Social Media Marketing

UNIT II

Social Media Marketing Social media marketing overview, social media platforms and their features, creating and optimizing social media profiles, social media content strategy, social media advertising and analytics.

Social media

Social media is a digital technology that allows the sharing of ideas, posts and information, including text and visuals, through virtual networks and communities to improve business visibility .

Today it is the best source for news updates, marketing, education and entertainment.

History of Social Media Marketing

Social media may seem like a new trend, but its roots stretch back to the dawn of the computer age. What we see today is the result of the growth of centuries old social media. Started in 1979, Usernet was the first source of social media, and the journey from Usernet to Facebook has been a long one. Allows users to post in newsgroups. After that Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) allowed users to log in and communicate. Online services such as ProGD were precursors to BBS. After online services, Internet relay chat came into light, which gave way to instant messaging.

In the 90s, dating sites and forums were at their peak, which led to the development of social networks. But they didn't let users make friends list. Six degrees have been launched to overcome this feature. It allowed to create a profile and list pears. After playing for a decade it was bought and closed. Blogging emerged at this point, creating a buzz on social media. It is still popular today. Other sites like BlackPlanet (an African-American social website) and Mizente (a Latino) have the opportunity to create profiles and add friends.

Modern social networks came into picture after 2000. Apple launched its Friendster in 2002. It has millions of users. Hi5 and Linkedin were launched in 2003. LinkedIn is a platform for professionals to reach each other. MySpace also originated in 2003 and became popular by 2006. Similarly, Facebook started in 2004 and has surpassed MySpace, Orkut, Multiply etc. and is still expanding. This decade also saw media sharing platforms like Photobucket, Flickr, YouTube, Instagram, etc., as well as news and bookmarking platforms like Digg and Delicious.

Since 2000, social media has blossomed into the horizon and is still expanding without limit. Along with media sharing, many other portals were introduced that provide real-time updates, for example, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Facebook launched its advertising system in 2007.

Social Media Marketing Overview

Social media marketing is the process of using social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of internet marketing that includes making and sharing content on social media networks to accomplish marketing and branding goals. Social media marketing incorporates exercises like posting text and image updates, recordings, and other content that drives consumer commitment, just as paid social media advertising. Social media marketing is the activity of making content to advance business and products on different social media platforms like

Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The extraordinary content ought to be custom-made to the particular platform it's being shared on to help support transformations and increment brand awareness.

“Social media is not just a spoke on the wheel of marketing. It’s becoming the way entire bicycles are built.”

~ Ryan Lilly, writer and author

Purpose and Benefits of Social Media Marketing

People are using social media for a variety of purposes.

The four main uses of social media form the acronym SLIM: sharing, learning, interacting, and marketing. 

Social media marketing (also known as digital marketing and e-marketing) use social media—platforms on which users build social networks and share information—to build a company's brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic.

In addition to providing companies with a way to engage with existing customers and reach new ones, SMM has purpose-built data analytics that allows marketers to track the success of their efforts and identify even more ways to engage.

Social media marketing also helps companies to build loyalty and trust among their customers.

By engaging with their customers and responding to their questions and comments, companies can show that they are listening to their customer’s needs and concerns.

This helps to build trust and loyalty, which can lead to increased sales and customer loyalty.

It can also be used to increase brand awareness and engagement.

 Companies can use social media to create campaigns and promotions that will be seen by a large number of potential customers.

This helps spread the word about the company and its products and services, driving more traffic to its website and increasing its sales.

Social media are online platforms and websites that enable users to create, exchange, and interact with information and content. Typically, these platforms facilitate user-generated content, letting individuals and organisations to share their views, opinions, images, videos, and other forms of media.

Social media platforms have become an integral part of contemporary communication, connecting people from all over the world and allowing them to engage in a variety of activities.

Social media platforms offer an array of interactive and engaging features and functionalities.

Users are able to follow others, connect with friends, like, share, and comment on posts, join communities or groups, and send direct messages.

LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat are among the most widely used social media platforms.

The social impact of social media is significant.

It changed the way in which people communicate, gain access to information, and interact with businesses.

Social media has created new opportunities for businesses to reach their target audience, boost visibility, and engage with consumers.

It has also provided individuals with a forum for expressing their opinions, joining communities, and advocating for causes in which they believe.

It is essential to observe, however, that social media also presents challenges and concerns. Privacy concerns, online harassment, misinformation, and addiction have emerged as potential negative effects of social media use.

Individuals must use social media responsibly, monitor their online presence, and evaluate the information they consume.

