5 Tips to Better Understand and Use Social Media as Part of Digital Marketing

5 Tips to Better Understand and Use Social Media as Part of Digital Marketing

We live in a world that’s hyper-connected on almost every level. All the databases regarding one’s personal information are intertwined and the delineation between social and business-related in the business world is hard to make. Sure, there are many social features you can use in order to improve the way your business functions, but not every single one of them is useful for your business. This is why you need to learn how to use these social networks to your digital marketing campaign’s advantage.

 

Social Media as Part of Digital Marketing

 

1. Not Everyone Is on Social Networks

First of all, there are a lot of myths regarding the world of social media. If you plan on using them as one of your main digital marketing tools, you need to get familiar with them. For example, people behind social networks like to brag how everyone has a profile, but this is usually far from the truth. Sure, what they’re doing is not lying since they never stated that every last human being is using their networks frequently. The use of “everyone” in this case is metaphorical and shouldn’t be understood in any other way.

In reality, 22 percent of people in the U.S. have no access to any social network. While they may still be a minority, it is still a significant portion of your potential clients that you will have to look for another mean of approaching. Digital marketing, although powerful, probably shouldn’t become your only method of business promotion. There are many traditional marketing options like handing out promotional materials, putting up billboards and other ways to get your brand out there.

2. A Strategy Is A Must

Everyone knows that there’s nothing easier than connecting with consumers via social media. However, the marketers at a digital agency from Sydney claim that a successful campaign isn’t just about communicating to potential clients. In their opinion, it’s about starting an active online conversation about your brand.

The most important thing here is to realize that social media is speaking an entirely new language. Eight out of ten people don’t read past titles, and this is why most social networks use images, videos and infographics as their main means of communication. Precisely because of this, Snapchat, as an image messaging and multimedia mobile application, has been doing so great recently. When you add the ever-growing popularity of the augmented-reality, what you get is a great chance of customer engagement for all those who use it as a digital marketing tool.

 

A Strategy Is A Must

 

3. Social Connecting

As we’ve already mentioned, every social network has its own target demographic, but if you are planning on doing some networking of your own, you need to take one step further. Sure, LinkedIn appeals to more professional audiences, Pinterest is mostly used by 15- to 40-year-old women, while the majority of Snapchat’s audience consists of teens and Millennials.

Still, if what you aim for is to get connected to people who are a bit more specific about what they want, you might want to look into some alternatives, as well. For instance, AngelList is a place where a startup can get in touch with investors or potential employees, while PartnerUp helps connect entrepreneurs and small business owners. In other words, if you know who you’re addressing, it isn’t that hard to learn where to look.

4. Saving Time

One of the best thing about social media is that it is one of the least time-consuming digital marketing tactics. This is especially true if you spend some time to find the best social media automation software. With a cunning use of If This Then That service, you can make your social media profiles capable of responding to most situations on their own. If what they are saying about time being money is true, then this option can be seen as a proper goldmine.

Of course, you still need to be careful not to leave it all to automation. For one, it can lead to problems if something goes wrong. Also, social media should always be about humans interacting with other humans and if you sound too automated, people will start having problems with this sooner or later.

5. Don’t Be Lame

Being lame on social media is easy. Very easy. For companies, it is almost too easy to get it wrong and become objects of ridicule, or even worse. For instance, some people think that hijacking trends and popular hashtags is a good idea. It is not. This shows a lack of tact or even the most basic empathy.

Some companies also try to be all cool and hip and they end up being “parents-lame”.  According to Sprout Social’s recent study, using slang and jargon and trying too hard to be funny are among the most annoying actions brands can take on social media.

Another thing that is super lame and that will make the majority of your customers unfollow you is turning your social media profiles into promotion spamming machines. Your social profiles are not meant for this. You will alienate people and ruin your social media marketing efforts.

Conclusion

It is true that, when most people think about social media marketing, they think it’s sufficient to make a few profiles and answer comments. The worst thing about this kind of practice is that it may appear effective when in reality it does nothing to help out your business. You get tons of views on your YouTube channel, hundreds and thousands of likes on your Facebook posts and a bunch of retweets, but you don’t see any difference in your sales. Only by changing your approach to social media marketing radically, will you be able to shift your attention from these vanity metrics and focus on what really matters.

 

 

Dan Radak is a marketing professional with ten years of experience. He is currently working with a number of companies in the field of digital marketing, closely collaborating with a couple of e-commerce companies. He is also a coauthor on several technology websites and regular contributor to Technivorz.

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