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According to Wikipedia: Social Media Marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. As this brings us not much further, the next question is: what is a social media platform (or social media website)? It is a place on the Internet where users with a specified interest can meet and interact with each other.
Well-known examples of social media platforms are Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp, Linkedin, Youtube, Instagram, and Snapchat. Platforms that you might have heard about but that have failed are, for instance: Google Plus, Vine, Yik Yak & Friendster. There are a lot more that have and haven’t made it, but you got the gist.
There are several reasons why social media marketing helps your business. All the reasons center around one broad subject: communication. In the following, you will find the most important reasons why you must have a presentation on a social platform. Not every platform is good enough for your business. You have to pick the right one for you and your audience.
Communication via a social media platform is accessible and goes fast. With the current possibilities of, for instance, chatboxes or WhatsApp, the talking between you and your visitors becomes very natural. Having in-person meetings is less and less required. Social media could speed up the process from prospective visitors becoming paying customers.
All social media platforms and networks are based on communication. Albeit communication via text, audio, or video, it is all communication. When the conversation focuses on your company and your audience, we call it public relations.
Every platform offers an opportunity to share your views with other people. You can share the opinion of your company. Or you can tell the audience about personal things. Although it is most likely business that we are talking about!
Your message is essential. If you want your message to be heard and understood by your audience, you need a social media strategy.
Within a few clicks, almost everybody on the planet is within reach. Granted, you won’t have immediate access to everybody as not everybody wants to connect with you! However, the possibilities of reaching out and finding more people interested in your story have grown immensely, offering both you and your customers a lot of opportunities to help each other. Further, the amount of people being connected via a social network grows steadily. See for an example here the growth of Facebook users.
Having an account at a social media platform means that other people or businesses can find you. You are visible to them. And without you knowing, these businesses can research the services of your company. When it satisfies them, you could have a new customer. Without all the troubles finding customers other ways. Easy peasy, this is what digital social media marketing brings you.
Showing the whereabouts of your company at any platform becomes an even better opportunity when you realize that having an account factually implies having a visible advertisement up for your business. Without paying for it!
Keep in mind here that each platform has the set of rules and guidelines, as mentioned earlier, of how you should communicate at their platform. Please get to know these rules and apply your communication accordingly, or you will get penalized. Also, keep in mind that due to this uniqueness of each platform, your message must be platform-specific. Stay away from trying to use one message at different forums. Your users will see it, not reward it, and it will cost you. You have to attack and conquer each platform with a slightly adapted message.
So, when sending a message out on Twitter, make sure that you adapt this message before sending it to your Facebook users. And always, always, ask yourself before sending out any message, if the message fits into your social media strategy. Also, ask if the message brings value to the reader. If not, don’t send it.
Every platform around has its type of audience. Moreover, each platform has its kind of rules and regulations. To make every outreach as worthy as possible, you need a social media strategy.
For instance, if your product targets adults, you most likely don’t want to present your stuff at a platform that focuses on kids. That is a no-brainer. Also, if the platform focuses on video content, and you are not very good at video, you should consider presenting your company differently.
Another fact to consider is that people are looking for value. They are looking for “what’s in it for me.” When the only thing you want to tell the world about is how excellent your services, products, and company are, the chances are that no one is interested in your message. As a result, your presence at social media sites will lead to a stiff decrease in your popularity. Your company might become out of sight!
Social media platforms are excellent places to put an ad up. There is a lot of traffic, and there are a lot of people. Depending on the type of social media site your audience resides on, an ad will get you a very high return on the investment.
When you want to advertise at Google, there is Google Adwords. For Facebook, it is called Facebook Ads. You can already start advertising for only a couple of dollars a day, provided you know what you do.
Digital marketing agency Denver can help you with structuring your social media strategy. Interested?
Google says that activity at social media platforms is not a direct ranking signal. However, almost contrarily, they also say that such action correlates with the ranking at their search engines. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that social activity will add indirectly to your ranking. To improve this (indirect) ranking, the subject of Linkbuilding comes into play again.
The last opportunity from social media is that you can have a very personal relationship with your audience. On a forum or social network site, you can answer questions. Treating real-life Q&A this way will get you two results.
The first one is a satisfied customer. She has a question, and the company answers it straight away. Although you might think this is a standard business practice, many reviews about companies on the Internet prove that this is not the case. Positive reviews also work very well for reputation management.
The second result is that other people see you dealing with remarks and issues. If you do well, these other people will reward you. At that moment, your Q&A also helps with the Public Relations of your company.
A very last side-benefit of being active at social media platforms is that it gives you more opportunity to know what your competitors are doing. You can literally spy on them. But beware, they can (and will) do the same to you.
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