Social Media Marketing

By William Robert Smith

Does your business have the digital presence you desire? If your answer is NO, you are not alone! Many modern businesses have attempted to create a digital presence with little success. Their gung-ho approach to social media marketing has seen them waste a lot of time, money, and energy with nothing to sh

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ira J. Smith Jr
• Release date: Oct 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9798888622155

William Robert Smith

William Robert Smith is the author of Social Media Marketing. His work is focused on the art of successful social media marketing, aiming to help each reader make a success of their business by extending their reach and creating genuine interest in their company through social media.William's career has given him 40 years of experience in logistics and materials management, and over this time, he has seen an increase in the number of small businesses trying to compete in the market. Noticing how many of those small businesses failed within the first year, he became interested in what makes the difference between success and failure in the business world. Common to each new business that was able to provide genuine competition for leading companies was a successful social media marketing campaign.William has been studying online businesses for many years, cataloging the successes and failures and studying what makes a successful social media strategy. He is committed to sharing what he's learned with others in the hope that fewer new businesses result in failure. William has now retired from logistics and dedicates his time to helping new businesses. He is also a lover of the great outdoors, and can often be found hiking, fishing, and exploring the local landscape.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Social media is here. It’s not going away; not a passing fad. Be where your customers are: in social media.

LORI RUFF, SPEAKER AND AUTHOR.

Many companies, small and big, look at successful social media campaigns and wish they were theirs. The biggest mistake they make is trying to be like the successful brands they’ve seen on social media platforms without taking their time to understand how they got there. You are probably a victim too.

You rushed into creating a business account on different social media platforms and started marketing your products. However, four months down the line, you were not making any progress. Well, have you ever heard that if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail? That’s what is happening.

It might comfort you to know that you are not alone! Many people have been in the same predicament and came out of it successfully. You need to take a few steps back and ask yourself if you really know what you are doing. I know you have discovered you probably don’t know enough.

This is where this comprehensive piece on social media marketing comes in. The information shared here is unique because it is a collection of years of experience that includes learning from many mistakes. You are lucky and wiser because you will not be learning from your mistakes. After reading this book, I can guarantee that you will see some changes in your marketing efforts.

First, the book will introduce you to the concept of social media marketing. This is critical because it will give you a different perspective of the social media platforms you use daily for personal delight. After that, it lets you in on the Fundamentals of Social Media Marketing. Here, you will discover there are five pillars your social media marketing should stand upon. Chapter 3 will then reveal the benefits social media marketing will bring to your business to whet your appetite.

With that information in mind, you will be ready to dig deeper. Chapter 4 takes you through the top-rated Social Media Marketing Platforms. This chapter will help you understand how the different social media platforms work and the demography of users. You will discover that there is some science behind the trending content you see on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. After that, Chapter 5 reminds you that Email Marketing is still an important strategy. You will learn the different types of email marketing, tools, and how the strategy works. You will then understand the importance of having a website for your brand in Chapter 6 and how to incorporate it into your social media marketing strategy.

Chapter 7 will help you understand the concept of Social Media Marketing Strategy. The information here will help you to start piecing together the information you have learned in the previous chapters. After that, Chapter 8 introduces the importance of Search Engine Optimization in Social Media marketing. Reading this chapter will give you an understanding of how you can effectively combine SEO and social media.

How will you know if your strategy is working? Chapter 9 discusses how you can take advantage of Social Media Analytics to measure your progress and refine your strategy. You will discover that your Social Media Marketing Strategy is a living document that you should continually update based on new data. After collecting all that information, Chapter 10 will encourage you to get to work by offering practical steps you should follow to create your first Social Media Marketing Strategy. Chapter 11 is the icing on your social media marketing strategy cake. You will discover the fundamentals of Affiliate Marketing and how to tap into its potential. Furthermore, you will discover the current trends in affiliate marketing.

Reading this book will help you take slow but steady steps in your social media marketing efforts. The mantra is to start small, learn, and grow. Ready? Let’s dig in!

CHAPTER 1

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING - GETTING STARTED

Social media is a famous term that many people commonly use. Some users do not really understand what they are talking about when they use the term. Understand what social media means before delving deeper into social media marketing.

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA?

Social media refers to a computer technology that allows people to share ideas and information via virtual networks (Hudson, 2020). It is Internet-based and offers swift electronic communication of content, including documents, photos, videos, and personal information. Users can engage with social media using their computer, tablet, or smartphone through web-based software or applications. In other words, social media is a digital tool that enables its users to create and share content with the public quickly.

Initially, social media was meant to be a way for people to interact with family and friends. However, businesses later adopted it to harness its power to help reach out to current and potential clients. Social media's power is its capability to connect and share information with people globally. You can also reach many people simultaneously.

Data from Investopedia shows there are over 3.8 billion social media users worldwide (Dollarhide, 2021). It is also a highly dynamic field where new apps are launched almost yearly. Experts also predict that the number of social media users in the U.S. could reach 257 million by 2023.

HOW DOES SOCIAL MEDIA WORK?

The function of different social media tools varies as there are different types of websites and applications. For most of them, you can start by creating a user profile by providing a name and a valid email address. After that, you can create and share different forms of content.

You can also look for other social media users whose content you may want to follow or share your thoughts on. Depending on the social media tool you are using, you can interact with other users by following them, adding them as a friend, or subscribing to other users' pages.

