Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service . Although the terms marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing and digital marketing is becoming more popular for practitioners and researchers.
Social media platforms such as FACEBOOK ,LINKEDIN,INSTAGRAM, etc among others, have built-in data analytics tools that companies can use to track the progress, success, and engagement of social media marketing campaigns . Companies address a range of stakeholders through social media marketing, including current and potential customers, current and potential employees, journalists, bloggers, and the general public.
THERE ARE SOME TYPES OF SOCIAL MEDIA
- INBOUND SOCIAL MEDIA : Posting educating information ,sharing resources, using paid ads(such as those promoting a lead gen campaign), even sharing funny memes, all of which helps you builds a relationship with your audience.
- OUTBOUND SOCIAL MEDIA :Commenting on other social media profiles or participating in hashtag conversations are modern takes on the classic ” interruption” style of that helps with brand awareness and brand building.
Nearly every type of business , from a small ecommerce business to large enterprise organisations, can use social media to drive customer engagement, leads, sales.
THESE ARE THE MAIN BENEFITS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING:
- DETAILED TARGETING : Most platform allow marketing teams to target ideal based on demographics, interests, location, and language. This prevents wasting ad spend to reach audiences who aren’t interested in your campaign.
- BUILD BRAND AWARENESS AND TRUST : Consumers don’t generally make a purchase the first time they hear about a brand. with social media , you can reach your audience multiple times as they move through the sales funnel.
- IT’S AFFORDABLE : Social media marketing can be done with little to no budget. while you do have to pay for ads, brands can post and interact with consumers for free thought brand accounts.
- EASY -TO-MONITOR-RESULTS :Social media platform and third-party tools offer analytics and tracking dashboards so you can monitor results, track interactions, and better understand your audience.
Firms that use social media marketing can allow customers and internet users to post user- generated content , also known as ” earned media ”, rather than use marketer -prepared advertising copy.