Do you want to know the best way to advertise your business on social media? Companies advertising on social media should have a strong method to measure their social media marketing success. These days, using social media to promote businesses is a must-do. Our social media management experts at SEO Design Chicago have compiled their knowledge to teach companies how to measure their social media marketing efforts effectively. From the best social media sites to be on to the best social media management tools, we’ll tell you how to create an effective social media presence. Learn everything you need to know about how to market your business on social media!
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Social Media Marketing
Are you wondering how to use social media for marketing?
Social media marketing (sometimes referred to as SMM) is the use of social networks (for example, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest) and websites to promote a product or service.
The practice of social media marketing involves sharing content on those social media networks in order to increase visibility for a business or brand by reaching more potential customers, and hopefully, gain more business. It is basically content marketing, but on social media sites. There are all different types of content for different platforms. These platforms also give you another way to practice excellent customer service. It might take some time before you start seeing results, but social media marketing is a proven effective way to promote your business.
Social Media Marketing Companies
A social media marketing company will create a social media marketing campaign for a business, from strategizing and creating content for the business, to regularly updating and monitoring their social media channels. A social media marketing company might also start and maintain a blog for your business’s website.
How to Promote Your Business on Social Media
Did you know that more than 70 percent of internet users are more likely to make purchases from a brand they follow on social media? There are several benefits to social media marketing. A social media marketing company can help your business increase your web traffic, raise your brand awareness, create an identity online for your brand, increase engagement between your business and its followers and potential customers on social media, and ultimately, attract more customers for your business.
Psst, the best part? You don’t even have to spend money! There are plenty of ways how to advertise your business on social media for free!
How to Promote on Social Media with Influencers
You hear the term “influencer” is thrown around a lot these days, especially on social media. But what is a social influencer and who are they? A social influencer is someone with a large amount and variety of followers on social media platforms who promotes products or services. Promoting business on social media is easier when you have someone to do it for you! If you wish to utilize social influencers as part of your social media marketing strategy, it will be important for you to find the right type of influencer for your needs. You may not realize it, there are several different kinds of influencers.
If you want to find the right influencer for your campaign, you will need to know the different types of influencers:
Standard Influencers
- Blogger and Vloggers: You’re probably most familiar with this type of influencer, who likely has a large presence on Instagram and shares their daily outfits and the details of their day-to-day life with their followers.
- Mainstream Celebrities: Though mainstream celebrities are often thought of as a huge get as brand ambassadors for social media marketing campaigns, they actually have such large social media followings that it’s hard to pinpoint who you’ll reach if you utilize one. Plus, they obviously are the most expensive influencer you can get.
- Micro-Influencers: Though you might typically think of an influencer as someone with at least a million followers on their social media pages, a micro-influencer has a smaller, but usually more devoted audience catering to a certain niche. A bonus of utilizing a micro-influencer is their fees are typically less than that of a major influencer.
- Nano-Influencers: Nano-influencers have fewer followers, similarly to that of a micro-influencer. However, they usually are big fans of one certain product. You can use your own employees to be nano-influencers, for example, by having them post positively about your products on their own pages. Or, you can search for people who have positively mentioned your business in the past on social media, and offer them products in exchange for additional, current posts. See, even small businesses can utilize influencers!
Additional Influencers
- Activists: Activist influencers are driven by a social or political cause, rather than by products. Activists can be excellent influencers for charities and nonprofits relating to the cause they’re interested in. For example, some activists are body positivity influencers who can be persuaded to join a campaign promoting real bodies.
- Journalists: Journalists are sometimes thought of as the original influencers, though you may not realize it. If your business is a restaurant, for example, you may be able to have a food reviewer for a local tv station or newspaper come review your restaurant. You can then post their review on all of your own social media channels.
- Photographers: Photographers are excellent influencers to utilize, especially for campaigns on Instagram.
- Thought Leaders: Thought leaders are typically entrepreneurs and other types of high-level business executives. They are ideal influencers because they typically have a very captive audience interested in a specific niche. You can also create your own thought leader influencer by turning a high-ranking member of your own business into a prominent social media follower and posts about your business frequently and eloquently.