List of top five social media brands that have been performing well recently.

1. Zomato

With a following of 901k on Instagram, Zomato has stepped up its game with engaging, catchy, and trending advertisements and campaigns across all social media platforms. Zomato, a popular food delivery and restaurant discovery platform, has implemented a successful social media strategy to engage with its audience.

Here are some key elements of Zomato’s social media strategy:

•Customer engagement

•Promotional campaigns

•Brand advocacy and influencer collaborations

•Trendy and engaging content

By implementing these strategies, Zomato effectively engages with its audience, builds brand loyalty, and establishes itself as a trusted and entertaining source for food-related content.

2. Mamaearth

Mamaearth, with a whopping following of 1.3 million is a popular personal care and beauty brand, has employed a successful social media strategy to connect with its audience. Mamaearth emphasizes authenticity and transparency in its social media communication. They share behind-the-scenes content, provide insights into their manufacturing process, and highlight their natural and toxin-free product formulations.

Here are some key elements of Mamaearth’s social media strategy:

•Authentic and transparent communication

•Contests and product giveaways

•Social listening and responsiveness

•Social impact and sustainability

•Influencer promotional content

Through these strategies, Mamaearth effectively engages with its audience, positions itself as a trusted natural skincare brand, and builds a community of loyal customers who resonate with their values and product offerings.

3. Amul

Amul, the well-known dairy cooperative brand in India, has implemented a successful social media strategy to engage with its audience and has gained a following of upto 423k. Amul is famous for its creative and witty advertisements, and this extends to their social media presence. They create visually appealing and humorous content that resonates with their audience.

Here are some key elements of Amul’s social media strategy:

•Creative and humorous content

•Social commentary

•Engaging contests and campaigns

•Visual storytelling

Their creative and humorous approach, combined with social commentary and visual storytelling, has contributed to their success in leveraging social media as a powerful marketing tool.

4. Lens card

Lenskart, a popular eyewear brand in India, with a following of 883k followers, has implemented an effective social media strategy to engage with its audience. Lenskart’s social media strategy revolves around showcasing eyewear as a fashion and lifestyle accessory.

Here are some key elements of Lenskart’s social media strategy:

•Lifestyle focused content

•Seasonal and trendy campaigns

•Interactive and engaging content

•Customer reviews and Testimonials

Through these strategies, Lenskart effectively engages with its audience, positions itself as a fashionable eyewear brand, and creates a community of eyewear enthusiasts.

5. Sabyasachi

Sabyasachi, a renowned Indian fashion designer, has implemented a distinctive social media strategy to engage with its audience. Sabyasachi’s social media strategy revolves around showcasing its signature designs, including intricate bridal wear, traditional Indian ensembles, and luxury fashion.

Here are some key strategies are:

•Showcasing signature designs

•Story-telling through captions

•Collaborations with celebrities

•Exclusive previews and launches

By employing these strategies, Sabyasachi effectively connects with its audience, establishes itself as a leading luxury fashion brand, and nurtures a community of loyal customers and brand advocates.

Conclusion

The success of a brand’s social media presence can be evaluated in a number of ways. It is important to observe that a brand’s specific goals and objectives on social media may vary, as may the evaluation of its performance. What constitutes achievement for one brand might differ from that of another. Ultimately, a brand’s social media performance must align with its overarching marketing and business goals.

Social media platforms and their features

Social media platforms refer to online platforms and tools that allow people to create, share, and exchange information and content with others.

Social media marketing is becoming increasingly popular for businesses of all sizes, as it provides an easy and cost-effective way to reach new customers. With the right tools, businesses can easily create, manage, and track their social media campaigns.

Here are some of the most popular social media marketing tools to help you get started.

Facebook

Instagram

LinkedIn

Twitter

TikTok

1. Facebook

With more than 3.03 billion active users Facebook is one of the widely used social media marketing platforms. It is the first choice for promoting any content as here you target a large number of people that too of different age groups, locations, gender, behavior, interests, etc. On Facebook, you can also create a custom audience list and reach out directly.

Facebook Ad Manager – Facebook Ad Manager is a powerful tool to manage, create, and track your campaigns on the largest social media platform. With this tool, you can create targeted campaigns, optimize your ad spending, and access detailed insights into the performance of your campaigns. Additionally, you can use Facebook Audience Insights to gain valuable insights into your target audience. Finally, Pages Manager allows you to easily manage your Facebook page, including posts, messages, and reviews.

