Almost all people all people know what is being talked about when they hear the term social media. Most of them will associate it with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and others. But what is social media marketing or SMM all about? How do you optimize its advantages?
Social media marketing goes way beyond simply posting comments or copy-pasting information about a product or service. While the goal of this is to gain more exposure through social networks, there are still a lot of things that have to be considered. Just like in physical business, comparing types of signs is a norm.
Check out these fundamental but often overlooked things when it comes to marketing through social media:
Choose the Right Platform
There are a lot of social media platforms sprouting everywhere. But the no-brainer sites for reaching out to a wide audience remain to be the forerunners like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Aside from having a broad reach, these come with advertising tools specially-designed for promoting a customer’s products and services.
There are instances also that some locally-known networking sites could come in handy. That is if your product or service is only focused on attracting the people that belong in that certain place. However, the safe bets for attracting customers remain the mentioned top social networking sites.
Combine SMM with Content Marketing Program
Examples of content marketing programs are blogs and the ever-popular YouTube. The combination of these and SMM will not only offer more exposure to a product or service, it will also increase the chances of your potential customers of buying what you are offering, especially when the presentation of the information related to what you are selling is attractive to them.
Connect with Other Users
One way to maximize the advantages brought about by social media marketing is by taking an effort to connect to your potential customers or just about everyone in your friends or followers list. Answer questions or concerns centered into your product or service. React also to what others are posting in order to establish a relationship with your potential customers that stretches a little more than the standard buyer-seller connection. Let them feel that you care about them and you are interested with what they are talking about.
Encourage Others to Share Information About Your Business
Encouraging other people to share your posts is not just about telling or asking them to do it. By taking the initiative to follow them back or share their posts too, most of them will respond by doing the same. Thus, the saying, “Do unto others what you want others to do unto you,” applies here.
Observe Proper Netiquette
Don’t be arrogant, avoid offensive posts, and don’t spam. These just among the many don’ts in the world of social media marketing. However, despite the simplicity of these rules, people still tend to forget and break them. Keep in mind that your conduct is a reflection of your business, so always be mindful of your actions and apply extra patience in dealing with people even the unruly ones.
Maintain Quality
Whatever it is you are advertising, make sure its quality is always at par with the expectations that have resulted from your promises to your target market. While it is always very tempting to apply terms that seem too good to be true, customers who will test or eventually buy your goods or services will inevitably find out what it is lacking or its flaws.
You don’t have to highlight the flaws of what you are promoting. Instead, just keep the tone of your marketing near realistic levels. Don’t get the people’s hopes up far higher than what you can offer.
