What is Social Media Marketing?

With more than 45% of the world’s social media population, it’s important for your business to develop a successful social media strategy to reach your target audience. This number is way higher in Australia, with almost eight in 10 people (79%) now using social media.

Hence, if you are a business owner in Australia your business or your brand needs to be on social media. You should also be maximising on the best social media platform for your business.

Social media is any digital medium that enables users to quickly make and share content with the public. Social media covers a wide variety of platforms and apps. Social networks specialise in connecting and exchanging thoughts, ideas and content in the form of blogs, images, photos, videos etc with other users — often with users who share tastes and interests.

Social media marketing is the use of social media sites to communicate with your audience to develop your brand, increase sales and drive web traffic. This includes posting compelling content on your social media pages, listening to and engaging your audience, assessing your performance, and running social media ads. The most commonly used social media platforms ATM (at the moment) are Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Snapchat, etc. If you are an electrician in Darwin, having a Pinterest account might not be as useful as it would be for a hairdresser or boutique owner. Social media marketing is about picking where your audience likely spends time and using the best platform to advertise your services.

Nowadays, businesses use social media in a number of ways. For example, if a business is concerned with what people think about their brand, they will observe social media activity, respond to relevant mentions and find new and better ways for engaging their audience. A business that wants to understand how it performs on social media will evaluate its visibility, reach and sales on social media using social media analytics tools. A business that wants to reach the audience on a much higher scale will run targeted social media ads. Just like no two businesses are alike, what works for one business might not work for another.

A good social media marketing strategy isn’t just about posting pictures on Instagram and Pinterest or blogs and content pieces on Facebook and LinkedIn. It’s even more than that. It includes creating and integrating a strong social media presence for your brand that helps promote brand recognition and boosts traffic on your social media accounts and website. It can be as easy as designing the right type of content and scheduling posts at the right time, tracking and reporting on key analytical data.