Social media platforms also use feeds to enable users to scroll through content. In this sense, social media companies use algorithms to determine the content that appears on your feeds and the order in which it appears based on the data on your profile. Your feed will also include content from users you follow and entities running paid promotions.

SIX MAIN TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA

There are multiple types of social media, and many services can fit into different categories. Here are the main types of social media with their examples.

Social Networks

Social networks provide a platform for people to connect and share ideas and content with other users having similar tastes and interests. Examples of social networks include Twitter and Facebook. You can also consider LinkedIn as a social network despite appearing to be more professional.

Media Sharing Networks

Media networks allow their users to distribute content such as videos and photographs. Popular examples under this category include YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram. YouTube allows users to upload a video they have created, and other users can comment, dislike, or like the video. Additionally, if a user loves your content, they can subscribe to your channel so that when you upload new content, it will appear in their feed.

Discussion Forums

Discussion forums are the perfect outlet for posts that can ignite thorough discussions among users. You can leave detailed comments here. Other users can respond directly to your comments which allows organic growth of the conversation. The leading discussion forums are Quora and Reddit.

Bookmarking & Content Curation Networks

Bookmarking and content curation networks enable users to discover, share, discuss and save different types of content and media. They are an essential tool to channelize brand awareness for businesses. It is an excellent tool for running social media marketing campaigns to generate website traffic and client engagement. Examples of these tools include Flipboard and Pinterest.

Consumer Review Networks

Consumer review networks are used to share, review and discover different information about different brands, services, and products. Suppose a business gets positive reviews on these networks; it makes their claims more credible because reviews on these networks serve as Social Proof.

Brands also use the issues raised by clients on these forums for more positive and productive outcomes for their business. These platforms allow users to review different products and services that they have used. Reviewing content adds value to brands because it influences more people to buy products or services. Popular examples include TripAdvisor, Zomato, and Yelp.

Blogging & Publishing Networks

Blogging and publishing networks are ideal for publishing, discovering, and commenting on posts, social media blogs, and other forms of web content. Content marketing is a popular way of targeting, attracting, engaging, and converting a target audience. Many use it as the basis for successful online marketing campaigns that play a significant role in Digital Marketing Campaigns' conversion funnels.

The traditional blogging platforms are Blogger and WordPress. There are also microblogging platforms such as Tumblr and Medium.

Social Media and Business

Social media platforms have emerged as critical parts of marketing for different businesses. However, for it to be successful, businesses must treat it with the care, respect, and attention they offer to other marketing efforts instead of treating it as an additional appendage.

WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is using social media tools to build a company's brand, boost sales and drive traffic to their websites. Social media platforms enable companies to engage with current customers and reach new ones. Additionally, social media marketing uses purpose-built analytics that enables marketers to track the success of their efforts and identify more ways of engaging their users.

Social media marketing is a potent tool that has attracted the interest of businesses globally. Its main power comes from its unmatched capacity in three key areas of marketing: customer data, interaction, and connection (Hayes, 2022).

Customer Data

Running a properly-designed social media marketing campaign allows businesses to collect customer data. This is an invaluable resource if you are looking to boost your marketing outcomes. You do not have to be overwhelmed by the 3Vs of big data (velocity, variety, and volume). This is because SMM tools can extract customer data and turn it into actionable market analysis. Additionally, they can use the data for crowdsourcing new strategies.

Interaction

Social media offers businesses a dynamic way to interact with their users. For example, there is direct and passive communication such as liking. This allows businesses to take advantage of free advertising opportunities from electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). In addition, eWOM is a critical driver of consumer decisions, and since the interactions happen on the social network, they are measurable. For example, a business can measure its social equity (a term for the return on investment) from social media marketing campaigns.

Connection

First, social media enables businesses to connect with customers in ways that were previously deemed impossible. It also offers businesses an astonishing range of avenues to connect with their target audiences. For instance, they can use content platforms like YouTube, microblogging services like Twitter, and social sites like Facebook.

HOW SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING WORKS

Several critical factors govern how social media marketing works. You must consider these factors as you create your social media marketing strategy.

Social Media Marketing Action Plan

For your SMM strategy to be effective, it has to be more targeted. In this sense, you need a proper action plan that contains an execution framework and performance metrics. Here are some creative tips for developing an effective SMM action plan:

Align your SMM goals to unambiguous business objectives

Research your target audience (age, location, industry, job title, income, and interests)

Analyze your competition (look at their failures and successes)

Audit your current SMM's failures and successes

Create a calendar for your SMM content delivery

Produce best-in-class content

Evaluate performance and fine-tune your SMM strategy accordingly

Customer Relationship Management

Social media marketing offers two kinds of interactions: customer-to-customer and business-to-customer. These forms of interaction offer advantages that allow targeted customer relationship management tools. Whereas traditional marketing usually tracks customer value mainly by capturing purchase activity, SMM has the capacity to track customer value directly (from purchases) and indirectly (from product referrals).

Shareable Content

Businesses can also convert SMM's augmented interconnectedness into sticky content creation. Sticky content is the marketing term for eye-catching content that engages clients at first glimpse. The content encourages them to buy products and also makes them want to share the content.

This kind of eWOM advertising allows business advertisements to reach audiences that would have been inaccessible. In addition, it provides the inherent endorsement of someone the recipient knows and probably trusts. Consequently, creating shareable content is critical for social media marketing to drive growth.

Earned Media

Social media marketing also offers businesses an efficient way to reap the benefits of a different kind of earned media. This is the term used to refer