Social media marketing, also known as SMM, is the collective use of various social media websites and platforms to advertise a product or service via word-of-mouth promotion. Although the terms digital and e-marketing are now dominant in academic circles, social media marketing has become more popular among researchers and practitioners for several reasons. The rise in the number of social media users, the widespread accessibility of mobile devices and the ease of creating a profile for business purposes have made SMM an extremely viable option for many. SMM does not require the same degree of expertise that advertising on traditional media requires, as it does not require the same budgets that advertisements do. This makes it appealing to many small businesses and start-ups who lack the financial resources to invest in expensive forms of advertisement.
SMM is also very effective due to the fact that it allows you to reach your audience at a personal level. Unlike most other advertising techniques, SMM allows you to reach out to your audience without making them feel as if they are merely passing through an advertisement. Because the audience does not have to pass through your sales pitch or request for their information, they are much more likely to connect with you and to react to your promotional messages. In addition, SMM allows you to alter your message, as well as your target audience, in order to better cater to the interests and desires of your audience. For instance, some companies choose to make sure that certain demographics are aware of their advertisements; other companies use their SMM strategy to ensure that only their brand is prominently displayed to their target audience.
As well as reaching out to current and new customers, a good use for social media marketing would be to attract new customers. By creating a presence on various social networks, you can give your potential customers a chance to get to know you, your company and your products or services in a more social way. As you spread your brand through the social networks, you will also reach out to an entirely new set of people, as well as those who may be interested in your brand but would not necessarily visit a brick-and-mortar store. This gives you an excellent opportunity to market your products and services to the right audience at the right time, as well as helping to expand your customer base. As your brand begins to blossom through the social networks, your company may even begin to draw interest from other companies that are not based within your local area.
For those companies outside of your immediate geographical area, there is a great deal that can be gained through social media advertising. Many companies focus solely on generating new customers, while forgetting about their existing customers and clients. SMM is an excellent way to not only reach out to these other potential clients, but also to develop strong customer relations. For instance, by creating a presence on a social network like Twitter, you can create a dialogue between you and your customers. Through this dialogue, you can not only build trust in your brand, but you can also share valuable information about your products and services and encourage your customers to purchase them.
The key to utilizing social media advertising to bring in new customers and drive up your bottom line is consistency. Although some companies have found success with the marketing techniques of Facebook and Twitter, it takes time for these efforts to pay off. In order to make your marketing efforts pay off, it is important to work on creating a consistent sales message every day. This consistent sales message should be supported by a marketing plan that has a sales goal, as well as a customer tracking system that can see how many of your social media customers purchased a product after seeing your advertising message.
Social media marketing can be very effective, but it does take time to build up a following. This means that you may have to put in more ad spend than you had planned on, but the amount of ad spend can help you grow your business. With a managed service, you can ensure that you are able to continue to invest in your marketing efforts.