2. Instagram

Instagram is a visual platform that has more than a 2.4 billion monthly active users and also allows you to surface your business to a large audience. Although it does not allow links within the posts yes you will be provided numerous access for showcasing your creativity to the target audience.

Instagram Ads Manager – Instagram Ads Manager is a great tool for managing, creating, and tracking your campaigns on the world’s most popular photo-sharing platform. With this tool, you can create targeted ads and access detailed insights into the performance of your campaigns. Additionally, you can use Insights to gain valuable insights into your target audience. Finally, Creator Studio allows you to easily manage your Instagram page, including posts, messages, and reviews.

3. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is also a nice platform for promoting your business where you can connect with various business partners, recruit new members as well as share your own creativity. Also, it is a good choice for B2B social media marketing. LinkedIn has been ranked as one of the best websites for generating professional leads.

LinkedIn Ads Manager – LinkedIn Ads Manager is a great tool for managing, creating, and tracking your campaigns on the world’s largest professional network. With this tool, you can create targeted ads and access detailed insights into the performance of your campaigns. Additionally, you can use Analytics to gain valuable insights into your target audience. Finally, Publisher allows you to easily create and manage content on your LinkedIn page.

4. YouTube

It is one of the best social media platforms for highlighting about your company, its culture, products, and other important highlights. YouTube has almost 2.7 billion registered users so if you think that your company can create something creative which can be promoted on YouTube then you can definitely use this great platform for promoting your company in an effective way.

5. Twitter or X

As we know that Twitter is a fast platform where things can get instant reach as here users keep on visiting for new updates. Hence, it makes a good marketing platform where if you keep posting regularly you create a good reputation in the industry where people will come to your page and crave new things. On Twitter, one can easily share blog links, posts, and pages and promote numerous things very easily.

6. Pinterest

Pinterest has over 482 million monthly active users, and it’s a social media platform for sharing products.

If you have an eCommerce business, Pinterest is a MUST for you. 87% of pinners have purchased an item because of Pinterest. You can upload individual photos alongside short descriptions and links to the product page. Pinterest also has a built-in shopping feature that makes it easier for businesses to promote their products on their site.

The marketer can use rich pins to give context to a product, article, recipe, and app pins, and use their advertising options to reach more users. It gives marketers an easy way of directing traffic to their product pages and connecting with potential customers.

7. Reddit

Reddit has more than 430 million monthly active users.

It is a good platform for audience or content reach and interacting with niche audiences. Reddit provides users with similar interests with a platform where they can share ideas. The users can share links, content, or ask questions on topic groups known as subreddits. The good thing is that there are subreddits for nearly any topic.

Marketers can use Reddit as a research tool to know what their audience is talking about and then create content based on that. Other than research, Reddit provides its users with advertising options to help them get their businesses in front of interested users.

8. Snapchat

Snapchat has more than 406 million daily active users.

It is a good platform for sending real-time updates and promoting events. Snapchat allows its users to post photos and videos that remain active on the platform for 24 hours. It makes it good for businesses that need to promote timely events, like product launches or a conference.

It also allows marketers to create custom, branded geotags to promote events in particular locations during a particular period. Snapchat is a well-known platform for an audience that skews younger, making it the best platform to target college students.

9. WhatsApp

Most of us have used WhatsApp at some time in our digital lives—after all, it’s the number one messaging app in more than 100 countries. However, despite its enormous popularity as a personal instant messaging app (boasting over 2.78 billion active users worldwide) its value as a marketing tool is often underrated by brands and businesses. What many don’t know is that, in addition to instant messaging, WhatsApp has a lot to offer its business customers, and is investing heavily in growing the marketing functions of the app.

Use in digital marketing

If you’re hoping to use WhatsApp to boost your digital marketing efforts, then you need to get acquainted with WhatsApp Business. WhatsApp Business is a feature-packed app for the small or large business owner that enables a brand to personally connect with their customers, create catalogs of available products and services (which can be highlighted and promoted individually), and enable support staff to answer customer queries while they shop. The app also offers companies the option of sending relevant and important notifications directly to their customers’ devices.

10. TikTok

Describing itself as “the destination for short-form mobile videos”, TikTok is a relative newbie to the social networking scene, having officially launched in its current form as recently as 2017. Despite its reputation as a social media platform for younger generations, with 1.677 billion active users worldwide, the impact of the site should not be underestimated; TikTok actually ranks higher than both LinkedIn and Twitter in terms of users.

