by Rahimah Sultan

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Many businesses, large and small, use social media as a vital component of their market mix. Globally, there are 4.9 billion people using social media platforms. So, having a presence on social is a good way to connect with both current and potential customers no matter your industry. Social media is a good way to reach your target audience, establish a loyal customer base, strengthen your brand, and increase your revenue.

This article details what you need to know about social media marketing including what it is, how it works, the best strategies, and how to implement it.


What Is Social Media Marketing?


Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing that uses social media platforms to promote your offerings and brand to your ideal customers. It involves considerably more than random posts on your business accounts. A successful social media marketing campaign requires good strategy and planning.

After you create your business profiles, you have to maintain and optimize them. Then, develop a content calendar that shows what you’ll post and when and where you’ll post. These posts will probably include a combination of text, images, stories, and videos that position your brand in a positive light and capture a relevant audience.

These posts will be unique and regular and additionally, you’ll respond to likes and shares and comments to monitor your standing and hopefully create a community.

Your social media marketing strategy may also include paid ads to allow your brand to appear in front of certain groups of people at specific times.



What are the benefits of social media marketing?


Social media is a powerful tool for marketing your business, due to its versatility and popularity.  Unlike traditional marketing like billboards, radio spots, and print ads, it’s very measurable.

Following are some of the most important benefits of a social media marketing strategy:

1.  Adds a Human Touch to Your Business

2. Drives Traffic

3. Generates Leads

4. Increases Brand Awareness

5. Builds Relationships


Here is a brief description of the top 7 social media marketing platforms for business.


There are several social media marketing platforms you may want to use when developing your social media marketing strategy. As you consider your options, you’ll find that some platforms are better suited for your brand and target audience than others.


1. Facebook

This is the most popular social media platform. When using Facebook, you can boost brand awareness, generate leads and increase sales, and gain followers. You can also display highly customizable, targeted ads. Keep in mind that Facebook comes with a lot of competition.

2. Instagram

Over time Instagram evolved from a basic platform to share images into a place where brands can engage their audience with beautiful photos and videos. It also offers reels, stories, live streams, and shops that can take your marketing efforts to the next level. This is one platform you want to use if your business relies on visuals to sell products/services.

3. Twitter

On Twitter, you use very short posts called “tweets” with text, animated GIFs, videos, and links to connect with your audience using short but valuable messages. A tweet can usually be up to 280 characters. You might be able to, build brand awareness and look for topics and information relevant to your industry and target audience.

4. YouTube

If you want to include videos in your social media marketing strategy, YouTube is the way to go. It’s a streaming social media platform as well as the second-largest search engine next to Google. If you have the desire and ability to produce meaningful video content, YouTube should definitely be one of the choices for your social media marketing strategy.  Using YouTube, you promote the unique features of your offerings, explain complex topics, showcase interesting processes, and much more.

5. Pinterest

This “visual discovery engine” inspires users who regularly search Pinterest for ideas that help them renovate their homes, plan weddings, take dream vacations, and fulfill other desires in their lives. If you provide products or services that can allow users to discover their dreams and achieve them, Pinterest is the way to go.

6. LinkedIn

If you are a B2B business, LinkedIn is a business networking platform that will be particularly useful. LinkedIn is geared toward professionals and allows you the opportunity to share your industry expertise. You can also use it to promote job openings within your company, connect to your employees and even generate leads through paid ads.

7. TikTok

TikTok, which revolves around short-form videos, is a newer social media platform that tends to target younger females. It may make sense if you’re trying to reach that particular demographic. As a business on TikTok, you can use hashtags that relate to your posts, brand, and offerings. When consumers search for these hashtags, they may come across your content.


What are the key components of a social media strategy?


A social media strategy is a plan that lays out your goals, the ways you’ll use to achieve them, and the metrics you’ll track to measure performance.

You might be tempted to post on a few social media platforms sporadically, but this is not recommended.

To really make the most of social media marketing strategy and increase your chances of success, you need a solid strategy.



The key components of an effective social media strategy include:


1. Audience Research

You should have a strong understanding of your target audience before posting anything. You can answer questions regarding what platforms they use, who else they follow, and what kind of content they prefer.

2. Brand Identity

Decide how you’d like to position your brand when you post on social media and interact with your followers. Think about the messages you hope to communicate.

3. Content Strategy

Content strategy relates to how you’ll use content to attract your audience and grow your brand on social media platforms. To be successful your plan needs to be specific.

4. Analytics

In order to measure performance and determine how to improve your strategy, you’ll use a process known as social media analytics where you collect and analyze data from your social media platforms.  This allows you to determine whether or not what you’re doing is working.

5. Ongoing Activity

As with most types of marketing, social media marketing is not something you do one time and forget it. You’ll need to post on it regularly, be engaged with your followers, and optimize your profiles on a consistent basis.


Remember that in addition to your social media marketing strategy, you will also need a professional business website so that those who discover your business through social media can check out your website to learn more about what you offer.


If you don’t already have a website, consider this.


If you’re just starting a business you can use this information for setting up your social media marketing strategy. If you’re already well on your way, it can serve as a reminder to use social media marketing in addition to your other resources.

