How to Get Started with Social Media
What is social media?
Social media is one of the main ways companies market their products today. Social media refers to different online platforms that facilitate the sharing of ideas, thoughts, pictures, videos, and information through virtual communities. Some examples of social media include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and Pinterest. When establishing what social media platforms to use for your company, it is important to understand what goals you want to achieve. Also, consider who your target audience is and what platforms they use the most.
According to an article from the NY Times, social media allows you to do at least four important things
- Discover new ideas and trends
- Connect with existing and new audiences in deeper ways
- Bring attention and traffic to your work
- Build, craft, and enhance your brand
(Sreenivasan, 2020).
Pros of different social media platforms
- 2.7+ billion active users
- Lets you connect with people, create groups, share photos and videos, go live
- Facebook Ad feature
- Has marketplace to buy and sell goods locally
- Allows you to share pictures, videos, 30 second reels, IGTV
- Can create business profile to see analytics
- Thousands of filters for photo and video editing
- Can connect privately
- Text based content
- 280- character limit
- Good for sharing quick information
- Easy to message brands
How do I get started?
Most companies have a presence on multiple social media platforms. When starting out, it’s important to provide quality content for your audience. To do this, start off by focusing on one platform and then build from there. Understand where your audience spends most of their time. For example, if your target audience is around 60 years of age, TikTok probably isn’t going to be the focus for your marketing strategy. “For brands marketing to the younger generations, it’s reported that 73% of Gen Z prefers that brands reach them through Instagram. On the other hand, 78% of Baby Boomers reportedly prefer interacting with brands they like on Facebook” (Pyle, 2021). Being able to understand where the majority of your audience spends their time online is how you will be successful with a social media marketing strategy.
Cox Blue has some recommendations when it comes to getting started on social media:
1. Start with your basic objectives for using social media
2. Start small, and be selective
3. Hone in on a target audience
4. Come up with a memorable handle
5. Build a social media team
6. Be authentic and personable
(Jones, 2022).
Connecting with customers
It’s also beneficial to really connect with your customers on social media. “Because so many customers already communicate through social media, businesses of all sorts should invest in building out their social customers care efforts” (Caramela, 2021). The more you engage with customers by sharing posts, liking comments, etc. the more they will trust you as a brand.
An example of a company that does a great job with this is Starbucks. “For such a major brand, Starbucks does a fantastic job of providing their social media audience with a personal experience. The brand is known for its quick response times and for randomly engaging with accounts of all sizes that interact with its page” (Benchmark Team, 2021). Below is an image that shows Starbucks interacting with a customer. As you can see, this response could make a customer’s day and allow them to feel important to the company.
Content vs. Conversion
Content is what drives all these social media platforms. Without the valuable content, businesses would not see any success on social media. “More than 80% of people have purchased a product or service as a result of consuming business content", according to a study by Clutch. To see conversions from your content, it is important to align content with the customer journey. “Visitors’ purchasing journeys online typically follow the path mapped out in sales funnel, which tracks four stages of purchasing intent from initial interest through purchasing action” (Benchmark One, 2022). On social media, it is important to pull the customer in by attracting, informing, converting, and engaging. Content marketing is the idea of sharing information to customers in hopes of leading to conversions. “The purpose of content marketing is to create and share relevant written, downloadable, and visual media so your target audience can learn about your brand, expertise, and products or services” (Hubspot, 2022). Almost every company’s main goal behind social media marketing is to increase overall sales.
Wrapping it up
Overall, social media can play a huge role in a company’s success. To be successful, quality content over quantity is crucial. Start small and focus on one platform and then begin expanding your accounts to other platforms. Focus on your target audience and where they spend their time along with producing engaging content that will lead to conversions. Without an effective social media account, consumers might not even know your company exists. According to Sprout Social, “55% of consumers learn about brands or companies on social media and 68% of consumers agree that social media enables them to interact with brands and companies” (Cover, 2021). Social media can either make or break your company, so knowing how to use it properly is the key to success in the digitally focused world we have today.
References
Benchmark Team. (2021). 4 Brands that have upped their audience social media engagement. Benchmark.
https://www.benchmarkemail.com/blog/brands-social-media-engagement/
Benchmark One. (2022). How to Drive Engagement and Conversions Through Content Marketing.
https://www.benchmarkone.com/blog/how-to-drive-engagement-and-conversions-through-content-
Carmela, S. (2021). How to Use Social Media for Customer Service. Business News Daily.
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5917-social-media-customer-service.html
Cover, L. (2021). 7 Statistics that prove the importance of social media marketing in business. Sprout
Social. https://sproutsocial.com/insights/importance-of-social-media-marketing-in-business/
Hubspot. (2022). The Ultimate List of Marketing Statistics for 2022. https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-
Jones, M. (2022). 17 Tips For Getting Your Small Business Started With Social Media Marketing. Cox
Blue. https://www.coxblue.com/17-tips-for-getting-your-small-business-started-with-social-media-
Pyle, S. (2021). Should your business be on every social media platform? The Business Journals.
https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/marketing/2021/07/should-your-business-be-on-every-
Sreenivasan, S. (2020). How to Use Social Media in Your Career. Nytimes.
https://www.nytimes.com/guides/business/social-media-for-career-and-business
Hi Alexa!
ReplyDeleteI love that you broke your article down into pros & bullet points of each social media platform. It was definitely easier to follow & straight to the point! I agree with your point at the end of your post about how social media can 'make or break' your company, so using it properly is important. There is so much potential for a business in social media, so knowing the ins and outs of the socials you are on is important!
Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I appreciate the fact that you broke down the benefits of some of the major social media platforms. I like the fact that you talk about quality instead of quantity when creating social media content. Many may think that the more they post the better their results will be; But that is not the case.
In your post you suggested to start off with one platform. Do you think it would be hard for a company to expand to other platforms if they are see success from just the one?
~Chamarya