clueless about social media marketing? - curate bee€¦ · admittedly, social media marketing can...
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CLUELESS ABOUTSOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?Here’s What You Need to Know
BY SANDRA D’SOUZA
Social media marketing is a blessing for small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs). It is relatively easy to do and can be very inexpensive,
therefore it can help level the playing field for these smaller companies in
terms of marketing their brands online. An SME can have a social media
presence that is as e�ective as a large company’s. But what if you haven’t
started yet? Don’t worry—it’s definitely not too late! Here’s everything
you need to know about getting started in social media marketing for
your business.
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media is a sort of catch-all term for various networks that people and businesses
use to communicate online. What makes it “social” is the fact that people share
information with other people in their networks. If a person communicates with your
company on social media, the people in that person’s network will also be able to see
your social media presence.
Social media marketing is simply a way to promote your business using the same social
media tools. For example, you use Facebook and Twitter to stay in touch with friends
and family. You use them in the same way to stay in touch with your customers,
promote your brand, and market your products or services.
5How Is Social Media MarketingDi�erent from Other Kinds of Marketing?
With social media marketing, you are meeting your prospective customers where they
are. They are already on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. If you are there
too, you can get in front of them—and here’s where the magic happens. Once you get
in front of them, you can engage them and get them to interact with your brand. They
can watch a video about your product, participate in discussions, or view photos which
they can then share with those in their networks. This in turn creates more buzz for
your business. The more people talking about and sharing what you put on your social
media accounts, the better your chances of reaching more people and generating
more leads for your business.
The di�erence between social media
marketing and other forms of marketing
can be summed up in one word:
engagement. When you take out an ad in
a newspaper or magazine, you’re
assuming that a potential customer will
see that ad, read it, and seek out your
business to make a purchase. The same
goes for direct mail, TV, and even
billboards. That’s a lot of assumptions!
Social Media Marketing by the Numbers
Meanwhile, there are over 5 million businesses which use Instagram to promote their
wares. Instagram—or simply IG as millennials like to call it—is a photo-sharing social
network, so if your products or services have any visual appeal, it will be useful if
you’re on IG as well.
According to updated stats, around 95% of people aged 18-34 follow at least one
brand on social media. Also, visual content (photos and videos) are 40 times more
likely to be shared on social media compared to other kinds of content. In the land of
the little blue bird a.k.a. Twitter, there are currently around 320 million active users
worldwide. Back to Facebook, there are around 40 million active small business pages.
So what does all this tell us? Simple: Ignoring social media marketing is basically akin
to hiding your brand from lots and lots of people.
The number of people
using social media is truly
astounding. As of May 2017,
Facebook—the biggest
social network out
there—has 1.94 billion
active monthly users. That’s
1.94 billion people who use
Facebook at least once
every month. It also
reaches every
demographic, most age
brackets, and di�erent
income categories.
Advantages of Social Media Marketing
For example, in February 2016, the total amount of views generated by Facebook
videos is an astounding 199 billion. That’s just for one month—imagine if a chunk of
that was generated by a video you created for your business. Impressive, yes?
Of course, it also goes without saying that you must be careful with what you post and
make sure your products and services are actually good before promoting online.
Because, while going viral on social media can really be a big boost for your marketing
e�orts, it can be destructive for your brand as well. You don’t want word to get out
about a major mistake your business made or a sub-par product your company
created now, do you?
The biggest advantage of social media
marketing is its viral reach. You are
engaging with your customers and
they are engaging with their network.
Essentially, you are turning your
customers into ambassadors for your
brand. Your products may never come
up in face-to-face conversations
between friends, but they will come up
on social media and people might just
share them, potentially growing your
business organically.
SettingYourself Apart
With all the people and businesses using social media, it can get a little crowded. Make
sure you set yourself apart from the crowd by bringing your brand to the fore. Your
social media accounts should have a common theme and be brand recognisable. You
could adopt a social media personality that will draw positive attention to your brand
and make it stand out more. Be warned though; you should be consistent with how you
set up your social media profiles—confusion is never a good thing!
You could also focus on what makes your business better or your products and
services unique. Building on your business’ unique selling proposition will directly
communicate what you want to say to your online audience, which is probably
something like, “Here we are, check out our products, and see why they’re better than
the rest!”
You should also devote time to being active on social media and consistently
communicate with those on your business’ social media networks. Remember: the
social media world, as a whole, has a very short attention span. If you’re dormant for
too long or become uninteresting, your followers will soon forget about your brand.
Getting Started
There’s a lot to learn about social media marketing, so try not to get overwhelmed.
Take it one step at a time. You can start with the network you use the most—this will
probably be Facebook, although it could be Twitter or even LinkedIn—only this time
you must adopt a business approach. This will help familiarise yourself in terms of what
needs to be done. It also pays to assess your options and answer key questions. Which
social network does your target market visit the most? What kinds of content do they
like? What kinds of content should I share?
Admittedly, social media marketing can be a hit-or-miss a�air in the beginning but, in
time, you’ll be able to get the hang of it and know which social media strategies work
best for your brand. However, if you really need to jumpstart things and get useful
advice and guidance on social media marketing, don’t hesitate to contact us at Curate
Bee Digital. Our busy “bees”will be hard at work in helping you build a social media
presence that will do wonders for your business!
