Social Media

Role of Social Media in Digital Marketing

Social Media Marketing

• This is another, most common way of marketing online. In this, you use social networks such as Twitter. To reach out to your prospective customers, Instagram, Twitter etc. 
• Nearly all internet users have their own accounts on one social network or more. So, you've got a very large pool of users to target your company.
• The benefit of this tool is that anyone with basic internet knowledge can handle simple social media marketing, such as creating company profiles on those networks, daily sharing, communicating with followers and loyal customers, etc. 
• Slightly complex issues like running paid advertising on these platforms can require knowledge of the experts.
• Another benefit of this channel is that you can target people of a particular location, age, gender, and even people with specific interests, particularly when running paid ads on these networks. 
• With a click of a button, this lets you enter an incredibly targeted audience.
• Social media marketing first started with publishing. Businesses were sharing their content on social media to generate traffic to their websites and, hopefully, sales. But social media has matured far beyond being just a place to broadcast content.
• Nowadays, businesses use social media in a myriad of different ways. For example, a business that is concerned about what people are saying about its brand would monitor social media conversations and response to relevant mentions (social media listening and engagement). 
• A business that wants to understand how it’s performing on social media would analyze its reach, engagement, and sales on social media with an analytics tool (social media analytics). 
• A business that wants to reach a specific set of audience at scale would run highly-targeted social media ads (social media advertising).
• Social media can be quite hard to break into – it really depends what you’re selling.

Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media sites.

How Social Media Marketing Can Help us to fulfill our Marketing Goals

Social media marketing can help with a number of goals, such as

1. Increasing website traffic.
2. Building conversions.
3. Raising brand awareness.
4. Creating a brand identity.
5. Improving communication and interaction with audiences.

How to Choose the Best Social Media Platforms for Marketing

1. Facebook
2. Instagram
3. Twitter
4. Pinterest
5. Linkedin
6. YouTube
7. FourSquare
8. Medium & more!

Facebook

• Facebook is a website that allows users to connect online with friends, colleagues at work or people they don't know, who sign up for free profiles. 
• It allows users to share pictures, music, videos and articles with however many people they like, as well as their own thoughts and opinions.

• Facebook is a website that allows users to connect to friends, colleagues at work or people they don't know, who sign up for free profiles online. 
• It allows users to share images, songs, videos and articles with, however many people they want, as well as their own views and thoughts.
• Marketplace - allows members to post, read and respond to classified ads.
• Groups - allows members who have common interests to find each other and interact.
• Events  - allows members to publicize an event, invite guests and track who plans to attend.
• Pages - allows members to create and promote a public page built around a specific topic.
• Presence technology - allows members to see which contacts are online and chat.
• Facebook is a place people go to relax and chat with friends, so keep your tone light and friendly. And remember, organic reach on Facebook can be extremely limited, so consider a cost-effective Facebook ad strategy, which can have a big impact on your organic Facebook presence as well!

Pinterest

• Pinterest is an American social media web and mobile application company. 
• It operates a software system designed to enable saving and discovery of information on the World Wide Web using images and, on a smaller scale, GIFs and videos.
• Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media marketing trends. 
• Pinterest’s image-centered platform is ideal for retail, but anyone can benefit from using Pinterest for social media purposes or sales-driving ads.

• Pinterest allows businesses to highlight their product offerings while also building brand identity with exclusive, eye-catching pinboards. 
• When developing your strategy for Pinterest remember that the primary audience of the social network is female. If that's your demographic, then you need a Pinterest presence!

Twitter

• Twitter is the social media marketing tool that allows you to stream your updates over the web. 
• Follow tweeters in your industry or related fields and in return you should acquire a steady stream of followers.

• Mix your official tweets with fun, brand-building tweets about specials, discounts and news. 
• When a customer has something nice to say about you, be sure to retweet and don't forget to answer people's questions where possible. 
• Using Twitter as a social media marketing tool revolves around dialog and communication, so be sure to interact as much as possible in order to nurture and construct your following.

LinkedIn

• LinkedIn is one of the more professional social media marketing sites. 
• LinkedIn is an American business and employment-oriented service that operates via websites and mobile apps. It was founded on December 28, 2002, and launched on May 5, 2003,. 

• It is mainly used for professional networking, including employers posting jobs and job seekers posting their CVs. As of 2015, most of the company's revenue came from selling access to information about its members to recruiters and sales professionals.
• LinkedIn Groups is a great venue for entering into a professional dialog with people in similar industries and provides a place to share content with like-minded individuals. 
• It's also great for posting jobs and general employee networking.
• It encourages customers or clients to make a recommendation on their LinkedIn profile for your business. 
• Recommendations make the business look trustworthier and more competitive for new customers. 
• Check out the Questions section of LinkedIn as well; providing answers helps you establish yourself as a leader in the think tank and earns trust.

YouTube

• YouTube is the number one place for video content creation and sharing and it can also be an incredibly powerful tool for social media marketing. 
• Many companies are trying to create video content in order to "go viral" their video, but in reality these chances are quite slim. 
• Focus instead on the development of valuable, instructive "how-to" videos. 
• These video how - to also have the added advantage of ranking on Google's video search results so don't underestimate the power of video content!

FourSquare

• Social media platforms such as Yelp and FourSquare are great for brick and mortar businesses looking to implement social media marketing. 
• Login to assert your location position on these pages, and then consider additional rewards such as check-in fees or special discounts. 

• Remember, those visitors will have their phones in their hands, so they can write and post reviews. 
• A lot of good reviews can help to sway prospective visitors to get in and build your business!

Medium

• Medium is an online publishing platform developed and launched in August 2012, by Evan Williams. It belongs to A Medium Corporation. 
• The website is an example of social media, has a diverse set of amateur and professional people and magazines, or exclusive blogs or Medium publishers, and is frequently called a blog host.

• Medium aren't like any other internet website. Our sole purpose is to help you come up with compelling ideas, knowledge and insights. 
• We're not serving ads— we're serving you, the curious reader who loves to learn something new. 
• Medium is home to thousands of independent voices, and we're mixing people and technology to find the best read for you— and filter out the rest.

Reddit

• Reddit is an aggregate of American social news, Web content ranking, and forum for discussion. 
• Reddit is ideal for sharing compelling content, or similar social media platforms like Stumble Upon or Digg. 
• Reddit has incredible social media marketing potential with over 2 billion page views per month, but marketers should be warned that only truly unique, interesting content will be welcomed. 

• Posting on Reddit is playing with fire — submit spammy or blatantly sales-focused content and this extremely tech-savvy group might berate your company.
• If you have content that you think the Reddit community (the majority is young, geeky, liberal and internet-obsessed) will love, you could reap tremendous benefits and gain valuable traffic.
• Using social media in marketing is more than improving site traffic and helping businesses reach more customers; it is a valuable location for better understanding and learning from your target audiences.