Use in digital marketing

As a creative and collaborative space, TikTok offers plenty of opportunities for marketers to connect with younger audiences on their own turf. It may be famous for dance challenges and lip-synching but there’s plenty of educational and inspirational content on there too.

Here are some ways to take advantage of TikTok for marketing:

•Work with influencers to create content

•Create a branded channel

•Build a TikTok advertising campaign

Social media platform features

Features  / Characteristics / Advantages of Social Media Platforms

Social media plays a crucial role in shaping brands in the following ways:

Social media platforms play a significant role in marketing by providing businesses with a powerful means of reaching and engaging with their target audience. They offer a range of benefits, including:

1.Increased Brand Awareness: Social media platforms allow businesses to showcase their brand, products, and services to a wide audience. By consistently sharing valuable content, businesses can increase their brand visibility and reach potential customers.

2.Audience Engagement: Social media enables direct interaction with customers through comments, messages, and discussions. Businesses can engage with their audience, respond to inquiries, provide customer support, and build relationships, fostering loyalty and trust.

3.Content Distribution: Social media platforms are effective channels for distributing and promoting content such as blog posts, videos, infographics, and other valuable resources. This helps businesses drive traffic to their website, expand their reach, and generate leads.

4.Targeted Advertising: Social media platforms offer sophisticated targeting options to reach specific demographics, interests, and behaviors. Businesses can create highly targeted advertising campaigns to reach the right audience, increasing the chances of conversions and sales.

5.Influencer Marketing: Social media influencers have significant impact and followers in specific niches. Collaborating with influencers relevant to their industry allows businesses to tap into their reach and credibility, leveraging their influence to promote products or services.

6.Customer Insights: Social media platforms provide valuable data and analytics on audience demographics, engagement, and preferences. This data can be used to refine marketing strategies, create targeted content, and better understand customer needs and interests.

7.Reputation Management: Social media allows businesses to monitor and manage their online reputation. They can address customer feedback, respond to reviews, and address concerns publicly, showing a commitment to customer satisfaction and building a positive brand image.

8.Competitive Advantage: Having a strong social media presence is increasingly important in today's digital landscape. Businesses that effectively utilize social media platforms can gain a competitive edge by staying connected with their audience, adapting to trends, and staying top of mind.

Overall, social media platforms offer businesses a valuable opportunity to connect with their target audience, increase brand visibility, drive engagement, and ultimately achieve marketing objectives. 

Creating and Optimizing Social Media Profiles

Need of Social Media for Your Business

If you have a business that sells a product or service, it’s essential to build brand awareness through social media marketing. Not everyone loves social media and it can be a daunting task to get started. But it’s the best way to connect to new customers and with people who already love your company. Customers are more likely to buy from companies that have active social media accounts so it’s not something you should take lightly.

The big four social media platforms are Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. There are others that many people use but may not be relevant to your business like YouTube, Pinterest, Snapchat and Tik Tok. These four are for entertainment or education purposes and could help introduce new customers to your brand.

How to Set Up Social Media Profiles

It’s easy to create accounts on social media, but there is a bit of planning that goes into making your profiles successful from the start. Below we share with you the basic steps and important considerations on setting up social media accounts for your business.

Step 1 — Create Your Account

Most likely you already have social media accounts for personal use. You’ll need to decide if you want to continue using your personal accounts for your business or start new profiles. Most probably you’ll do the latter and create new accounts so you can start fresh. But with some social media like Twitter and Instagram, several types of businesses can easily tweak their personal accounts to represent their business.

For Facebook and LinkedIn, you’ll create a “Page” for your business so you can keep it separate from your personal profile. For Instagram and Twitter, you can “Add an Account” to your personal account to make it easy to switch back and forth between each from one login. Check this article to get help setting up each of your accounts.

Step 2 — Choose a Profile Photo and Banner Image

Your profile photo is going to grab the attention of those scrolling through social media so make sure to choose a great photo. It could be your logo, a headshot or a photo that represents your business. Then you’ll need an eye-catching banner image on many social media platforms to make your profile complete and stand out.

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube have banner images across the top and each has specific size requirements. If you need help creating beautiful images for each social media platform try Canva. Even if you aren’t a graphic designer, Canva has templates in the correct size so designing graphics is a snap.

Step 3 — Write a Compelling Profile Introduction

For each social media platform, you will need an introduction or a blurb about you and your business. Each platform has its own look and character requirements. Write on a saved document a short intro of 160 characters, a medium-length one, and a longer bio so you have these on hand and can tweak them as needed. It can be hard to say everything your customer needs to know in a short profile intro so be succinct.

