Social media marketing basics is a part of a digital marketer’s know-how and in this article, we will talk about the basics that you didn’t think you need to know. From content creation to gaining new subscribers to engaging with your audience, there’s plenty for you to do in social media marketing and it requires a variety of strategies and skills.
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing is basically using a number of social media platforms to reach out and advertise to your target audience to achieve your goals for your business. These goals may include increasing your brand awareness, interacting with more people, generating leads, and even getting more sales.
Social media management is the term used to refer to the action of putting together a social media marketing strategy and implementing that plan into action. These strategies can include free, organic, and paid advertising tactics.
How much does it cost to advertise on social media?
There is no single answer for this query because the cost of social media depends on what you do. You can allot as much budget as you can to run social media ads, although some platforms have some minimum spend requirements to it will vary.
If you are hesitating in spending money on ads, you can start with an organic social media strategy.
Being Up-To-Date with Social Media
Social media is ever-evolving. There are always changes in it once in a while, new features and upgrades, and sometimes new apps enter the game and some old ones rest in peace.
Because of its ever-changing nature, learning will never stop once you dabble in this field. That’s why keeping up with the trends and latest news is crucial so you can stay on top of things.
There’s a lot going on in the social media world and for this article, we are going to break down the information into 3 parts: before posting, when posting, and after posting.
Before Posting on Social Media
When you don’t have a plan before you post on your social media, it’s like you’re walking in a stranger’s house with the lights off with no one to guide you inside. It’s scary, it’s not ideal, and you’ll surely bump on some obstacles along the way.
There are 3 social media marketing basics you need to know before posting anything on any of your platforms: who you want to reach, what your goals are, and your brand voice and style.
Social Media Marketing Basics #1: Your Target Market
Knowing who your audience is is the biggest thing you need to learn early on in the social media game if you want to succeed in marketing your business. Your content needs to satisfy and interest other people so that they will more likely interact and follow you. When you know who your audience is, you’ll know what type of content you should put out.
When you decide to create social media ads, knowing who to target is incredibly crucial because you don’t want to waste your resources targeting the wrong people. By properly advertising to your target market, you’ll have a successful campaign that will then earn you a positive return on investment.
Social Media Marketing Basics #2: Your Goals
Your goals are like your destination and your plans are your stepping stones to reach your goals. If you don’t follow along with your plans, you may never reach the destination you’re planning to land on.
That said, your plans should align with the goals you have so you don’t go off course. Just like what we said in our previous article: How to Create a Digital Marketing Plan, Goal + Plan = Strategy.
Social Media Marketing Basics #3: Your Brand Voice and Style
Find your tone of voice and style before you decide to post anything on your socials. Are you formal? Playful? Serious? Humorous? Friendly?
What style do you think will suit your brand best? How do you see your brand visually? Do you have a brand color, font, or catchphrase? Determine your branding and follow them through to have consistency.
Read: Personalizing Your Brand | The Power of A Personal Brand
Aside from these 3 social media marketing basics, don’t forget to make time to research and review your competitors on social media. To gather knowledge and inspiration, look into the trending hashtags and topics that your audience is looking at and talking about.
When You’re Ready to Post on Social Media
When you have already determined your goals, settled your plans, know who your audience is, and determined your brand voice and style, you can now start planning your social media calendar. This is basically just the guide and outline of what content you are going to put out on each platform at a certain period of time. You can make it however you like, though mostly this is done with spreadsheets.
You can repurpose content from your other content efforts such as blog posts, case studies, infographics, videos, and other forms of content you already have. Social media is important in establishing your authority and building trust with your potential clients. That’s why you need to make sure that your content is relevant and can be useful for your followers.
Don’t forget your goals and always be on-brand while making your content calendar. Make your content relevant and helpful for your audience. If you can provide solutions to their problems, post about that. Speak to your followers and engage with them. Use your social media platforms like they do to connect with them.
Also, don’t be pressured to be on all platforms. Just use the ones where the majority of your audiences are. There’s no use being active on everything because you’re just going to spread yourself thin, which is not a good thing.
After Posting on Social Media
Now that you’ve scheduled your posts, you just don’t leave it and do not care about what happens next.
After implementing your social media strategy, you have to regularly check on your posts and how they are performing. Track your analytics and analyze what they mean. See which post works better and structure your strategy based on these analytics you got.
Don’t ignore your audience because they are your lifeline. If your content appeals to your viewers, you’ll definitely get likes, shares, and comments. Pay attention to these things so that you can incorporate this information to improve your strategy.
Wrap Up
And those are the social media marketing basics you need to know. It’s not much but it’s the general things you have to keep in mind because this whole cycle repeats all over. When you run the social media marketing strategy for your business, don’t forget to keep up with the trends and your industry’s news, because this will help you make your strategy better.
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