Social Media Marketing, or SMM – is an independent direction of Internet marketing, covering a full range of tasks and goals in the field of promotion in social networks. Depending on the current project or specialization, the SMM manager can be engaged in promoting commercial or personal accounts, conducting advertising campaigns and/or forming a loyal attitude of the audience to the business.
The prospects of the industry
Today, social networks are places of high concentration of the target audience for any business, and with the possibility of direct contact and generating conversion traffic. The largest sites provide business with such wide opportunities that entrepreneurs are increasingly refusing to create their own websites. Here you can create your own design, place products, accept payments, and also receive a significant amount of useful analytical information.
How and when did SMM appear
The avalanche-like growth of the global popularity of social networks can be considered a natural and natural reason for the emergence of a new direction in Internet marketing. In a very short time, social networks have become a favorite place to spend time on the Internet for millions of people. Here, users are provided with all the opportunities for entertainment, communication, publishing and viewing content, commenting and listening to music. If initially social networks were used exclusively by young people, then after a few years the older generation formed a significant segment of the general audience. Here, people voluntarily fill out detailed questionnaires, as well as leave other public information. And all this can be used by SMM specialists for accurate targeting of their campaigns. Practice shows that contextual and teaser ads can rarely show the basic level of conversion for social networks.
The main tasks of SMM
Today, SMM promotion is not limited to maintaining accounts or setting up targeted advertising. Social Media Marketing is an extensive set of tools and techniques for solving various marketing tasks. There are the following main goals that can be achieved with the help of SMM.
Formation of a loyal attitude of the audience to the business
Social networks open up opportunities for direct business contact with representatives of the target audience. By publishing useful content, working with objections, responding to comments, publishing reviews and holding contests, a loyal attitude to the brand – effectively formed on the part of existing and potential customers. The conversion rate largely depends on the attitude of the audience, since if a person trusts the company, then he performs target actions with less doubts.
Brand awareness growth
Competent management of the corporate community and the use of advertising tools allow you to organize a noticeable brand presence in social networks. To achieve this goal, advertising campaigns – created that focused on maximum coverage. Such advertising is relatively inexpensive, which allows you to make the brand really recognizable even with a small budget.
Working with image and reputation
A characteristic feature of people’s behavior on the Internet is that they are much more willing to share negative messages. For example, if the purchased bike satisfied the buyer, then he is unlikely to leave a positive review. But if the two-wheeled transport had immediately broken down, then it is safe to say that a negative reaction in social networks would have appeared on the same day. Social networks provide functionality that allows you to identify and respond to negative comments in a timely manner. Also, here you can always find platforms for publishing image content to maintain a good business reputation.
Attracting additional attention to the product
With the help of targeted advertising, mailing lists, retargeting, placement in third-party communities and viral content, a business can “reach” almost all sections of the target audience. In addition, social networks provide tools that allow you to convert the received attention into real sales.
Repeated contacts with clients
Retargeting technology makes it possible to return users who have already made a purchase or have not completed its registration. For example, if a person put goods in a virtual basket, but did not completely close the application, then with the help of advertising, it is possible to remind him that his order is waiting for completion. Retargeting also helps in the sale of related products. For example, if a user has ordered a laptop, then he can be shown offers to buy a bag or a desktop cooling system.
Easy entry into competitive niches
Advertising tools of social networks make it possible to contact other people’s audiences. Moreover, the advertiser can set up impressions for members of any community or group, which allows you to quickly target the campaign to the right audience. In addition, the method is not the most fair. But if you don’t use it, it doesn’t mean that your competitors won’t use it.
The main advantages of promotion in social networks
- Very wide audience coverage.
- The presence of potential customers for almost every business.
- Ads that are relevant to the interests of users are not annoying.
- A large selection of advertising formats.
- The possibility of promotion with a minimum budget.
- Direct communication with the audience.
Which business is suitable for SMM promotion
SMM marketing is ideal for the development of small and medium-sized businesses aimed at obtaining direct sales. If making a decision to conclude a deal requires long thought, then it will be more difficult for such companies to find customers in social networks. Promotion in social networks shows minimal effectiveness in the B2B industry.
Above all, you can identify business areas that definitely need to use SMM. This:
- sale of inexpensive and popular products (clothing, household chemicals, food delivery, accessories, etc.);
- provision of services to individuals (installation of windows, beauty salons, cleaning, etc.);
- public catering establishments;
- B2C representatives with a network of offline representative offices who want to capture the attention of social media users;
- all types of businesses that are interested in creating a positive image and brand awareness.
The main methods of promotion in SMM
The set of methods in the SMM promotion strategy in social networks depends on the current goals and objectives of the company. If a business – interested in sales growth, then it needs to use the following methods:
- Targeted advertising. The tool makes it possible to accurately focus on representatives of a specific target audience. Segmentation takes into account gender, age, location, interests and dozens of other parameters. Depending on the placement format, the advertiser pays for impressions or direct clicks.
- Advertising in third-party communities. That is to say, in social networks, you can always agree on the placement of promotional posts in the feed of an opinion leader, a celebrity or a popular thematic community.
- Content marketing. This concept is based on the regular publication of high-quality and useful informational and / or entertainment content. In addition, interesting materials – always slightly “diluted” with advertising offers.
If the current goal of promotion is to improve the image and recognition, then you can also use targeted advertising and placement in third-party public sites. Above all, you only need to change the submission format to get significant coverage. Viral marketing works well in this direction. In short, its mechanism is to create creative or very interesting content that users will actively distribute independently.
The following methods of work will also help to improve your reputation:
- regular publication of useful content;
- prompt response to reviews and comments;
- conducting surveys, sweepstakes, contests and other activities.
In addition, active interaction with your audience in social networks always gives a positive result to business.
Promising social networks
The world leader of the industry. The platform – distinguished by the most advanced set of advertising and analytical tools. In short, the most solvent audience – concentrated here.
Everything here is based on the publication of bright and interesting visual content. This makes the platform an ideal place to promote a product that can presented in an attractive way with the help of photos or videos. Above all, all the analytical and advertising capabilities of Facebook are available here.
This social network – designed to distribute short text messages and direct communication. If a business can attract attention in the microblog format, then it definitely needs to use this platform for promotion.