A Social Media Marketing Guide for Entrepreneurs

Social Media Marketing doesn’t need to be complicated. And utilising Social Media for business is crucial to getting the most out of your marketing efforts.

The quantity of social media marketing agencies that have sprung up in the last few years is staggering. A relatively unknown subject ten years ago, using social media for marketing these days is a vital aspect of any sales and marketing plan.

In this article, we’ll cover the basics of social media marketing platforms and what you need to know to market on social media as an entrepreneur.

What is social media marketing?

Social Media Marketing is the act of making your services known by means of social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and even TikTok.

It is an activity which requires:

• Constant attention
• Monitoring of buzzwords and trending topics
• A regular social media content schedule
• Coordinated campaigns between social media platforms
• And numerous other skills to keep the entire campaign running smoothly and bringing your business inbound leads.

How social media can help your business

Billions of people use social media. If you do not use social media in your business, your brand will suffer for it.

One of the main benefits of having an effective social media strategy in place is to raise brand awareness.

The second reason businesses utilise social media is to increase traffic to their websites.

Other reasons for engaging in a social media marketing strategy are:

• Improving conversions
• Creating Engagement
• Monitoring your brand appreciation and sentiment (i.e. what customers say about your brand and products or services)

How does social media marketing work

Social media marketing is more straightforward than most people think. It’s easy to overthink the subject and get too complicated.

Here are some simple steps to creating an excellent social media marketing campaign:

• Create a business page on each social media platform.
• Add a high-quality description that tells people what you do and which makes them want to engage with your brand.
• Add any other information about your company, including key links to products and services.
• Regularly share awesome content and news, which makes people want to engage with your brand. Make sure this content is not “salesy” but offers people helpful information and makes them want to click and know more.

This matter of awesome content is really the crux of the matter.

In Social Media Marketing, you need to master the art of creating content that “sells without selling” and which generates interest on its own.

Think of people on Social Media as guests at a party. No one wants a sales pitch at a party. They want to have fun, and they’re more likely to buy something sincerely recommended to them by one of their friends than from a hawker in the corner.

For this, it might be a good idea to hire a content writer to assist you.

Excellent content isn’t only about tweets and LinkedIn posts. Excellent content encompasses:

• Vlogs and videos
• Useful and interesting blog articles
• Animated videos
• eBooks
• Etc

Through content, you create a community and engage with them.

Also, get creative. Run competitions, set up creative ad campaigns. Focus on building your audience.

Data analytics can help here, so as to analyse audience behaviours and thereby improve your overall social media strategy.

What are the best social media platforms to promote your business?

Each social media platform is its own channel and has its own goals for businesses.

For example, you wouldn’t be promoting B2B content on TikTok!

Compartmentalise each part of your strategy, noting down who the target market is for each, and then match that market to a particular Social Media Platform.

For example, LinkedIn would be the platform to use for business-only content. LinkedIn is a social media platform dedicated to finding new business, and the content created on there is quite different from the content shared on, say, Twitter or Instagram.

Twitter, on the other hand, is a nifty platform to use to get the conversation going. It’s a great tool to create a buzz, run competitions, get instant feedback, run a poll, and so on.

Facebook strikes a good balance between business and personal. You can create a business page on there and get people to like it, and so show up on their feeds later on when you post some new content.

Instagram would be for visual ad campaigns.

Each of the above channels has its market and its specific part in the overall strategy. It’s essential to break down your social media strategy to match each social media platform you will be using, and publish content specific to that channel.

Is social media effective?

Several studies have been carried out regarding this, and the results are astounding.

In short, yes and absolutely, social media is not only effective but highly effective for marketing your brand, with one caveat:

You have to do it right.

For example, if you’re posting on Facebook, you should include an image to get more engagement. The best times to post on Instagram are apparently at 1 pm and 5 pm.

These and numerous other factors need to be taken into account when embarking upon a social media marketing campaign.

Because the topic is so broad and yet can result in such high ROI, many entrepreneurs choose to hire social media professionals to assist them in getting the most of any social media marketing campaign.