The importance of social marketing and ideas to make more effective social posts
Modern business has been revolutionized through the use of technology and, in particular, the internet. Where once firms performed almost in isolation and corporate marketing was a largely passive process, the web has allowed firms to interact more creatively with their clients – both potential and existing.
In particular, the overwhelming take-up of one form of online promotion has come to change what we expect from companies today. Social media has made firms more accessible than ever, allowing us to engage directly with companies and their owners in ways never before possible.
Why is social media marketing important?
Today, having a strong social media presence is a vital part of the marketing mix available to businesses. If your company can build a large following online, you’ll go a long way to winning the respect and attention of your customers. However, building an audience takes time and effort, so just how can you start generating interest? Read on for three tips used by the most successful social media experts.
Use social media marketing software
If you’re not familiar with the concept, you might be asking yourself what is social media marketing software? Social marketing software essentially provides a management system for all your social promotions, including providing you with the ability to store and share your promotional material in one, easy-to-use platform. As well as amalgamating all your accounts in one place, social marketing apps can be used to monitor the effectiveness of your posts and also schedule the time they’re published.
There is considerable evidence that suggests the different social platforms have varying levels of interaction at different times of day. However, the majority of social sites don’t allow users to schedule when their posts are published, which can prove a real headache for content creators (particularly if you use multiple social platforms).
Run social media contests
Contests on social media are a sure-fire way to engage your clients. Moreover, they’re far more likely to find their way into the feeds of other Facebook users. When you consider the average Facebook user has 338 friends, if a user posts your details in their feed, you’ll have massively increased your marketing reach. Popular types of contest include:
Liking, sharing or commenting: The user is encouraged to like, share or comment on your post in order to enter the competition. This increases the visibility of your post among their friends.
Encouraging users to tag their content: The follower is prompted to create their own content then tag your firm. User-generated content will also promote your company to the entrant’s friend list.
Tagging friends: Users tag their friends to enter the competition – often with individual tags being counted as one entry.
Avoid wordy posts and instead use photos or videos
In our frenetic, fast-paced world, people simply don’t have the time to read lengthy posts, and even the sight of a long chunk of text can be enough to see people swiping past your content. Instead of publishing lengthy, text-based posts, look at using creative images or video, both of which are much easier to digest and generate interest. Indeed, video has been proven to have the highest online engagement rate and is a much more effective vehicle to project your message.
Getting to grips with social media takes a bit of effort, but the rewards are more than worth the initial outlay.