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by Rahimah Sultan

Internet marketing using digital channels and social media is a part of overall marketing.


There are many components to a digital marketing campaign.


Social media is only one of all the available channels for digital marketing.


Social media platforms bring many people together to exchange information.


Any form of marketing products or services using electronic devices is digital marketing.


This type of marketing has been around as long as electronic devices, beginning with the radio, and can be done online and offline.


Digital marketing is advertising delivered through digital channels such as social media, mobile applications, email, web applications, search engines, websites, or any new digital channel.


For a well-rounded marketing strategy, you need to use both online and offline marketing.


While millions of dollars can now be earned from home using laptops and cell phones and the like, there’s still a place for offline marketing.


There is enhanced offline marketing which includes restaurants using ipads for customers to create orders, as well as radio, television, and phone marketing.


Enhanced offline marketing also includes electronic billboards, and some are interactive.


Other forms of this type of marketing include local people in your community wanting to be rappers and rockers handing out mix tapes and CDs and now probably USB sticks to get you to listen to their music.


The podcast model is now used on internet radio; that is, advertising right before the show begins and just before the end of the show. You must be entertaining in order to do well on radio.


When it comes to online marketing, there are several large categories:

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your online content to ensure your site ranks high in the search engines for relevant keywords and phrases.

Search engine marketing (SEM) or search marketing falls under SEO and is paid search or pay per click (PPC)

Content marketing which has been around longer than the internet, tells a story about your product or service to help improve conversions.

Content marketing allows you to connect with and educate your leads, customers and prospective purchasers with whom you work to build trust and relationships to encourage them to make an educated purchasing decision.

Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the practice of creating content that you have customized or tailored to work within the context of each individual social media platform so that you can drive user engagement and sharing.

Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) is an internet advertising model… Wikipedia

Affiliate marketing is the process of earning a commission by promoting a product you like to others and receiving some of the profit for each sale you make.


Read


Email marketing is the process of using email to promote your business. It’s used to foster relationships with potential customers, keep current customers informed and updated about your brand, offer coupons to encourage customer loyalty, and much more.


Read


Unbounce has a great graphic that sums up all kinds of online marketing in one neat chart.


Here’s a great place to get started with your online marketing.


For a well-rounded digital marketing strategy, both online and offline marketing are needed. The number of people spending more time on electronic devices is growing.


Traditional appliances and devices such as refrigerators, ovens, and billboards will all be modernized to leverage digital media. Whoever controls more eyeballs generates more revenue.


Internet marketing using digital channels and social media matters because it’s where the attention lies. That’s why Google and Facebook generate more revenue than any traditional media company, because they control the most eyeballs.


The channels that make up digital marketing are search engines, social media, blogs, affiliate marketing, emails, online ads, and mobile apps.



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by Rahimah Sultan

You must have an online presence to build your brand. That means using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. But, you can’t just open an account. You have to have a strategy to generate a following. It takes a lot of work and talent.

“If you’re currently plotting your break into the social media realm, then you will quickly see that competing for the short attention span folks today have today is rather daunting. You’re going to need a content marketing strategy that will not only interest but engage your audience.”

You must watch for new trends, use your own voice, not be afraid to experiment, be diligent, and maintain quality. Hugh Benjamin details this in his article What It Takes To Successfully Build An Online Presence.

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by Rahimah Sultan

Social media is a fantastic, low-cost opportunity for visibility and brand awareness. Even if you’ve been using it for a while, there is always something you can learn about social media that can help boost your business.

Check out some tips for social media marketing that include showing up, being you and keeping things simple. Remember that social media marketing is real marketing.

Read Social Media Tips for Entrepreneurs, which covers these tips and more.

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by Rahimah Sultan

One of the most beneficial aspects of becoming an entrepreneur is that in today’s marketplace you have diverse marketing methods with a wide range of online tools available to help automate the process. Here are some online marketing tips to help you achieve your marketing goals.

Email Marketing Automation

Email marketing is central to your business. Find a company that has been around for some years and also provides a web-based solution for unlimited email processing, so you will have room for growth. Be sure to set up your emails and delivery schedule using an autoresponder as part of your email marketing automation.

WordPress Automation

Express yourself and showcase your products and services using a blog. With a free WordPress blog and plugins you have total control. Add an opt-in form and post articles regularly that have a call to action. Be sure your blog is optimized for the search engines.

WordPress works great for both desktop and mobile devices and also allows you to automate and schedule your social media posts.

Social Media

Social media platforms are great for advertising. Choose one or several that best suit the needs of your business. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram are some of the most popular.

Read The Best Times to Post on Facebook, Twitter… for posting suggestions.

Hopefully, these online marketing tips will aid you in achieving your marketing goals.

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by Rahimah Sultan
 

In his article Why Your Sales Funnel Sucks Lemons, Brian Carter says, “If you sell online, or market for leads online, you definitely have a sales funnel. You may not know what your sales funnel is, but you have one.

The question is: how effective is your funnel?”

Brian covers the 5 most common mistakes businesses make with their digital sales funnels. They are: too many steps, not getting enough people into your funnel, keeping it too private, only one idea per funnel segment, and being so inbound that you don’t close the sale.

