What are the most common questions about social media marketing?
Here are the 6 most common Wh-questions about social media marketing for businesses. I’ve even added a bonus one in the end, ‘cos it’s almost Christmas.
Where does social media fit in the marketing mix?
Before touching that question, I think we should understand what exactly is social media marketing all about. Social media marketing is just one of the many tools a modern marketer has in his digital marketing arsenal. It’s the most immediate tool, where together with a marketing budget, any advertisement campaign can appear on the screens of the audience you are aiming at.
Basically, once you’ve understood what does social media marketing involve, you can decide exactly what to communicate to your audience and research what they think about you.
That’s something I’ve already talked about in my article about social listening.
What are the benefits of social media for business?
When measuring the importance of social media marketing, you find out that you can use social media both as an active participant, but also as a passive listener, like I’ve just said.
But when looking at the importance of social media in the business world, you understand that it goes much deeper, and you can understand what your potential (and actual) clients think about your product or service.
It goes without saying that knowing what your clients think about your product or service after acquisition is worth much more than concentrated control groups.
Of course there also are disadvantages for social media marketing for a business, since gaffes and blunders are multiplied tenfold on the social media megaphone.
You should be very aware of what people say about you on social media, but you should be even more aware of what your representatives are saying for you, whether it’s a custom made post or an answer to someone.
Which social media should I use for my business?
The most known and used social media channels list tends to cover:
- Snapchat
- Google+
Many ask the wrong question being “What are the social media channels I should use?” when he real question is “Where would my digital marketing efforts be best received by my target audience and potential clients?”
Meaning that you should use the platforms on which your clients are. You wouldn’t use Snapchat to communicate with 60 year old ladies, now would you?
When to post on social media
Another very common question, with a few very annoying answers.
There are many an article, written by even many-er a marketer, claiming they have the secret answer to the social media posting times.
The truth is that, again, it depends on your audience, and when they are online notice you post, and when they are in the right state of mind to receive your message.
A neat trick for an advertising campaign I’ve once heard is to choose the exact opposite of the time everybody suggests or uses, since that’s the time there will be less going on around people’s feeds.
Why is social media marketing important?
It’s not that social media marketing is important but rather why is social media marketing so effective.
The main difference between search advertisement campaigns and social media marketing campaigns is the state of mind the user is currently in.
Users searching for something are more likely to click on a product or service ad. While users who are casually browsing for entertainment will be more likely to adhere to a community of like minded people. (which is what you really should be doing in social media)
Another important element is the data used to choose what ads to show you. While search engines like Google use geographic and general anagraphic data, social media can tap into what users expressed fondness for, and therefore be much more likely to interact with your campaign as well.
Who can benefit from social media marketing?
Basically anyone who uses social media marketing is already on the right track towards a better user experience or his clients. Thus making them benefit from it already, just by giving their clients a channel on which they can get in contact with them.
Local businesses should totally use social media marketing, because they are also most likely to create real-life connections with their clients, making for great social media content material.
Bonus: How to plan a successful social media marketing strategy?
In my article summing up the main stages of a good social media strategy I showed what the important parts are.
Amongst which I explained why measure social media marketing. When talking about businesses, whoever, it’s very important to know how to measure social media marketing performance and ROI, since bigger marketing budgets are involved.
Thanks to a great social media marketing strategy and measuring its success, you can optimize your marketing budget and make sure you’re not wasting any time or money.
You can find some great tools to measure social media statistics on my Pinterest board: Digital Marketing Tools.
It’s your turn
Let me know what your most important questions about social media marketing are in the comments section, or ask me directly!
