Social media marketing is a form of internet marketing that involves creating and distributing content on social media to achieve your business marketing and branding goals.
In addition to the free publication of posts (texts, videos, images and other types of content) that stimulate audience engagement, SMM also includes promotion through paid advertising on social networks.
I have prepared for you a quick overview of social media and a step-by-step SMM guide that will give you a clear understanding of the essence of SMM and will help you promote your accounts faster and improve the quality of your business’s social media presence. Based on my recommendations, you can choose the social media platform that suits your business and start developing your own social media marketing plan today.
Ready to start your exciting social media marketing journey? Here are some tips to help you do effective online social media marketing.
Do your own research
Study your target audience and create a client profile. The first step to creating a social media marketing strategy is to identify who your ideal customer and target audience is. Determine for whom you want to create content and what is special about these people. This will help you target specifically their interests and needs when creating and publishing posts.
Think about who you want to reach out to and why. How would you classify them as a group? For example, on Twitch you should do research and watch many different streams. Learn about the audience and know why they are following particular influences? Twitch is a very specific platform, just like other social networks. You can gain thousands of Twitch followers by simply doing the in-depth research and understanding strategy of competitors.
This knowledge will help you determine the type of content that will appeal specifically to your subscribers and potential customers. This way, you will be able to create engaging content that will interest your audience.
Study your competitors
Subscribe to the pages of your main competitors and study their behavior and strategies for promoting content on social networks. How often do they post content? What time? What platforms or online communities do they use for this? What kind of influencers do they involve in their promotion on social media?
If your competitors are using a channel or marketing tool on their social media that is giving visible positive results, analyze it. Study them under a microscope and take successful tactics into service.
Make a social media content plan
As I said before, creating a social media marketing plan is of great importance. Do not start randomly posting random content on your pages trying to promote your products or services. Make a well-thought-out plan for 1-2 weeks in advance, which will serve as a timetable and give a clear understanding of what, when and where to publish.
Create engaging and unique social media content. As with other areas of online marketing, content is the backbone of social media marketing. You should regularly publish really valuable information that will be interesting and useful to your customers. Content you share on social media may include:
- Images;
- Video;
- Infographics;
- practical guides;
- Links;
- text posts;
- audio files;
- other.
Maintain your brand image consistently
Using social media in marketing allows your business to project your brand image across a variety of social platforms.
Each platform has its own unique medium, format and tone of voice. However, remember that the nature of your brand (whether friendly, fun, or strict and reliable) should remain consistent across all social media platforms where your brand is present.
