Lesson 1: The Role of Social Media in Marketing
I. What is Social Media Marketing?
WordStream (2022): Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing that leverages the power of popular social media networks to achieve your marketing and branding goals. It also includes paid social media advertising, where you can pay to have your business appear in front of large volumes of highly targeted users. It requires an evolving strategy with measurable goals and includes:
· Maintaining and optimizing your profiles.
· Posting pictures, videos, stories, and live videos that represent your brand and attract a relevant audience.
· Responding to comments, shares, and likes and monitoring your reputation.
· Following and engaging with followers, customers, and influencers to build a community around your brand.
Henderson of DigitalMarketing.org (2020): Social media marketing is the process of creating tailored content for each social media platform to drive engagement and promote your business. Social media marketing is all about connecting with your audience or customers and helping them understand your brand better. It is incredibly beneficial to your business growth.
o You can tell your story, the services you offer, and the reasons why your business exists.
o Generate Unique Content at Scale
o You can build trust with potential customers and partners.
· Grow an Audience with Low Cost
o Engagements
o Customer Trust
o Build Community
· Provide support
o Create a system for tracking customer comments, questions, and complaints on social media.
· Easy to Measure Marketing Efforts
o Social media platforms and management tools enable you to track key performance metrics (KPIs).
o Example: Facebook Meta
· Increase Your Overall ROI
· Stay Top of Mind with Key People
o Create an impression on target audience’ minds
Drive thought leadership to garner the attention of target audience, decision-makers, and other top stakeholders