Social Media Marketing: Everything Businesses Must Know About

People use social media to connect with people, share information, for entertainment and to sell stuff. Worldwide, more than 3.5 billion social media users use some or the other kind of social media, if not all.

People use and interact on social media platforms every day – while commuting, during office breaks, after work, before bedtime. These interactions happen multiple times on various platforms.
Survey results suggest that every social media user spends an average of 3 hours online every day.

This thus presents itself as an opportunity for businesses to reach out to their consumers on various social media platforms through posts as images, videos, descriptive and informational content to promote their products and services. Producing and posting content to drive engagement and market products and services is known as social media marketing.

Here's an interesting fact for you –

GlobalWebIndex states that 54% of social media users use social media to research products, while 71% of users depend on social media referrals to purchase products and services. Social media marketing has shortened the buying journey for a customer by making them more reliant on transient content on the internet and word-of-mouth.

Let's try to understand why and how social media marketing is a must for businesses in 2021:

1. IT HELPS YOU STAY RELEVANT

The terror of COVID-19 and the onset of lockdown brought the hospitality and tourism industry to an absolute standstill. There were no bookings in the hotel, and companies like Airbnb incurred huge losses. Yet, they made it big on social media. Airbnb came to the aid of people by offering spaces free of cost or at subsidized rates.

This gesture helped them stay relevant and won them several accolades on the internet. So, no matter when people start traveling again, Airbnb's social media strides will win its good business.

2. INCREASED BRAND AWARENESS

No matter how big or how new your business is, social media marketing with its cost-effective methods has got your back.

When your employees, stakeholders, friends, and relatives like, comment, or share your content in their local network, they increase the brand awareness of your business by increasing engagement and building the reputation of your business as a brand.

3. A BETTER BOND WITH CUSTOMERS

Regular customer engagement allows businesses to respond faster to queries, comments, complaints, and compliments alike.

A stitch in time saves nine aptly applies to brand experiments that need to be reverted when they backfire. In Brazil, McDonald's insensitive logo change showing its golden arches separated to promote the cause of social distancing invited backlash and wrath of people across the globe. The brand realized its mistake, was quick enough to delete every trace of it, and also posted its apologies.

Brands that do not use this opportunity to interact with customers lose the opportunity to build brand loyalty as well.

4. IMPROVED SEARCH ENGINE RANKINGS

Simply posting on social media platforms won't rank you higher on search engine results. There's more to it than that. Search Engine Optimization is important if you want your business posts and content to show up on the first page of search engine results.

When your posts make it to the top of search engine results, it immensely hikes up the traffic on your website. And unlike before, it's not just about keywords anymore. A well-researched relevant content on a mobile-friendly website and some keywords that snugly fit the content can really help you pave your way to the top. P.S IT TAKES TIME.

5. AWARENESS TOWARDS CUSTOMER DEMANDS

With consistent interaction and observing customer engagement with posts, you are more likely to understand the demands of your customers, which would have taken quite some more steps and time without a presence in social media.

Businesses aspiring to reap these benefits must also understand the pillars of success of social media marketing.

1. Content is the King
   

   Good content wins hearts, not just the customers but Google will like it very much too. Yes, it is important to sell your products and service as a business, but there is no better way to sell than with the help of good content.



2. Context is God
   

   It's a popular quote by Michael Krigsman. The content you churn out must fit the platform on which you post it. An image doesn't add value on a pure microblogging platform; a descriptive text doesn't make sense on a bookmarking site.



3. Crown of Design
   

   To market your content and business on social media you must have a name, a logo that represents the brand identity, a colour palette that resonates with the kind of perception you want your customers to have for your brand. This visual communication must be consistent in all your social media profiles.



4. Customer is Queen
   

   Businesses must separate their Queen from the rest of the crowd. Ads generate value when they are directed towards a particular set of audiences. STP is the most fundamental and effective framework used and implemented by businesses to find their target audience.



5. Creating a Persona
   

   Creating a consumer persona is humanizing the STP model. Businesses usually go for segmentation to find their target audience, but only a few create personas. Personas are an effective way of really understanding who your customers can be.



6. Collect evidence
   

   Understanding consumer interaction with your content goes much deeper than the number of likes or views on a post. Thankfully, several apps help one understand their content's overall performance individually and with respect to your competitors. Tools like HubSpot, BuzzSumo, Keyhole for Twitter, Curalates for Social Sales, and Google Analytics are a few examples that make sure your social media marketing efforts are successful.

At Kraft Concept, we help businesses become brands with a comprehensive plan that takes care of your business's digital presence right from website development. For more information about, visit our services page.