Our Complete Guide to Social Media Marketing

Marketing must constantly adapt to new technologies. And while social media is already well established in the landscape, a lot of businesses have yet to make a habit of using it or have yet to address it. Here's our guide to getting them started.

What is social media marketing?

This is a type of marketing that comes on social media platforms. As you would expect, this notion includes a wide variety of activities that only have social media in common. So if you want to promote a blog or organize a recruiting campaign, and if it is done in connection with Facebook or Twitter, it is social media marketing.

In fact, most of the strategies adopted on social media are not exclusive or revolutionary - it is simply a matter of adapting old recipes to new types of media.

Should You Be Marketing On Social Media?

Doing social media marketing has become a must for all kinds of businesses and organizations. Social media gives you access to a huge audience through free or paid advertising, audience that you can shape and grow yourself.

Of course, in reality, all of this is not really “free”. Indeed, someone is supposed to spend some time posting on social platforms, but it is possible to work wonders even with a very limited amount of time.

Social media marketing doesn't work for everyone, and it would be a mistake to see it as an easy, inexpensive way to make money. The most successful strategies take into account the company's planning and are integrated into its overall strategy. For a different company, a different approach. But we will come back to that.

The bottom line is that there are huge possibilities in social media marketing for most businesses, even if it's not just about posting a few messages for sales to increase.

What Benefits Can I Get from Social Media Marketing?

Like we said, there are many strategies out there, and the results depend on which ones you adopt. Here is an overview of the main benefits of social media marketing:
It provides the business with fast customer service to users around the world.
It creates new opportunities to sell and promote your products. It promotes your brand and builds loyalty among your customers. It allows you to promote your own content so as to reach new users without breaking the bank. It communicates your corporate culture and facilitates the recruitment process.

Even though these strategies help your business become more profitable, sales are not going to increase overnight. Rather, see social media as a solid foundation that your business can rely on at all times.

Gary Vaynerchuck, social media expert, sums up why this type of marketing is so important: “Think of the most famous social media, the Internet. I find it hard to imagine someone not betting on the Internet”

Where to start?

The first thing to do is to define your approach by making a list of objectives to be achieved. As we said before, your approach to social media will depend entirely on your company.

For example, a business that has a product to sell and a charity will develop different approaches. Generally speaking, here are the ideas that a business and nonprofit organization might have.

Perform an audit of your social media presence

First, take stock of your current location. If you don't have any social channels, that's okay - the audit is over and you can get down to business.
Otherwise, whatever your position in the company, you will want to know:
On which channels you are active.

What if some channels work much better, or worse than others?
What types of posts have and haven't worked in the past?
If the following audience is relevant to your business?
What if some canals need cleaning? This can be the case to get rid of irrelevant or outdated content (this is a recurring problem with YouTube).

What you shouldn't post

There are plenty of examples of businesses, big or small, tweeting an inappropriate message and biting their fingers. Whether it's a bad joke or a poorly worded opinion, social media can be a double-edged sword if you're not careful.
There are no exact rules on what type of posts to avoid. Again, it's up to you and your business. Humorous web pages can be as quirky as they want, they always land on their feet even when they push the envelope too far. This is not necessarily the case with your business.

Think about the style of your brand. There's nothing stopping you from posting jokes and memes, as long as it's relevant to you and your audience. Social media are sometimes the scene of little provocations, but often the game is not worth the candle.

Sit down and meditate on the following. Make sure that the person writing your posts is fully aware of the reputation the company has built and is keen to maintain. Make a list of topics to ban. And do not write in stone the operation of your customer service, in order to maintain good flexibility of reaction.

Also, don't just spam your followers by sending them links to buy your products. We don't go to Twitter to window shop, even if that doesn't mean we don't have some fun once in a while.
There is nothing wrong with posting a few sales posts here and there, but especially your post. Sharpen the public's curiosity about your product rather than putting it in front of them all the time and hoping that they get their credit card.

Understanding the platforms

We're not going to go through all platforms, it's up to you to figure out what works and how. The formulas are multiple, as are the audiences. A good word can hit the mark on Twitter, but for LinkedIn, concrete messages based on specific advice are better.

Learn about the algorithms of the different platforms and spend some time on each one to get a feel for how they work.
Customize your posts the right way to get better engagement, higher traffic, and sustained interest.

Set up an adapted customer service

Customer service deserves a chapter dedicated to it. Too often, companies undermine their reputation by not taking or making fun of social media complaints seriously.
Social media gives us quick and easy access to businesses. No need to make a phone call, and no need to go to the Post Office. Just go to their Facebook page to complain - and everyone has access to the result. Nothing to do with what was done before.

The relationship with your audience is essential. Of course, the complaint may be unfair and unfounded, but you still need to engage with users in a professional manner.

Putting them back in their place would do no good, and instead would tend to draw attention to your business for the wrong reasons. Our guide to customer service on social media will give you more guidance on this.

Building a community organically

This is one of the hardest things to achieve if you are not a big recognized brand. There is no simple method, but rather an array of various means.

You will have to arm yourself with patience.

Take your time and do it properly: you'll end up having an audience that truly engages with you.

Here are some steps to follow as a first step:

- Create content that people are likely to share and that will be seen by users beyond your network.
- Be a useful referrer for people who use your products and services.
Let users know, through other means of communication, that you are present on social channels.
- Talk about other people's content, not just your own, and build relationships with them.
- Always stay interesting or useful.

While it is for Justin Bieber fans, the following interview is full of great tips applicable to growing a social community.

Shareable content on social media

Creating “shareable social media content” is a recommendation that often lacks precision.

What is shareable content? What makes it shareable? Where is it found?

The best advice I've read on this can be found in two books worth their weight in gold: “Contagious,” by Jonah Berger, and “Made to Stick,” by Chip and Dan Heath. You can find them at very affordable prices.

For some of the topics and tips from Contagious find here a diagram and a quick talk from Jonah Berger. Ultimately, if a blender maker can go viral, other companies have no excuse.

Paid social advertising

It's the main course, with companies spending billions of dollars around the world reaching their audiences through Twitter, Facebook and others. Moreover, concerning Facebook, it should be noted that some organizations which took advantage of their advertising platform to influence the political opinions of users are currently under the spotlight.

But don't let that put you off. The pressure is growing for social platforms to be more open and transparent in how they work, and as long as you follow the rules and do things right, you'll be okay.

Paid social media ads aren't much different from regular ads. It is always a question of targeting a specific segment of the population via a message intended for them. The only difference is that you can use the data collected from social media to build 100% personalized target audiences.