Dr Neetu Singh

Social Media Marketing

“Social media is the collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-

Some statistics that will help you to shape your opinion with respect to Social Media.
A large number of people are on Social Media. It is the fact that there has been an
exponential growth in social media users during the last decade. Emarsys, 2019 reported
that there are 3.2 billion social media users worldwide, and this number is still growing. This
number is equal to 42% of the world population. That simply means close to 50 per cent of
the world population on Social Media.
This trend is attributed to the growth of mobile phone and mobile app in recent times. If
such a large number of people are connected through social media platforms, then it can be
a very good platform for businesses to reach people very quickly.
Generation wise breakup of Social Media Usage
Millennials are very active on Social Media because of the broadest access to smartphones
and tablets. 90.4% of Millennials, 77.5% of Generation X, and 48.2% of Baby Boomers are
active social media users according to the EMarketer, 2010. Understanding this social media
statistic will help to determine which platform could be of most use when marketing to your
target market.
How much time do we spend on Social Media?
Have you ever thought, how much time do we spend on Social Media?
It is very surprising; we are becoming social media addicts. According to one report, on an
average, 2 hours and 22 minutes are spent per day per person on social networks and
messaging. It shows that social media is becoming an integral part of our life and it offers
immense opportunities for businesses who are eager to reach out to their audience through
social media marketing.
Facebook is a market leader.
Since 2004 Facebook is growing to be the leader of social media. Facebook has over 2.32
billion active monthly users that keep it one of the widely used social media platforms.
According to one report, roughly two-thirds of U.S. adults (68%) now report that they are
Facebook users (Pew internet, 2018). When it comes to marketing, it may be a good option
to invest in it. Our few of the Modules in this course are focusing on Facebook Marketing
only. Just remain tuned in.
Social Media Marketing, is it a serious business?
Of course, big brands are riding the wave of social media. According to Buffer (2019), 73% of
marketers believe that their efforts through social media marketing have been “somewhat
effective” or “very effective” for their businessMarketing through social media is becoming
an essential part of the marketing strategy. Social marketing is cost-effective and it helps the
brands to interact with their audience and to build brand loyalty in the long run.
Do customers really use Social Media?
This is a very hard question, do our customers really use social media. The answer is very
surprising, 54% of social browsers use social media to research products (GlobalWebIndex,
2018) It clearly shows that prospects are on social media and they are actively using it for
searching of products. That is why? it is very essential to have a presence on social media to
have a strong brand presence.
Positive Customer Experience on social media matters!
If you are continuously engaged with your audience on social media by responding to their
queries and comments. It is likely that they will share a positive word about your brand. One
report says that 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on
social media are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family (Lyfemarketing,
2018).
Influencer Marketing and Social Media
The future of marketing is Influencer marketing. Brands are heavily investing in social media
marketing and there is a reason behind. According to one report, 49% of consumers claim
that they depend on influencer recommendations on social media to inform their
purchasing decision (Fourcommunications, 2018)
Social Media by Mobile Phones
Mobile phones are everywhere and growing at a very fast rate. It has fuelled the growth of
Social Media up to great extent. According to (Lyfemarketing, 2018). 91% of all social media
users access social channels via mobile devices. Likewise, almost 80% of total time spent on
social media sites occurs on mobile.
What is social media marketing?
According to Searchengineland, Social Media Marketing refers to the process of gaining
traffic or attention through social media sites.Word stream defines Social Media in a very
elaborative way. According to Word stream-
“Social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of internet marketing that involves creating and
sharing content on social media networks in order to achieve your marketing and branding
goals.Social media marketing includes activities like posting text and image, updates, videos,
and other content that drives audience engagement, as well as paid social media
advertising”
So, it is very clear that social media marketing is not restricted to paid advertisements. It is
much more than that. Paid advertisement is just a small but very significant part of Social
media marketing.
How to start with Social Media Marketing?
It is very important to work on a social media marketing plan before we jump to social
media marketing. As usual, first of all, you have set Marketing goals. Ask these questions to
yourself while setting social media marketing goals. And these questions are
• What are you hoping to achieve through social media marketing?
• Who is your target audience?
• Where would your target audience hang out and how would they use social media?
• What message do you want to send to your audience with social media marketing?
Why Social Media Marketing?
Social Media Marketing will help you Bringing the traffic to the website, increasing
conversions, Enhancing Brand Awareness, Building brand identity and association, Improved
communication and Audience interaction.
Choosing Social Media Platforms
As we discussed earlier, Social media is growing like anything and there are multiple
platforms available to market your products and service and showing the brand presence. It
is very important to understand the unique features of various social media platforms to
develop a social media strategy for each platform.
Let us see what social media platforms are available for SMM
Facebook
We discussed in the previous video that Facebook is the market leader in social media
marketing and has a very vast user base. According to Facebook Newsroom there are 2.41
billion monthly active users on Facebook as of June 30, 2019. There are different ways to
promote your brand and products on Facebook like Facebook Business Fan Page, Ads,
Groups,
Events and Marketing listings.
Google+
Google+ is always considered as a competitor of Facebook but it has a very niche audience.
Although everyone is not on Google+, but some of the communities are very active on this
platform. Google Plus can be used to upload and share photos, videos, links, and view all
your+1s. You can create Google+ circles, which allow you to segment your followers into
smaller groups, enabling you to share information with some followers while barring others.
Plan accordingly, recently Google + has announced the retirement, read more about it link
given in the description.
Pinterest
Have you ever heard about Pinterest?
According to Word Stream, Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing social media marketing
trends. This platform is image-centred and more suitable for retail. But it is open to all,
anyone can use Pinterest for social media marketing and or entering into sales-driving ads.
Using Pinterest, you can showcase their product offerings while also developing brand
personality with eye-catching, unique pinboards. The user base data of Pinterest shows that
the primary audience of Pinterest is female. If your primary is audience’s female then think
to have a presence on Pinterest.
Twitter
Initially, Twitter was started with the aim to broadcast your messages immediately across
the net. But now Twitter is being widely used for marketing purpose and is an important
segment of the digital marketing portfolio.
Using Twitter as a social media marketing tool revolves around dialogue and
communication,
so be sure to interact as much as possible to nurture and build your following.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a professional social networking site. This platform is primarily used to enter into
the dialogue with the people in similar industries and provides a place to share content with
like-minded individuals. The power of LinkedIn can be used in the favor of your brand by
asking the customers or clients to give your business a recommendation on your LinkedIn
profile. We have one full module on LinkedIn marketing so we will discuss it there
YouTube
YouTube is the leader in creating and sharing video content and can be used for social
media marketing in a very effective way. Brands can create their videos and push these
videos to get viral. We have already discussed advertise on YouTube under our Google ads
module. You can use both paid as well as free content on YouTube to promote your product
and services.
Reddit and other similar Platforms
There are so many other platforms like Reddit, or similar social media platforms such as
Stumble Upon or Digg, that can be used for sharing persuasive content. According to
Workstream, there are over 2 billion-page views per month and Reddit has a good social
media marketing potential. But on Reddit, only unique, interesting content works to engage
the audience
So, this was an overview of social media marketing. In this video, I have discussed with you,
various Social media platforms that can be used for social media marketing. Now my advice
to you is please create your social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn as we
are going to make use of these platforms to learn social media marketing.