Social media as a premier marketing strategy

With how much of an influence it can have, we believe an effective marketing plan utilising social media campaigns can boost awareness of your brand online.

In this article we will go through:

• A brief explanation of social media marketing
• Outline some of the benefits of using social media platforms to reach your target audience
• Discuss what is needed to commence a social media marketing strategy.
• Present some easy steps to get your social media marketing strategy started.
• How to retain your target audiences with remarketing.

What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing involves using social media platforms to better reach your target audience in an attempt to increase brand awareness and boost website traffic and conversions.

Social media marketing can be implemented on a variety of social networks – these include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube just to name a few.

Social media networks are, effectively, outlets that have been built to engage with your audience through interactive content. Social platforms are also the perfect place to market your products since they put the products in front of potential customers.

Social media marketing is not just about running paid ad campaigns – it’s about being creative and interesting so you can gain the trust of your targeted audience.

Benefits of a social media marketing strategy

Let’s take a look at why a social media marketing strategy could work for you.

• Large number of social media users: as of 2021, there are 4.20 billion social media accounts online, with 2 million users joining every day. Social media marketing aims to target these users that fit your type of customers, whether it is a broader or more niche audience.
• Brand presence: social media marketing allows your business to be a constant presence in your targeted audience’s mind, which is critical to retaining users as well as bringing in new ones. This in turn leads to an increase in traffic and conversions for your website.
• Interactivity: social media is a place of interactions, and so posting on social media can easily spread the word about your brand to other users.
• Authority: when word spreads and more people interact with your business on a regular basis, you gain more credibility and trustworthiness with your audience.

How can you start social media marketing?

As with any online marketing strategy, it’s critical to lay the foundations right by taking the time to have everything prepared. When it comes to social media marketing, this includes:

Defined social media platform

Certain social networks attract more demographics of people than others – if you only intend on marketing on one platform, choose one that your target audience frequently visits for the most effective social media strategy.

Established social media account

Before you can market your brand to a social media platform, you need to have established an account on that platform.

It’s quite straightforward to set up these accounts, but it is worth ensuring all the information within the account is correct and up-to-date. Users will not stay on a social media account that makes a lot of posts but has no picture or business information on it, since these accounts appear less credible.

Defined target audience

The way people interact with businesses and each other is typically different when on social media. You may need to change your tone slightly to match the platform you use.

8 Social media marketing strategies

We have detailed eight examples for you to get started with social media marketing.

1. Videos

Short and sweet videos that get your message across can be a very effective social media strategy. These can be a variety of different types of videos, from showcasing new products/services to testimonials or promotions.

The more people that are watching quality content on your social media, the better brand awareness you will have. You can create social media campaigns with videos aimed at different target audiences depending on what you’re currently promoting.

2. Company updates

Letting your audience know what you’re up to is a great way of developing a B2C relationship and defining brand identity. The more users connect with your brand, the more likely they are to stick around.

If you can put these updates out across multiple social networks, that’s even better. Some high-performing companies even use social media marketing as one of their primary online marketing avenues.

3. Blog sharing

If you post a blog update to your website, republishing it in your social media posts can attract more people to visit your website. Afterwards, they can stay on your site and explore your services in more detail.

4. Reviews/testimonials

Positive reviews from clients can provide a significant boost to your credibility online. If you can add these to your marketing strategy, it can lead to positive results, like an increase in social media followers.

5. Competitions

It’s always been known that promotions are a great way to attract users to your business. You can get even more people interacting if you post these to your social media channel – who doesn’t like a free competition?

6. Quick tips

Sometimes you will find yourself answering the same questions repeatedly for different customers. When this happens, you can post an FAQ to your social media platform to get the information out quicker.

This also shows your business is willing to provide advice to customers, which can help your B2C relations. When these relationships thrive, it can improve other social media marketing strategies you are using.

7. Curated content

Your posts don’t always have to come from you. If you find a piece of content that you feel is relevant enough to your target audience – or is connected to a product/service you provide – you can share it via your social media.

8. Infographics/eBooks

Free resources can be an effective way to draw users to other areas of your business. This could be via a form that adds users to a mailing list, or a link to register a customer on your website.

What is Facebook remarketing and how does it work?

Facebook allows you to implement effective remarketing on the platform using Pixel. Facebook Pixel is a snippet of code that can be added to your website to apply targeted Facebook ads to users who visit you.

Due to its “set and forget” nature, it is being used more often as businesses aim to promote their social media presence. This means it can be a useful tool to bring in more customers from your targeted audience.

When a user enters your website, Facebook Pixel will begin taking logs of the pages they visit and the links they click. This information is then stored and pulled when the user enters Facebook, where retargeted ads are displayed. From there, the cycle begins again as soon as the user re-enters your website.

Why is Facebook remarketing an effective social media marketing strategy?

With Facebook Pixel, getting analytics from social media users becomes much easier. Some benefits from using it include:

• The simplicity of use: you can significantly boost your social media marketing without having to do all that much. Your target audience will be more likely to return to your website after the retargeted ads reach them, making a purchase of a good/service on their next visit a larger possibility.
• Increased visibility and interactivity: your existing customers have the potential to increase the amount of business they do with your brand purely by seeing you more often on their social media
• Perpetual user growth: the cyclical nature of the strategy provides effective growth to brand awareness, which also benefits your other marketing strategies
• Better costs: Facebook Pixel shows a cheaper average cost-per-click than typical marketing strategies, making them a very good option for businesses in the early days of commencing a social media marketing strategy
• Target “lookalike” web visitors: Facebook can find similar users to those who visit your website and target ads towards them as well. This increases the likelihood of increasing your audience for your social media marketing plan.

Learn social media marketing the right way

When it comes to implementing an effective social media strategy, it’s important to have the right advice.

Our experienced and professional team is able to assist you with an insight into a wide range of social media marketing plans. We can establish a connection with your targeted audience that works for you and your business goals.

We determine the best social media channels to utilise based on what problems you are having in attracting visitors, then provide a plan of attack that best suits your business’ needs.

Get in touch with the team at White Chalk Road to learn more today!