Social media has become the new word of mouth and it is growing ever more so as the years go by. It offers, for businesses, a community fuelled form of advertising which, when used correctly, can do wonders for the digital marketing of your company or website. Although perhaps I’m making it sound like a luxury that can boost your advertising efforts, when what I should be pointing out is, that in this day and age, social marketing is absolutely crucial for any business that wants to stay in the race.

So if you or your digital marketing agency have done little to build on your social marketing portfolio, perhaps now is the time. This blog will give you some nifty ideas on where to get started in that regard, and by the time you’ve finished reading it, you’ll be surprised at just how easy it can be to create and manage your own social media campaigns to get the most out of your online marketing efforts.

What is Social Media Marketing?

The answer is a fairly simple one. Social media marketing makes use of social platforms such as Facebook and Google+ to push your brand into the public domain. The process involves creating a page on as many platforms as you can, and enriching it with constant content that is both interesting and relevant. This content is then viewed and shared by your followers, in the hopes that your brand’s image will spread and attract a wider audience.

According to Digital Search Australia’s digital marketing experts, social media marketing is one of the most successful and cost effective ways of getting your brand known, and if you manage your content correctly, doesn’t have to take up too much of your time anyway. So there really is no excuse to take advantage of it. Even if you are not particularly comfortable with any social platforms, a little experimentation can go a long way and you’ll soon be setting up campaigns with a little practice.

The Best SM Platforms For Pushing Your Brand

There are more social media platforms than you can count, and more and more of them seem to spring up every day. But, of course you don’t want to waste any of your time and effort on the ones that have a lesser reach, so here are some of the most popular, and therefor profitable ones that you can use:

1. Facebook

Facebook has been around for years, and whatever your opinion is of their privacy issues, there is no doubting that most of the world is connected through this medium. So if you want one of the widest reaches that you can get, then you’ll definitely want to check this one out. Facebook allows you to set up a page for your business which can link back to your website and can be used to share blogs, articles and rich content to users. This is a great way to spread the good word without having to expend your budget.

2. Google+

As the name suggests, this social media platform is run by Google, and is already available (even if you don’t know it) to anyone with a Gmail account. It operates much in the same way as Facebook does, with the exception of it being run by Google, and so it therefor adds to your SEO efforts to set up a campaign on this site.

3. Twitter

This is an online social platform that allows users to send ‘tweets’, which are short, 140 character titbits of information, or rich media images. Share and send posts from this platform to entrench your brand in the online community, keeping followers up to date on any changes, events or promotions in your business, and actively encourage community participation in your brand by starting and sharing conversations about it. In a fast paced world full of bite-sized opportunities, Twitter plays an important role in quick, easy to access information and updates.

4. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social media platform that caters specifically to professionals and businesses, and so it is a great way to form valuable and long lasting partnerships in your industry. Beyond that you can use this site to post blogs that relate to your brand, service or product, and to put your brand’s best foot forward. This site takes on a much more professional look and feel than the other social sites, and so it is a great way for business owners and their employees to express their professionalism, and keep up with online marketing trends for 2016.
The thing about your campaign is that it shouldn’t isolate and use only one of these platforms. If you really want to see your brand shine and spread through the medium, then it is best to flood it into as many of these social platforms as you can.

How To Run An Effective Social Media Campaign

Of course, there is a lot more to running a successful social media campaign than knowing which are the best platforms to take advantage of. There are certain steps that should be followed in the initial stages of setup, and should be carried on throughout the campaign’s lifecycle as well:

1. Determine clear and manageable goals.

a. With any undertaking, a good place to start is with a plan, and drawing up a plan needs you to have a good idea of measurable goals, so that you can see whether your campaign is going to be a worthwhile success or not. The various areas you will want to set goals for are as follows:

i. The number of followers to your page.
ii. The number of likes you would like each post to get.
iii. The number of mentions and retweets you get within a time frame.
iv. The number of questions you want answered about your brand.
v. The number of social media referrals to your website.
vi. Website conversions from the social media platform.

b. Having clear goals in all of these areas will help you produce the right content, in the right amounts, and at the right times. It will also give you a clear benchmark from which to measure your campaign’s success.

2. Take stock of your company’s existing social media presence.

a. Before you start, you’ll want to see exactly what work needs to be done, and where your strengths and weaknesses lie. To do this, take a look at the following areas:

i. Do you have a Facebook page, how many people are currently following it, and what are you offering them in terms of content?
ii. Do you have a customised and unique Twitter page set up? What does that of your competitors look like?
iii. Have you set up a Google+ page, do you post on it regularly, and is it adequately connected to other users?
iv. Do you use Tumblr, YouTube, Pinterest or LinkedIn? If not, spend some time familiarising yourself with these rich platforms, designed to share and spread media.

3. Learn what you can about your target market.

a. You need to know as much about the target you are reaching out to if you want to communicate with them effectively. Spend time using social media to find out what their likes and dislikes are, what do they discuss with their friends and connections, and what sort of trends are they following? Getting on the same wavelength as your audience will build trust between you and them, and will help you create content which is worthwhile for them.

b. Spend time looking at what they share to get a better idea of their browsing habits. If it becomes clear that your audience mostly shares rich content like images from Instagram and videos from YouTube, then you may want to concentrate on the production of similar content.

4. Get involved

a. Okay, so you’ve set up a neat couple of profiles for your business on social media platforms and you’re posting good content which is being shared regularly. But it isn’t quite enough just yet. You need to show your involvement in the social community to give your brand momentum. Reply to posts, share other people’s content which holds relevance to your own, answer questions and engage with the community. This will give your brand a friendly face, making it more likely to be shared in the social media community.

The process described above is ongoing, and the more effort you put into it, the better the results will be. Take time every now and then to track the success of your campaign, measuring it up with the original goals that you’ve set. If you need to make changes to make your goals more realistic or to raise the bar a little, go ahead and do it. But remember, for a truly brilliant campaign, the work is never done.