Social media has become one of the most powerful channels for brand promotion and communication with a target audience. Social media platforms allow companies and personal brands to spread the word about their values and products (or services) to prospective customers, spark their interest, and start interacting with them on a more personal level.
Millions of people all over the globe follow their favorite brands on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Customers want to stay connected with companies, and social media marketing is an excellent solution for this.
According to Statista, social media penetration has already reached 3.1 billion active users globally.
500 million people use Instagram every day. The latest statistics provided by Social Media Today show that 75.3% of U.S. businesses will use Instagram in 2020.
This leads us to the conclusion that understanding how to market on social platforms has become an integral part of every business’s success.
Social networks are an effective tool for customer engagement, which is increasingly growing in its power and coverage. You can improve customer service by sharing handy hacks about how to use products or services. Or shape a strong brand image and build customer trust by posting engaging pictures and videos about your brand values.
Building a strong brand voice on social media is a perfect way for self-brands to gain popularity and for businesses—to increase sales and conversions.
These are just a few of the important reasons why companies and entrepreneurs should start deploying social media power. With this knowledge in hand, 97% of marketers around the world are using social media to reach their audiences.
The 5 Main Pillars of Social Media Marketing That Sells
When managed effectively, social media is a great way to inspire customer purchases and engagement. By evoking the target audience’s appreciation and trust on social platforms, businesses can significantly increase the number of sales and ROI (return-on-investment rates).
To do so, you need to be aware of the five pillars of the social media marketing that will help you succeed.
Establishing a Social Media Presence
The first pillar stands on the idea of building your company’s online presence via choosing the right social networks, creating profiles on them, and joining communities that are related to your brand topic. After that, you can proceed by generating a strategy for how to get new followers and subscribers.
Creating Content
The second pillar is based on creating social media content. To make your profile really appealing to your audience, you should include different types of content: educational, motivational, inspirational, and promotional. Vary eye-catching images with engaging GIFs and interesting videos to saturate your content with dynamism and style.
Content that tells about a brand’s behind-the-scenes life is especially trendy today. You can explain your manufacturing process, share your values, and show how your brand makes the world different, using bright pictures with beautiful lettering or video.
Posting Regularly on Social Platforms
This pillar is determined by the fact that timely posting is crucial to making your social media marketing efficient. Like other systems, social media functions according to specific algorithms. Post engagement depends not only on your creativity but also on the time and frequency of posting. Even the best post ever can end up with low engagement if not posted at the right moment, as different audiences are active at different hours and on different days.
To get social network algorithms to place your posts among the top-rated, you should investigate the times when your audience is ready to interact. Then you’ll be able to create a consistent plan with precise time slots for each type of content.
Engaging with Your Audience
This pillar is about communication. Answering comments, joining conversations and acknowledging brand mentions all allow the audience to feel connected to your company. This helps you establish smooth interaction with people who are highly interested in your brand.
These communications will empower you to build a positive reputation, establish trust, and drive loyalty to a brand.
Promoting Brand
The fifth pillar is promotion. Social media advertising provides extensive coverage and has huge power in terms of brand promotion. Companies can create ads and precisely target them at the right people using tools provided by social networks.
This type of advertising is highly effective and can bring plentiful benefits to a business. Masterfully adjusted to the audience’s preferences, interests, and actual needs, social media advertising can unobtrusively raise brand awareness, bring engagement, and drive conversions.