Read more…
 

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by Rahimah Sultan

When you visit a website are you curious about who owns or operates it? Do you check it out, especially if it contains something that peaks your interest? What is the first page you look at?

Your ‘About Us’ page is a vital part of any website. It is actually one of the most visited pages of any and every website. If you want to find out about a company, an organization or an individual, you will probably look at this page first. That is why I have included it in my Tips for Promoting Your Website. So, take advantage of this fact when promoting your website.

Personalize Your Page

One of the first impressions you can make on a potential consumer is from your ‘About Us’ page. This is good news for everyone because it is one of the best pages on your website for you to get creative with and truly personalize.

If your business has a particularly interesting, or unusual, back story relating to how it came about, that could be a fun way to make the most of your ‘About Us’ page. You can use fun images or a pleasing color scheme.

One thing to remember when you’re creating a good and effective ‘About Us’ page is to personalize it enough to suit you and your business. Reveal the how, why, and what your business ultimately stands for. Do not overload your consumers with too much information.
Your ‘About Us’ page should not be too long. Explain succinctly what your company does, and what the goal is, but in a fun and relatable manner.

Optimize your website

Be sure you optimize your website for relevant, repeat organic traffic from search engines. Your title, description and meta tags should reflect what your site is about. The description should be a sentence or two describing the content of the webpage. Now use the main words of the description for the keywords meta tag. If you have a blog update it regularly and optimize each post in the same manner so the search engines can find it.

Post actively on forums and blogs

You can participate in forums where your target audience is reachable. Post useful responses to questions, and include a signature with your website on your profile. You could possibly incorporate your own tips for promoting your website in a discussion. Do not spam as you most likely will be banned.

Publish an e-zine

An e-zine is an online magazine like a newsletter. You can publish your own or subscribe to others. You can find many free directories where you can add your digital newsletter and articles. Ezine Articles is one of the top directories.

Social Media Marketing

Use the strength of social media sites – mainly Twitter and Facebook – to reach your marketing objectives.

So, do not ignore the importance of your “About” page. Use it to your advantage.

You can benefit from the free online advertising tips discussed here. There are many no cost resources on the internet to promote your business, and of course you have the option of paid advertising. I’m sure that using these Tips for Promoting Your Website can be beneficial.

by Rahimah Sultan

Social Media Optimization (SMO) involves implementing changes both on-site and in social accounts to make content more visible, liked, shared and linked to via social networks. Using SMO Strategies in Internet Marketing opens up a communication avenue with current and future customers.

Did you know that having a solid social media optimization (SMO) strategy can also improve your SEO performance and organic rankings?

Good SMO strategies will drive traffic from social sites and search engines and shares, and leverage the power of social sharing to create benefits for your website.

When you create social media profiles and pages, for your business you are creating a platform for discussions/conversations and a community for your fans. Your social profile pages become a form of word-of-mouth advertising.

There are seven steps you can take to improve your SMO Strategies in Internet Marketing that include building your reputation, engagement, and becoming an authority.

“The author of this article states that, “Social media is an ideal platform to communicate your sales messages instantly and in a cost-effective manner. When you include social marketing to your overall marketing strategies, you open up a very powerful avenue of communication with your current and prospective customers.”

For some SMO Strategies in Internet Marketing, Click here to read Tips to Boost Any Business With Best Smo Strategies.

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by Rahimah Sultan

Russell Armstrong states, “For anyone who needs to clear out the cobwebs on their social channels and sharpen their effective social media marketing strategies, here are a few techniques to employ so you can take back control and rise in the ranks.”

Develop a Strategy and Follow It If you don’t have a solid plan in place, your content will probably be lost and never seen. For example, set a reasonable limit on how many tweets to publish every day. Adjust the number as needed, but definitely have a goal. Even publishing just five tweets a day gives you somewhat of a benchmark to work with.

You need to build trust by responding to tweets or posts on your channels. If you don’t reply people will turn to your competitors for answers or guidance.

While tracking is generally thought of as time-consuming and tedious, it needs to be done at least once a month.

Remain active on Google+ as that is essentially free advertising for your brand when other people search for you on Google.

There are five key platforms that you should use to grow your brand.

Click here to read the article.

by Rahimah Sultan

With everyone focused on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), many overlook the importance of Social Media Optimization (SMO). For business owners and entrepreneurs using social media optimization across social media platforms is crucial to generate results.

Social Media Optimization is the process of making content that is generated for a specific brand easily shareable across several different social media platforms and sites referred to as the social media web.

The focus on SMO is not necessarily to drive larger loads of traffic to your site, but to get your content seen in order to get organic traffic. Social networks are actually driving more traffic to professional websites than Google, the most popular search engine.

One way to effectively spread branded content across the social web without requiring users to visit your website is the use of widgets and badges. Badges count as backlinks, which can improve Search Engine rankings. Another optimization strategy is the social sign-in strategy which eliminates the need for filling out a long form.

Click here to read Russell D. Armstrong’s Step Up Your Promotion With Social Media Optimization