Social Media Participation: Generating Buzz for Your Brand

Social media platforms are powerful channels for marketing. According to 80% of businesses in a study say that social media is the most important factor in their digital marketing success (Welch, N.D). However, 85% of marketers I this same study reported not being sure what tools are the best to use to increase engagement on social media (Welch, N.D).

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing involves creating and sharing content on social media networks to achieve your marketing and branding goals. Social media marketing includes activities like posting text and image updates, videos, and and other content that drives audience engagement, as well as paid social media advertising. 

How to Begin Social Media Marketing 

Before you begin creating social media marketing campaigns, consider your business’s goals. 

Starting a social media marketing campaign without a social strategy directly aligned to business goals makes your full campaign integrated to your business, and inline for growth. 

In this plan, it’s important to ask question such as:

• How will this campaign / plan align with my business goals directly?
• What is my target audience?
• Is my target audience reachable via this social media platform?
• How can I reach my target audience in this social media platform?
• What message do you want to send to my audience with social media marketing?

Selecting The Right Social Media Platforms

Once your audience and messaging is identified, it’s important to prioritize a social media platform based on your business type, business goals and audience. For example, a b2b business might prioritize social media channels for with a wider business audience such as LinkedIn or Facebook, while a B2C brand such as a clothing company may prioritize social media channels such as Instagram and Pinterest instead. Knowing where your best chances to reach your target audience allows a brand to create an effective social media strategy. 

Leveraging your brand’s existing analytics, or utilize analytic tools to gain more insight into your ideal demographic and buyer habits may also be worthwhile to do when trying to select the right platforms to market on, as well as what type of content should be posted for effective communication when building out your social strategy. 

Already have social media platforms? “Read reports that deliver information about every ad, event, and other collateral you post that together leads to a more targeted strategy.”(Jenkins, 2018). Using preexisting data from your previous social media efforts serves as valuable data when trying to restrategize! Consider performances of previous content and consider moving away from content your audience is not engaging with, or sticking to topics, and efforts that your audience tends to engage more with. 

Creating Content for Conversations 

According to the Content Marketing Institute:

“Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.” (Skey, 2014).

While many marketers may think content must not necessarily convert, I believe content and conversion go hand in hand. Ian Lurie, author of Conversation Marketing: Common Sense Internet Strategies points out that Conversation Marketing works as a counter-balance for Accumulation Marketing which targets large numbers in the hopes that some stay and are interested in making a purchase (Lurie, N.D). When curating content, it’s important marketers maintain in mind that the content is both engaging, but also driving towards conversion. Conversation may not necessarily be just a sale, there is various types of conversion types, especially on social media platforms.

Here are some examples of conversions types for businesses to consider when creating content:

1. Purchase
2. Visit Site
3. Submit Form
4. Sign Up
5. Create an Account
6. Share
7. Download
8. Call Now
9. Message Us

Establishing a conversion goal for each content piece allows businesses to ensure content is both engaging, and converting. 

Conclusion

Businesses large or small, B2B or B2C can benefit from executing a social media strategy. It’s important for businesses to leverage business goals, and any analytical tools that can provide consumer behavior, and demographics to determine optimal social media platforms, as well as high-performing social media content. Establishing conversion goals for each content post also helps businesses ensure content is both engaging and conversion content. Businesses may also leverage social media analytics to track conversion rates on content, to pivot their Call to Actions and Conversion messaging. For example, possibly changing from “Purchase” to “Contact Us” or “Visit Site” to “Buy Now”. 

Real Time Business Example

Starbucks is a highly followed brand across multiple social media platforms, having 10.9 million followers on Twitter and 17.8 million on Instagram. Starbucks provides many organic posts which invite customers to check out their coffee and cafe food, and also have many paid advertisements with conversion content, for example, an aggressive campaign Starbucks currently has is inviting customers to their Loyalty program, which was updated in 2020. Since this update, they have aggressively campaigned conversions for consumers to join their new updated loyalty program (Starbucks, 2020). 

By staying aligned to their business goals, and establishing a social media strategy, Starbucks is a thriving brand which has tactfully leveraged social media marketing and participation from consumers.

 “Having a connection with our customers, whether in our stores or digitally, allows us to anticipate their needs and deliver the products and experiences they are looking for. Our customers have shared with us that they would like more options to pay and earn Stars in the app as a Starbucks Rewards member, in addition to the Starbucks Card,” said Brady Brewer, Starbucks chief marketing officer. “We expect the expansion of payment options will appeal to an even wider customer audience and deepen engagement with our members.” (Starbucks, 2020). 

References:

Lurie, I. (No Date). CONVERSATION MARKETING

An Internet Marketing Strategy That Works. Retrieved from: https://www.portent.com/cmonline/

Starbucks. (2020). https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/starbucks-to-update-loyalty-program-and-app-this-fall-to-offer-more-ways-to-pay-and-earn-stars/

Skey, A. (2014). How To Turn Your Inbox Nightmare Into A Content Marketing Machine.Retrieved from:  https://www.getspokal.com/how-to-turn-your-inbox-nightmare-into-a-content-marketing-machine/

Welch, Karina. (No Date). Social Media Strategy: How To Create The Right Approach For Your Business On Social. Retrieved from: https://www.bluefountainmedia.com/blog/social-media-strategy-how-to-create-the-right-approach-for-your-business-on-social