia Media Marketing, do check out this video on Beginner’s Guide on SMM.

Advantages of Social Media Marketing

Listed below are a few benefits of social media marketing – 

1. Tapping into new audiences

The best way to widen your audience base is through social media marketing. With social media marketing tools, not only can you widen your existing base but also form a long-lasting impression on this new audience.

2. Building a long-term relationship

Social media is more than selling your products and services. It is about building long-term, lasting relationships with your customers. This leads to strong brand loyalty. 

3. More leads

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter generate more leads through both, organic and paid tools. Check out this article on The benefits of lead generation for businesses.

4. More conversions

More leads mean more conversions. Ultimately, the goal of any business is to generate more conversions. Since social media it is quick and measurable, it is easier to amp up conversions through increased visibility. 

5. Competitor research

With more and more companies going online, doing competitor research is easier today. You can learn plenty from your competitor’s social media presence – what works for them, how their campaign did, etc. and apply these findings to your marketing strategy especially if you’re new to marketing. 

6. Cost-effective

Social media marketing is cost-effective. You can start off with minimal investment as most social media platforms are free.

7. Good hold on budgets

If you do plan on media ads, the advantage is that you have complete control over your budgets with PPC advertising. Check out the Best PPC advertising strategies here.

Check out some more Benefits of Social Media Marketing for your business.

Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing

Listed below are a few disadvantages of social media marketing – 

1. Online reputation management

With access to the internet, people can use social media negatively as well by commenting and engaging negatively.  Thus, online reputation management can be extremely challenging. Check out this course on online reputation management. 

2. Ad Dependant

Social media marketing relies on ads for conversions. Organic results can take immense effort and time. This is a disadvantage for small businesses as big businesses can afford to have bigger budgets and generate more leads.

3. Investment of time

Social media marketing needs a lot of investment of time. How to operate the tools, how to go about improvising strategy, etc. 

4. Keep the audience engaged

A huge challenge most companies face is keeping the audience engaged with unique content. Consistent effort and fresh content is key but with so much competition, it is difficult to keep up. 

5. Security and privacy issues

Security and privacy issues are a challenge when marketing on social media. Since information is public for people to reach out to you, there can be privacy concerns. 

6. Limited age groups

A disadvantage of social media marketing is that an older target audience is difficult to connect with since they aren’t that active. 

Best Social Media Marketing Tips & Strategies 

Here are a few social media tips and strategies you could use for your business. But before that, take a look at the important terms when talking about social media marketing strategies. 

(Source: digitalmarketer.com)

• Have clear goals

Set clear objectives. What are you trying to achieve? More sales? Brand awareness? Work further from here and keep your goals in mind and move forward. 

• Do market research

Market research is crucial. Understand your audience demographics. 

• Strategize

Now that you have your goals clear, formulate a strategy. 

• Do an audit

If you already have a social media page up and running, conduct a thorough social media audit. Check out How to do a content audit here.

• Social media calendar

A social media calendar will keep you organized and in control of your communication. 

• Invest in Ads

Set out a small budget for ads. This way, your reach, and conversions will be higher.

• Review

Review your social media strategy by using web analytics tools such as Google Analytics and measure the results. Check out this short online course on Google Analytics. 

Check out these 20+ Social Media Marketing Strategies for Different Sectors for more.

FAQs

• How does Social Media Marketing work and how does it help our business?

Social Media Marketing works as a brand uplifter and increases visibility on various social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

• How long is a Social Media Campaign?

The duration of a Social Media Campaign can vary depending on your goals. If it is a festive campaign, it may last a few weeks.

To Conclude,

Now that you’re aware of the importance of social media marketing, let us know how you’ll be using it for the growth of your company in the comments below.

Don’t forget to check out this intensive MBA in Digital Marketing in India if you’re looking for MBA-level courses that can give you an edge within the industry. It has 100% assured placement with an industry-led teaching approach that will upskill you in just 11 months.