Step 4 — Create Posts and Schedule Them

The content you create for each social media platform will vary, as it isn’t recommended to post the same things to every platform. They all operate in different ways and have different requirements for images and posts. For instance, Instagram is more image and video centred and has no clickable links, while Facebook does let you share links to content. To save yourself from looking at social media every single day, you’ll want to use a scheduling application that will post things throughout the week for you.

Optimizing Social Media Profiles

Increasing engagement and turning your audience into paying customers doesn’t just happen. Business have to work for it. Specifically, they have to optimize social media pages to reach more people and increase brand awareness. Here are 10 ways to do so for better reach, improved engagement, and higher conversion rates.

Need of Social Media Optimization

Today, over 88% of businesses market on social media. This means two things:

First, you can’t not do it; and second, you can’t do a horrible job at it.

With millions of brands competing for audience attention on various social media platforms, you can’t stay passive and wait for them to come to you. You have to step up your game to get noticed. One of the most effective ways to do this is to optimize

social media accounts. Just make sure you have a firm understanding of cybersecurity for social media to protect yourself! Here are a few tips to help you get started on the right foot.

How to Perfect Social Media Optimization

1. Identify Your Social Media Goals

The first part of the process is to identify what your ultimate goal is for building and optimizing social media accounts. Once you’ve done this, you can start to list the steps that you have to take.

For instance, if your goal is to utilize your social media accounts to boost sales, you will have to take the following steps to increase it.

•Improve audience reach.

•Increase engagement and gain more prospects.

•Generate leads.

•Convert leads to paying customers.

Having an end goal in mind will guide you in figuring out the smaller milestones you need to hit in order to get there.

Don’t forget to make your goals specific and give them numerical values (example: to increase online sales to $10,000/month) so that you’re able to measure your progress.

2. Fill out Your Profiles in Their Entirety

Our second tip — and one of the essentials you should cover when optimizing your social media pages — is to fill out your main profile pages front to back.

What is your page all about?

In order to reach your target audience, you have to make your profile visible in search results. When optimizing it, remember to cover the basics.

Upload a High-Quality Profile Photo

Your brand’s image matters. Thus, you need a good profile picture so people will immediately recognize you. For businesses, using your company logo is an excellent option.

Let People Know What Exactly It is You Do

What kind of company are you? What types of products or services do you offer?

Your profile is supposed to give people insight into who you are and what you do, so allow them to know you. Fill out the information fields with your details, provide them information on what your business does, and so on.

Include Keywords

If you want people to find you easily, then you have to do keyword research and include the high performing ones in your profile. This increases your chances of getting seen.

Add Your Location

Providing your business’s location makes it easier for people who are looking for your products or services nearby to find you. This move can provide you more chances of appearing in local searches. Google loves it.

Determine Your Store Hours

This is more important — yet often overlooked — information. Setting store hours allows your audience to know when to expect a reply from you for their direct messages.

3. Use Hashtags

Hashtags are essentially SEO of social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram. Adding hashtags to your captions increases your chances of exposure. Please take note, however, that they’re not as effective on Facebook.

One thing you should remember when utilizing hashtags is to optimize them for the the social media account to which you’re uploading the content. Your hashtags for Instagram won’t look the same as Twitter. Knowing how to use them right will help you succeed.

Here’s how to use hashtags for social media.

Twitter

Twitter Hashtags are used primarily for searches. For instance, if you want to see tweets or conversations, all you have to do is to search for the hashtag in Twitter’s search bar.

Adding one or two hashtags per tweet is best practice. In fact, studies show that tweets with only one hashtag generate the most engagement.

Instagram

Instagram uses hashtags to group images together. This platform allows up to 30 hashtags per caption, but most experts agree that limiting it to 11 relevant hashtags per post is ideal for the best engagement. (Hint: eClincher can help you determine the best hashtag strategy for your brand.)

Other creative ways to use hashtags is in Instagram and Twitter contests and other campaign promotions.

4. Create Valuable Content That Solves Your Followers’ Problems

Content is the key to your social media marketing success. It’s what draws your audience to you. People love things that provide value to them. Thus, your content, whether created or curated, should not be limited to plain promotional materials.

Furthermore, they should help your followers overcome an obstacle they have.

Here are a few ideas:

Infographics

They’re informative, visually appealing, shareable, and people love them.

Posts That Evoke Emotion

Emotions are an effective way to make people take action. This is the reason why posts that stimulate one’s emotions get a lot of shares, comments, and likes.

