The Value of Social Media Marketing

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it twice: “All businesses should participate in social media.” I know that we’ve even mentioned it to you before in some of our past blog posts – All About Social Media Strategy, Social Media Campaigns for Small Businesses. While the statement is completely true, do you specifically understand why? I’ll tell ya:

“Social Media Marketing can help you reach your marketing goals.”

I’m sure you assumed so. But how does it help you reach those goals? First, let’s identify what goals social media marketing can help you attain. Social media marketing can help your business:

• Boost website traffic
• Ignite conversions
• Build brand awareness
• Establish a brand identity and positive brand association
• Improve communication and interaction with key audiences

Now that we understand what goals social media marketing can aid, how do we use social media to achieve them? Here are a few tips to get you started on creating a successful presence:

Content Planning

Research the type of content that is relevant to your industry. What types of content are your competitors posting? Ensure that you post content that resonates with your target audience.

Present a Consistent Image

A social media presence helps your business project your brand image across a variety of different platforms. While every platform may have a different environment and voice, your brand’s identity and image should stay consistent.

Create Engaging Content

Similar to other forms of digital marketing, content value is essential when it comes to social media marketing. Ensure that you are consistent with your posts and provide truly valuable information that your target audience will find compelling. There are various types of content that you can share on your social media channels. This includes images, gifs, videos, infographics, how-to guides and more.

Promote Your Original Content

Your social network is the best place to share your brand’s original content for your target audience to engage with. One way to build a large and loyal following on your social media channels is to post all of your original content to make sure that your audience is able to find your new stuff right away. Great blog content can actually help you build a substantial following as well. It’s an interesting way that content marketing and social media marketing have proven to be beneficial to each other.

Share Curated Links

As I mentioned before, sharing your original content on your social channels is a great way to boost your brand’s clout, but it’s also a great opportunity to share content produced by other great creators. If these other creators provide engaging, valuable information you believe your brand’s audience will appreciate, do not hesitate in sharing them on your social network. Curating content and linking to sources other than your own improves trust and reliability, you could possibly even get some links in return.

Social Listening for Competitive Intelligence

Keeping up with your competitors on social media should definitely be a top priority. Staying in-tune with their social activity can provide valuable insight for keyword research and other social media tactics. If you find your competitors are practicing successful social media techniques that your brand isn’t, consider integrating their techniques into your social media plan. Build on it and do it better.

With these tactics implemented into your social media marketing plan, your brand is destined to meet the goals mentioned above in due time.

If you’re looking for something a bit more specialized for your brand and industry, drop us a line. We’d love to help!