WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING?

Social media is a vital marketing tool to increase brand awareness, drive website traffic and generate leads.

What is social media marketing?

Social media marketing is about gaining attention for your business through social media sites. It involves encouraging viewers to share engaging content through their social networks.

Anyone and any business with internet access can use social media. That’s why platforms like Twitter, Facebook, Google Business, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and TikTok can engage and connect with a global target audience in ways that other communications platforms don’t.

Why is social media marketing important?

In today’s globally connected world, social media plays an increasingly important role in the way people communicate. It impacts how businesses, large and small, manage their business communications and marketing campaigns.

Social media is a way for businesses to connect with potential customers on social media platforms.

Brands can reach a large number of people within seconds of posting social media ads and other digital content.

The power of social media marketing

Successful social media marketing can help your business increase brand awareness, drive website traffic, and increase sales in a really cost-effective way.

With 63% of the global population now online, you can’t ignore the power of digital marketing and the importance of using social media platforms to engage with new and existing customers.

What is the difference between social media marketing and traditional marketing?

Social media marketing involves social media platforms to promote and sell products and services.

Conventional marketing involves using a non-digital marketing channel – think newspapers, TV, radio, and direct mail to attract customers and increase sales.

Another key point of difference is social media marketing allows for more fluid, personalised messaging. Traditional tactics are usually more static with a broader target audience reach.

Types of social media marketing

If you are thinking about your social strategy, it’s important to understand the options available:

There are essentially five types of social media:

1. Social networking. Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are ‘networking’ social media platforms because they allow users to communicate with each other via social media posts.
2. Photo sharing. Examples of these social media networks include Instagram and Pinterest. They are a great way for brands to create engaging content that displays products in their best light while keeping followers and other social media users updated.
3. Video sharing. Popular video-sharing platforms for engaging social media audiences include Instagram, YouTube and Vimeo. Video is the king of social media elevating digital marketing efforts and offering great ROI.
4. Interactive media. New entrants to the social media world, like TikTok, offer an interactive experience allowing users to share photos and videos. Add this platform to your social media marketing plan if you want to target Gen-Z specifically. Check out more info about including TikTok in your digital marketing strategy.
5. Blogging/Community. An example of a blogging or community-building social media platform is Tumblr. It allows you to write a blog post and link to your website. Reddit is a discussion platform for social media posts, including sharing links to see how users respond.

Creating a social media marketing strategy

Just getting started in digital marketing? Want to get the best ROI for your social media marketing campaign?

If you’re looking to include social media as part of your marketing communications, you need to think about your objectives and who you’re targeting.

Social media marketing management

Like all communication, there’s no ‘off the peg’ solution. Social media marketing requires alignment with your goals to be fully effective.

That’s where AMBITIOUS can help.

From the get-go, we can ensure you integrate your business objectives with your communications plan so it’s relevant and worthwhile for your business.

We understand how you can get the best value out of social media, reaching the audiences you want and engaging them.

From LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook to Snapchat and TikTok, we work out the best strategy and can every aspect of social media.

Help with all aspects of social media activity

Our social media management services include the following:

Social media audit

A full audit of your social media footprint and competitors. We look at what’s in place, and using social media listening tools, we track what’s being posted, said and shared. This insight helps to inform your strategy.

Social media strategy

We develop a social media strategy that supports your commercial objectives. This provides the framework – audiences, channels, content and the marketing resources required.

Social media profile set up

We identify and set up social networks best suited to your business needs.

Social media content

With the right platforms in place, getting the social media content right is key to successful engagement. We develop copy, images, videos and social media ad campaigns to inspire and create better engagement.

Community management

We support content outreach and ongoing communications. We also identify relevant communities to engage, helping to broaden your social media network.

Monitoring

Using social media management tools, we track conversations, trends, engagement, messages and stories. Through a mix of free tools and paid monitoring tools, we understand your customers’ behaviour, sentiment and actions.

Competitor monitoring

We monitor your competitors’ digital marketing activity, providing valuable insight for your business.

Real-time marketing

Social media marketing in ‘real-time’ focuses on timely and topical content that gets you in front of people when it matters.

We are experts at identifying trending topics and keeping track of the news agenda. We can then maximise opportunities that support your business messages and objectives.

Social media evaluation

If you’ve invested time and resources in publishing content on social media, you’ll want to know how it’s performing. One of the best things about social media marketing is the ability to track everything through social media analytics.

Most social media platforms have built-in data analytics tools that we can use to track the progress and success of your social media ads and posts. Read more in our blog about social media analytics.

Social media advertising: what you need to know

Social media advertising is a type of digital marketing that uses social networks to deliver paid ads to your target audience.

Social media ads are a quick and effective way to connect with a wider target audience that doesn’t follow you to boost your marketing campaigns.

Paid social ads offer potentially high rates of return because you can deliver personalised content to your audiences based on demographics, interests and user behaviour.

Adding social media ads to your marketing mix

When it comes to social media marketing and digital PR, you need to look at the combined roles of paid, owned and earned media as part of your marketing communications mix.

PR has long been associated with earned media – where PR activity reaches out to the media to get them to write and publish stories.

With the integration of communications channels and platforms, supporting campaign activity with paid-for social media is a powerful PR tool and one being used with increasing effectiveness.

Keeping ahead in social media marketing

Social media platforms are constantly changing. Social networks are adapting their platforms so businesses can use social media advertising and organic posts to maximise profits.

It’s vital that businesses keep ahead of the latest trends in social media marketing to ensure it keeps delivering results. We can help set up and manage your social media campaigns on all social media platforms, from Facebook to Twitter.

To learn more about planning for success on social media or chat about your online presence, drop us a line today.