The best way to advertise your business on social media will depend on the size and type of your business. We can help you determine which social media platforms you should focus on and the best strategy for social media success!
Social Media Marketing Services
So, what’s including in social media marketing services? Here are some of the best ways to advertise your business on social media.
Identifying Your Target Audience
The first step in any successful social media marketing campaign is to identify the campaign’s target audience. Are you looking to connect with women in their 20s? Then hiring a social influencer, maybe one who they know from “The Bachelor” who now works as a blogger, might be the right approach.
Creating a Strategy
Once you know your target audience, your social media marketing company can start creating a strategy. The strategy will involve which social media platforms will be best to reach your target audience, the best times of day to post to ensure that your target audience sees the post, and more.
Regularly Scheduling Updates
One of the most important keys to a successful social media marketing campaign is to post regularly and engage with other users on social media. Hiring a social media marketing company to help you create content will help you make sure you have enough to post.
Continuous Monitoring
It’s crucial to continuously monitor your business’s social media accounts to be aware of any crises that may arise from typos, angry customers in your mentions, or any other kind of issues that may come up as a result of any kind of social media. And, to just see what works and what doesn’t. Wow, one Facebook ad outperformed all the rest: what’s different about it?
Tools for Measuring Social Media Marketing Success
What are your marketing goals? Are you reaching them? The best way for a business to measure the success of its social media marketing is by using analytics. There are several different tools for measuring the success of social media marketing, including the following options. Each one has different pros and cons, which we’ve listed here for you.
HootSuite
HootSuite is a great tool for measuring social media metrics, especially for beginners. You will be able to monitor your success and also schedule future social media posts.
SocialMention
If you’ve ever used Google Alerts, SocialMention is a very similar aggregate tool, except it monitors social media mentions only. It’s a helpful way to monitor what’s being said about your business, by who, and what the tone of what is being said about your company is.
Klout
Klout is an excellent tool that measures your success on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and several other channels.
Facebook Insights
Facebook provides an insights dashboard for you to see all the analytics data for your Facebook page. That includes your reach and engagement, which will help you see what content your audience reacts to and likes, and help you plan for future posts.
Twitter Analytics
Just like Facebook, Twitter has its own analytics dashboard for you to see how your content is performing. It lets you see which tweets were retweeted, liked and replied to. It also tracks your mentions and new followers.
Google Analytics
Chances are, you’re already familiar with Google Analytics. Google Analytics Campaign Tracking allows you to monitor a campaign by setting up links for campaigns with UTM parameters.
Custom Report Sharing for Google Analytics
You can also use Google Analytics to track how traffic is getting to your website. Custom Report Sharing can tell you how many people are finding your site via which social media channels. This helps you know which social media channel is most effective for you, and which channels you might need to work on.
Bitly
Yes, we all know of Bitly as a link shortener. But did you know it also allows you to track everything you share? It’s a great tool to help you figure out which pieces of your content are is working for your audience.
Buffer
Buffer is another tool, like HootSuite, that allows you to schedule your social media posts. It also has the added benefit of a dashboard to show you which of your posts are getting the most engagement.
TweetReach
TweetReach is one of your best options for tracking a certain campaign on Twitter. All you have to do is enter your search term or hashtag. TweetReach will find all tweets that include your search term or hashtag. Additionally, it will tell you your search term’s reach, activity, exposure, and top contributors. As a bonus, you can see the first 50 mentions for free.
Keyhole
Keyhole is similar to TweetReach, but it allows you to track hashtags or keywords on Facebook and Instagram, too.
Promoting Business on Social Media is Our Job!
You’re probably thinking, “But I have no idea how to promote business on social media! And I don’t have time for all this!” For help with your social media marketing needs, analyzing your success, and more, contact SEO Design Chicago today.
FAQ:
- What is social media marketing?
- What are influencers?
- What do social media marketing companies do?
- What is included in social media marketing services?
- What are the best tools for measuring social media marketing success?
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