Social media has been billed as unbeatable for its marketing potential it has also been identified as a potentially risky avenue whose use could contribute to the demise of entire brands. Its increasing popularity cannot be ignored, especially as the business takes up a more digital front.
Is social media marketing the tool to help your rand achieve growth or a potentially risky step that could permanently affect your brand? There have been so many things said about social media’s ability to help you grow your brand.
Is the platform the next big thing or just a passing fad? Â The prevalence and popularity of social media, coupled with an evolution towards virtual business suggests that social media marketing could be here to stay. But is it any good?
This guide will help break down the most common misconceptions about social media marketing.
Successful social media marketing is difficult
With the right planning and execution measures, you may be able to develop a series of social media marketing efforts that could help you increase brand awareness and growth.
You need to understand your business goals and consider how social media can help you achieve them in order to stand a chance of success.
Armed with the right information about your target audience’s preference, you may be able to make your brand appealing enough to achieve your goals. Many brands have done it before, and so can you.
There are too many people outside your target market
While this is the case for social media, there are strategic paid advertisement tools that can be used to reach specific audiences.
On Facebook, for instance, you can take up remarketing strategies to advertise your brand or products to people who have already shown an interest in the past for an increased likelihood of higher conversions.
Finding your target audience involves playing to their interests. Find out what your target audience likes through polls, surveys and questionnaires, and develop your online brand profile around this.
Only the biggest brands are popular online
There is enough love to go around on social media for brands, regardless of their size. As many as 95% of people on certain platforms follow at least one brand, which expresses a high interest in brand activity.
Brands have become so popular over time that they have surpassed celebrities, who previously racked up massive follower counts. All brands can be popular if they develop a targeting strategy and offer a range of interactive and entertaining posts.
Brands may even be popular because of the value of their customer service. On social media, size doesn’t necessarily matter.
Social media is too expensive
You cannot beat the marketing rates available through social media. Paid advertisement options are available for as low as $1, with a variety of other affordable options available on each individual platform.
You can even get instagram auto video views free to boost the performance of your content on the platform. Social media marketing is far cheaper and more efficient than traditional marketing.
It guarantees better reach, more personalized content, and additional dynamic assessment options to help evaluate the performance of marketing efforts in relation to the input.
Social media offers personal selling, which is the next step in the evolution towards a virtual business front.
My brand can only appeal to clients within my area
Social media offers access to a large number of people, a lot of whom may not necessarily be physically located near you.
For certain types of businesses, this may offer a limited advantage in terms of raised customer numbers. However, people in your area who may not necessarily follow you on social media could be able to monitor this interaction and gain interest in your brand, helping you to win over potential clients indirectly.
Regardless of your type of brand, social media has the right marketing strategy for your needs. You can leverage potential walk-ins by providing sufficient contact and location information.
You may also consider virtualizing some aspects of your brand’s service provision for increased user satisfaction and potential for growth.
My social media team can handle it
You need to develop well laid out strategic efforts to help your marketing and social media teamwork towards achieving your brand’s goals.
Your team should understand their expected social decorum in their posts and interactions, which limits the risk of fallout from a misjudged comment.
They should also engage a solution-oriented approach to follower complaints, which may work to improve user trust levels. Your social media team will be able to handle representing your brand on social media after comprehensive training efforts designed t help improve this regard.
Who needs a team anyway?
You cannot handle social media activity without a dedicated unit that develops content, monitor interaction and provides to clients in a timely and professional manner.
It can be overwhelming to do this without some help. If you are considering social media activity on multiple platforms, you may completely be unable to offer these services.
So can you do it alone? If you plan to keep your operation small and minimalist on social media, you could consider setting upon one platform and detailing out your hours of operation.
If you are interested in large scale brand activity, you will need to consider a social media team for efficient operation. Just remember to provide thorough training for each brand representative.
The free advertising options are ideal for inexpensive brand growth
You will be able to advertise your brand to your followers at all times through social media. You can even schedule advertisements multiple times during the day. As long as you develop interesting advertisement content, you may be able to put out a lot of advertisements without incurring any costs.
Users will generally opt to appreciate brands that over market themselves. Your free advertising efforts could prove expensive as they may play a part in pushing followers away. Â
Instead of repetitive free adverts, you could consider developing and promoting high-quality content. This could win over more followers and provide an opportunity for personal selling, which could be a much more effective way to market your brand.