News

Sharing news is another excellent strategy on social media. People love to stay in the loop of the latest happenings.

5. Use Images

The right images can make a person notice you. This is something all brands need in order to increase engagement, especially with the enormous (and growing) amount of content lining up in every user’s feed, fighting for attention.

But with the number of images popping up on feeds, how do you make your content stand out?

Studies confirm that each platform has a different preference when it comes to social media content. What may garner a lot of attention on Facebook may not necessarily receive the same response on Instagram.

Test out different approaches and use a tool like eClincher to see which posts garner the most attention.

6. Include Calls-to-Action

Calls-to-action (CTAs) encourage your audience to respond to your content. They helps boost engagement and convert your audience into leads. Below are a few tips to make the most out of your CTAs.

Make Offers That Your Audience Wants

This a popular and effective strategy for increasing engagement. Giving away eBooks and other resources in exchange for their information is an excellent way of converting leads.

Be Specific

Do you want your visitor to like you on Facebook?

Sign up for your newsletter? Enter your contest?

Tell them exactly that.

Make Them as Simple and Short as Possible

Don’t make people work too hard to accomplish your CTAs — like by asking for a ton of information. CTAs should be quick and straightforward.

7. Use Attention-Grabbing Headlines

Headlines matter and can make or break it when it comes to getting your followers to stop

for a second look.

Here are some tips.

Start With Numbers

According to Moz, headlines that start with numbers resonate most with people. An example is the title of this article: 10 Ways to Optimize Social Media.

Don’t Be Afraid to Go Negative

Using negative words like “worst” and “never” can sometimes have better results compared to positive words. So, titles like “3 Things You Should Never Do On Social Media” may receive more engagement.

8. Be Active on Social Media Sites That Add Value to Your Business

You don’t have to be present on every single social media platform to increase awareness and promote your brand. You need to choose only the platforms that will benefit your business. Now, the question is, which platforms should you utilize?

Below are some recommendations for each social media platform.

Facebook

With over 2.27 billion monthly active users, Facebook is undoubtedly one of the leading social media platforms today.

Every business should have a Facebook account regardless of what industry they belong to. Why? Because search engines consider Facebook as a local SEO signal. They check your profile when filtering out their local search results.

Therefore, if you want to be more “searchable” when users include the area where you do business in their search, then you have to have a Facebook business account.

Instagram

Instagram is a great social media platform for businesses that can gain a lot by relying on visuals. Examples are fashion, travel, and food.

Twitter

Twitter is perfect for news and information, but it can also be utilized for your company’s support or customer service.

Pinterest

Did you know that 87% of Pinterest users purchased a product because of the platform? It’s one of the social media platforms with the most successful conversion rates.

Ideal for businesses that deal with arts, crafts, and events, Pinterest is an excellent platform for brands that have visual products. (To be clear, though, you can be outside of these industries and still see massive success on the platform.)

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the platform that’s most ideal for B2B, or business-to-business, transactions. If you’re selling products that are targeted to other businesses, it’s recommended to include LinkedIn on your list of main social media platforms.

Only choose the platforms that can help you best promote your brand, products, or services so you can focus your attention on the things that matter for your company. Choosing only two or three that perform well is better than having five that don’t.

9. Optimize Your Posting Schedule

If you’re posting high-quality content but you’re still not getting results, then one of the possible reasons why is your posting schedule. You have to schedule your posts during the time when your audience is most active online.

This will be different for each brand. Furthermore, it can differ from one platform to the next. The best you can do is test different times and measure the results.

eClincher will measure the engagement of every post you share, so you can determine the best times of day for your brand on each platform.

10. Track Your Progress

The only way to see if your social media accounts are properly optimized is by tracking your progress. See how much engagement you’re getting. Take note of the number of times your post was shared, the number of comments each post received, the number of likes, etc. before you change any part of your strategy.

This will help you determine the strategies and methods that work for you and those that don’t. eClincher’s analytics will help you with every piece of these.

Once you have credible, data-backed information, you’ll be able to make better decisions and more effectively optimize social media accounts.

What social media optimization strategies have you tried so far, and which ones worked best for your business? Share your experience with us in the comments.

Social Media Content Strategy

Social media content strategy is the process of planning, creating, and implementing various types of content on different social media platforms.

A documented content strategy is indispensable for an organization’s social media marketing initiatives to be successful. Also, social media is itself one of the most effective platforms for posting content online in order to capture the attention of your audience.

Many B2C and B2B businesses don’t have a documented content marketing strategy, which is why their presence on the social media channels turns out to be of little value.

