Social media marketing is the process of creating content for social media platforms to promote your products or services, build community with your target audience, and drive traffic to your business. The overall focus is on posting engaging content that will reach your intended audience.
Effective social media marketing builds brand awareness, generates and nurtures leads, drives thought leadership, initiates engagement and conversation, and measures marketing efforts. It is an opportunity to tell your company’s story. Since social media allows you to reach a wide audience, it is one of the best locations to publish your marketing content, promote your case study or white paper, and solicit newsletter subscriptions.
A successful social media marketing strategy will include the following steps:
- Identify goals and KPIs
- Choose the best platform(s) for your target audience
- Create a posting schedule (including the best days and times)
- Engage with your audience
- Analyze and evaluate your results
- Adapt and grow to improve future strategies
Once you have prepared your content and outlined your goals, choosing the most appropriate platform(s) for your business will ensure the best use of your time and it will be more likely to accomplish your objectives. Below is a list of the most popular social media platforms and some statistics about each to help you choose:
