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| Social Media Illustration. Image by Gerd Altmann | Pixabay |
Did you know that the average person spends an hour or forty minutes on social media every day? Social media use accounts for around 28% of the time we spend on the internet.
Many of our daily activities occur online, from shopping, studying, or tutoring to checking bank accounts. One thing that can be done through social media is social media marketing.
Social media marketing is how to market products via the internet using social media platforms. This type of marketing can be profitable continuously, and almost all businesses understand the importance of investing in this type of marketing.
However, many don't know how to start. In this social media marketing guide, we'll learn everything you need to know. But before we start, let's first discuss what social media is.
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Definition of Social Media
Social media is a general term for websites and applications that focus on communication, interaction, content sharing, and community collaboration. Forum websites, microblog sites, social networks, and wikis are some of the different types of social media.
Many people use social media to stay connected and interact with friends and family. Meanwhile, quite a few also use it for business activities. Many business people use social media as a way to market and promote their products.
Why do Businesses Need Social Media Marketing?
According to data from Market Force, 81% of consumers purchasing decisions are influenced by their friends' social media posts.
In other words, when followers interact with your social media account, what happens next is not just interaction but also the influence of buying actions.
Then, according to data from Hubspot, 71% of social media users said that they were more likely to make transactions after they saw reviews or references from social media.
So when there are consumers who refer your business to other people via social media, there is a possibility that other people will be more interested in seeing your business.
According to other data from Bazaarvoice, conversions can increase by 133% if a buyer sees an interesting review about your business before they shop. Reviews, whether from Google or other social media platforms, can convince consumers to try a product or service.
Social media provides easy access for customers to find out more about the business or brand itself and see reviews and opinions from other customers.
What Social Media Platform is Suitable for Marketing?
Out there, there are many social media platforms that can be used for social media marketing. It all comes back to your needs. The following is a list of the most popular and widely used social media.
Facebook is one of the most widely used social media sites today. Facebook even has full support for its Marketplace feature. Consumers can see business operational times and store locations via the maps feature. Apart from that, consumers can also leave reviews and view the latest content. You can use the Facebook Ads service to reach new audiences quickly and precisely.
X (Twitter)
Next is Twitter or X, social media with the blue bird logo or X. Amid the onslaught of Facebook and Instagram, Twitter can survive. This social media is actually only effective for conversation. There are many businesses that use it just to add links to their blogs without having to engage in meaningful engagement.
Apart from that, you can also create polls and content that ends with a question to start a conversation. This is done so that you get more retweets and responses. Twitter chat is also a great way to build relationships with the community and start conversations about business.
Even though it is under Facebook ownership, Instagram is different from its parent company. Instagram prioritizes sharp visuals and engaging videos across its platforms. Instagram users also continue to increase and have the highest engagement rate compared to other social media platforms.
To use Instagram, you can use all the available features. You can create stories, post photos, and use relevant hashtags to start conversations and get new followers. Apart from that, you can also use user-generated content on Instagram, you know!
If your business operates in the B2B industry, you must have a LinkedIn account. You need to create a profile for your business. LinkedIn helps to find talent or promote businesses. LinkedIn is widely used by professionals to share industry news and content about careers and professional life.
Make sure the content you create on LinkedIn is interesting and useful in terms of being valuable, actionable, and inspiring friends and potential customers. This is content that is often shared or distributed on LinkedIn to get a lot of engagement. You can also use the LinkedIn Ads service to expand your reach.
Pinterest is certainly different from other social media. Pinterest focuses on saving content so that its users can save it. Pinterest can be said to be like a combination of a vision board and a wishlist. Here, you can find any content. Pinterest may not be suitable for certain types of businesses, but it can be a suitable platform for some industries.
By using the right keywords in your profile description and the right title and description on boards and pins, you can get traffic and share content, products, and ideas with a more engaged audience.
87% of Pinterest users have purchased a product because of Pinterest. 93% of users say they use it to plan purchases. Meanwhile, 83% of Pinterest users say that they follow brands more than celebrities on the web.
From these data, you can see that Pinterest is widely used to conduct product research, with many users searching for new products on the Pinterest search engine.
YouTube
YouTube is the largest video platform in the world. There are many types of videos on YouTube; you can use them for marketing if you know how. Like on Pinterest, keywords are an important part of YouTube marketing.
Put keywords in the video title, video description, and tags. You can make videos such as video tutorials, Q&A, and informational content that are sought after by the audience.
Snapchat
This social media is indeed more popular, especially for people under 25 years old. Snapchat is useful for unique and humorous brands. Like Instagram, Snapchat is also visual, but the images used don't have to be HD. This makes it easier to use, and you can display content more quickly.
Tips for Social Media Marketing
If you are still confused about how you should start a social media marketing strategy, don't worry! We will guide you on how to do it as follows:
1. Determine the goal you want to achieve
Do you want to promote your business as a leader in your own industry? Do you want to find new consumers and build relationships with them? With these goals, you can proceed to the next step.
2. Choose a social media platform that will help your business
Indeed, there are many social media platforms scattered on the internet, but you should not immediately create all social media accounts because you need to manage the community on each social media platform.
Choose one or two platforms that can help you. Is your business in the B2B industry and do you want to build thought leadership? Choose LinkedIn. Can you create products with visual marketing? Choose Instagram.
3. Create your profile
Make sure that your brand profile reflects your audience on the social media platforms you choose. This means you cannot use the same description on every social media platform.
For example, if you create a profile on LinkedIn, write a business description as if you met a professional person at a seminar. If you use Instagram, choose a bio that is more interesting and engaging.
4. Determine the content you want to share
The posts you make must also be appropriate for the platform.
You can use the same content on several social media sites, for example, Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn needs more professional content.
Don't forget to use images on your social media. Images and headlines must attract attention when people scroll through their social media feeds.
5. Create a content schedule
You need a schedule to make it easier for you to manage your social media.
There are several applications that you can use, such as Sprout Social and HootSuite, to manage your social media posting schedule.
A content calendar can help you determine what types of posts you want to share on social media.
Then you can prepare the content first. Apart from that, with the application above, you can immediately schedule posts automatically.
6. Monitor your social media accounts
Pay attention to your social media platform's analytics to see what content your followers like the most. The measuring tool that you can use is engagement.
See which content has the highest engagement on your social media account. In addition to analytics, you also have to monitor your own account and maintain communication with your followers.
If you have questions, answer them as quickly as possible. If anyone leaves a review or rating, say thank you.
This is important for building a community and establishing your relationship with your customers. This is the main goal of social media marketing.
7. Stay consistent
On all your social media platforms, you must be able to continue to build relationships with your customers and followers on a regular basis. This will increase your credibility and trust, as well as the number of your own followers.
Conclusion
Social media marketing has a very large and diverse audience. This marketing channel is free and can be accessed easily.
This is the right way to build relationships and online communities with your customers. So that social media marketing can be profitable for your business, continue to manage and monitor your social media carefully.
Make sure that you are consistent in using the various social media platforms that you choose. Good luck!