Need of Social Media Content Strategy

If you are still wondering why you need a social media content plan, here are a few reasons to consider:

ØIt Saves Time  

Some marketers mistakenly assume that preparing a detailed strategy means spending a lot of time. But in reality, not having a social media content calendar is more costly in the long run because at some point, you are at a loss of what to post next.

There is also an opportunity cost gone into posting randomly without a methodology to follow. A well-delineated strategy saves time and moves you towards your goals.

ØIt Supports Business Objectives  

When you are in the process of planning social media content, you automatically understand the target customer as a key part of the content strategy. Knowing them and the platforms they use are secrets that ultimately turn social media into a revenue generating machine.

As the strategy focuses on your end customer, it ends up driving ROI for, especially, ecommerce businesses.

ØIt Provides Measurable Results  

Social media reporting or social monitoring is a significant part but also a pain point for many marketers. There is no particular way of knowing whether you are achieving your goals.

But with a robust social media content strategy, it is easy to define most of the important metrics, including those that confirm if the strategy is paying off. Ecommerce marketers also get a way to prove which topics and formats are doing the best so that they can create more of those.

3 Best Examples of Content Strategy for Social Media Marketing

1. Gillette

The men’s skincare and grooming brand showed that a social media content strategy is not always about marketing a product. In 2019, they came up with the YouTube advertisement video, ‘The Best Men Can Be’.

The ad brought forth cases of men questioning and struggling with the conventional concept of masculinity. It acknowledged that every man is not the same and that men should hold each other responsible for setting good examples for the next generation.

The brand took advantage of the #metoo movement and sent a thought-provoking message to the society. The video was extremely successful with over 30 million users.

2. Apple: #ShotOniPhone

Apple had introduced the #ShotOniPhone as part of one of its social media campaigns and since then, it has become a major part of all the Apple iPhone launches.

The hashtag is used to discuss camera features, improvements, and different functions of the camera app while also encouraging the customers to add more content across the different platforms. Apple successfully used content to achieve long-term solid results with minimal effort.

3. Loot Crate

Look Crate does an amazing job with its social media content strategy by knowing who exactly the audience is. It is a subscription service that sends a box to you. Even with its apparently scattered Instagram feed, the customer targeting is on point.

This is probably the first and the most important thing that one needs to get right when launching a social media content strategy and the brand does it right.

Social media advertising

Social media advertising is a type of social media marketing where you use paid media to promote your business on any of its many channels. This media comes in many formats and placements and supports a range of creative, from images and video to immersive experiences.

It’s also referred to as paid social. Whereas with paid search where you target keywords and terms, on social, you target audiences, interests, and behaviors. Social media ads are also generally more visual and branded, and quite native to the platform—so much so that they can sometimes be hard to identify as ads.

Benefits of social media advertising

As with any PPC strategy, social media advertising has lots of benefits for businesses.

Here are some reasons to advertise on social media:

•Cost-effective:PPC in general yields an average 200% ROI. In addition, paid social is a lower-cost alternative to targeting your competitors' audience on search. 

•Brand awareness:Not only are social media networks vast, but also, the visual ads allow you to customize them to your branding and style. 

•Engagement:In addition to ad clicks, users can interact with social media ads by liking, sharing, and commenting. 

•Formats: As mentioned above, social media ads support a wide range of formats and media types

•Targeting:Because users share detailed information about themselves on the platforms, social media ads allow for granular targeting. 

•Not disruptive: For the most part, social media ads are often hard to distinguish from organic posts on the platforms, making them a less disruptive way to reach your audience.

A Facebook ad for Tiktok advertising...how meta...

Social media advertising stats

To give you a sense of how big the social media ad market is, let’s take a look at a few stats:

•Social media ads are the fourth biggest source of brand discovery and the second most popular channel for online brand research.
 

•Social media advertising is the second biggest market in digital ads ($153 billion in 2021), after search advertising.

•Google controls 28.6% of global digital ad spend, while Meta (Facebook) is not far

behind at 23.7%

Most popular social media advertising channels

The most popular social media platforms for advertising are, unsurprisingly the same as those for organic marketing.

These include:

•Facebook

•YouTube

•Instagram

•LinkedIn

•TikTok

•Twitter

•Pinterest

•Snapchat

•Quora

•Reddit

Working of Social Media Ads

As mentioned above, while search ads operate primarily on keyword targeting, social ads are based on audience targeting. Each platform has its own features, settings, and formats, but they do share some general traits:

•Auction style: Just like the way Google Ads works, social ads are an auction-style of PPC where an algorithm determines placements and costs based on a number of criteria—including ad quality, maximum bid, and past performance.

