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Intro to Social Media Marketing

9/15/2018 | admin

Social media has had a profound influence on the lives of millions of people.

It has become so ingrained in our daily lives that people are spending an increasing portion of their day checking and interacting with their social media accounts. Facebook recently reported that the average person with a Facebook account spends upwards of 50 minutes a day on the site! Other social media sites are reporting similar numbers:

YouTube – 40 minutes per day
Twitter – 1 minute
Snapchat – 25 minutes
Instagram – 15 minutes

Many businesses think that social media is an advertising opportunity too good to pass up. After all, they have a captive audience that spends a good portion of their day on the internet. The problem lies in how advertisers try to attract new viewers, clients, and customers. Over the years, social media users have become so sophisticated that they can instantly tell whether something is a paid promotion or organic. This is where many companies fail. They think that putting up a simple Facebook profile and promoting their services or products is all that it will take to gain them new sales. The exact opposite is true. Businesses nowadays need to approach social media marketing by making a personalized connection with their audience. For their social media campaigns to be successful, they need to authentically engage those who have liked their pages in such a way that it doesn’t come off as trying to shill a product or service. We’re going to look at a few of the more prominent social media sites out there and how they can be best utilized to market for new clients, leads, prospects, and ultimately business.

Facebook

Without a doubt, Facebook is the biggest social media site out there. Almost every single person in America has a Facebook account. Back in the early days, it was easy to market to people on Facebook. But as the years passed, many people grew tired of seeing advertising message after advertising message, and Facebook tweaked their algorithm to show less promotional posts and more content that’s considered valuable. To avoid the unpredictable algorithm changes, you can take advantage of Facebook Ads (which can be shown to complete strangers who you aren’t friends with) which will be shown to whichever audience you select. The great thing about Facebook is how deep you can drill down when it comes to targeting a specific demographic or people who have particular interests and likes. You can reach your target market very easily with FB Ads. The only downside is that if you don’t know what you’re doing, you can very easily spend thousands of dollars with no results.

Twitter

Just because the average person spends around 1 minute per day on Twitter, doesn’t mean that it’s not a useful marketing tool. There are some special considerations, however. Twitter only allows you 280 characters (which is up from the original 140) to get your message or point across. Your marketing message needs to be concise and on-point. Twitter also moves very fast so if you post a tweet in the morning; there’s a good chance that nobody will see it by the evening. So how do you take advantage of Twitter for marketing? You’ll need to engage with others and make a connection. Long gone are the days when you could fire out a couple of tweets and watch as the traffic rolls into your website. Nowadays you have to create an authentic connection with your audience, and this times time and effort. Having good quality content is also very important as it will keep the interest of your audience.

Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest

These three social media giants are image-intensive. Meaning that instead of text or content, they primarily focus on images. When it comes to marketing on these sites, companies that do best will regularly upload images of their products or services that show off their benefits to their audience. For example, if you own a manufacturing company, you can take pictures of new products or show how people are using your products in a manner that will provide value to their daily lives. Even service-based industries can take advantage of social media sites that rely on images. For example, a law firm can have an infographic created that lists facts or relevant information. It can be posted on Pinterest, and if the content is relevant and valuable, new people will discover the law firm and visit their website.

Social Media Marketing in New Bern

Marketing on social media nowadays is much more than making a post on Facebook and hoping for the best. The content you produce must be relevant, valuable, and make an honest connection with your audience. If you’re having trouble marketing on social media, or you’d like help increasing your followers or audience, give AlphaGraphics of New Bern a call today. Our in-house social media marketing experts can not only help set up and run a campaign but help create a valuable content strategy that will gain the undivided attention of your desired audience. To learn more about how AlphaGraphics of New Bern can produce and design your next project, you may email us, request a quote or call us at (252) 633-3199.

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