•Campaign objectives: For most platforms, the first step in creating a campaign is to choose an objective. Usually there are three to represent top, middle, and bottom of funnel.

•Reach/awareness

•Leads/engagement

•Conversion/sales

•Targeting: You’re able to target users on each platform by demographics, interests, and behaviors as well as create retargeting and lookalike audiences. Every platform is different, but this guide to Facebook audience targeting can help you get an overall grasp.

•Account structure: While naming conventions vary for each platform, each one has an account structure that allows you to organize ads into groups and then organize groups into campaigns. 

 Social Media Analytics

Social media analytics refers to the collection of data and metrics that help you measure your overall social media performance. This helps marketers understand which types of social media content best resonate with their audience so they can shape and adapt their strategy accordingly. Reviewing social media analytics reports empowers teams to make data-informed decisions about how to transform their marketing efforts and grow their businesses.

Marketers can conduct social media analysis natively on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly known as Twitter). Marketers can also use social media management software like Sprout to dive deeper into the numbers.

Social media analytics acquires and evaluates data from different social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Instagram, and more. Without a social media analytics system, it is difficult to track, monitor, and make sense of the information spread out in comments, posts, shares, and promotions.

Benefits of social media analytics

From identifying market trends to making processes and products efficient, there are numerous reasons businesses use social media analytics.

1.Identify market trends

Collect information from different social media channels to analyse customer behaviour and illustrate industry trends.

2.Gauge customer engagement

Analyse how social media users engage with the marketing material and understand if your campaigns are churning to their full potential. Allow customers to engage with your brand through their questions and other online discussions.

3.Study the demographics

Social media statistics help businesses analyse which customer demographics support or purchase a product or service. Using this information, marketing specialists can improve or change their strategy.

4.Detect inefficiencies in the company or products

Monitor the customers’ opinions about your products and services and use these insights to improvise. Know why people like a specific brand and how you can align your other brands accordingly.

Direct benefits of social media analytics

Social media is a powerful tool to boost sales, increase brand awareness and trust, and increase customer satisfaction. The goldmine of online information helps you achieve these direct benefits –

1.Measure social media ROI

Agencies can directly showcase their value to brands. One of the direct value outputs of social media analytics is the ROI of campaigns. Brands can use the ROI analysis to further invest in targeting more customers and bringing them to the website.

2. Refine your social media strategy

Use analytics to understand which marketing strategies are working better than the others. Focus your efforts and money on those that deliver actual value and improvise on those that do not.

3. Get a better understanding of the audience

Most people have a digital footprint, and that provides valuable information about your needs and preferences. Marketers can use this information to engage with the audience in real-time.

4. Benchmark against competitors

Use social media analytics to identify competitors. Know what they do well and where their social media gaps are. Using this information, you can align your campaigns for greater competitive advantage.

5 Metrics you can track with social media analytics

Social media analytics provide specific and targeted data about the audience using these key analytics.

Performance metrics

Know where your strategic efforts are successful and where they need improvement. The most important performance metrics to track social media analytics are –

1.Growth pattern in the count of followers.

2.Click-through rate on the links in posts.

3.The number of effective interactions across platforms.

Audience Analytics

Businesses want to create and distribute content that solves real-life problems for their audience. By knowing what answers your audience is searching for, you can provide relevant content and improve their experience.

Competitor Analytics

This helps businesses understand how their online presence is. Competitor analytics compares two or more businesses, assesses the relative effectiveness of their campaigns and suggests areas for improvement.

Paid social media Analytics

Advanced analytics tools tell marketers which campaigns will work better than others. This reduces your spending on risky and less productive campaigns.

The following metrics help you achieve this –

1.Cost per click.

2.Cost per engagement.

3.Number of active ads.

4.Cost per purchase.

5.Number of clicks.

6.Total ad expenditure.

7.Cost per action.

8.Click-through rate.

Influencer Analytics

Get precise metrics for successful influencer campaigns. Some influencer analytics businesses can use are –

1.Engagement per thousand followers.

2.Size of audience and most useful hashtags.

3.The number of posts per day/week to gauge the influencer’s engagement power.

4.Influencer’s prior engagement with brands.

Sentiment Analytics

It is a crucial analytics tool to know if your campaign is succeeding or failing. It can help identify potential issues with customer experience while the campaign is running. Monitor interactions and engagement rates over time for healthy growth.