Here’s What You Gain When You Start Marketing on Social Media

These days, the number of social media users is significantly high and growing at a fast pace. In Malaysia alone , almost 27 million people are social media users. This is slightly over 80% of the Malaysian population. The importance of social media is such that many people even use it for work related communication. 

Social media has changed the way people interact with one another. Additionally, it has also changed the way brands and businesses interact with customers.

What is social media marketing? 

Social media marketing is now the buzz word for business owners all over the world. It simply means advertising and marketing your brand on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more.Social media advertising can now be targeted at your chosen group, according to gender, age, interests and more. 

Any brand that wants to be recognized in this day and age must have a significant online presence. Market research suggests that businesses who actively conduct social media marketing campaigns have better sales than their counterparts who don’t.

Why is Everyone Talking About Social Media Marketing?

Some people may be wondering, what is social media’s significance for my business? In essence, social media marketing is the process of advertising your products and services on social media platforms. In Malaysia, the most active social media platforms are Facebook, Youtube, WhatsApp, Twitter and more. More than half of these users are between the ages of 20 and 34. 

Despite being around for about 20 years or more, these social media platforms are under-utilized by Malaysian businesses. SMEs in particular may not see the benefits of social media in getting their brand out there.

With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic and physical distancing measures in place all over the world, social media marketing has become even more important. It’s not enough to just start selling products and services online.

Business owners need to start spreading word about their brand beyond their circle of friends and family members. Here are some social media marketing benefits you can consider:

How Social Media Marketing Benefits Your Business

The benefits of social media in marketing your brand are numerous. The great thing is that you don’t have to do it alone. You can get a  social media agency to plan your online marketing campaign for you. Here are the benefits of social media in building your brand:

1. Ability to Target Your Audience

Social media marketing is a lot more cost effective than traditional marketing methods. The first reason is of course that you can target your ads better. In the past with mass media like newspapers, radio or television, you have less control over your audience.

Social media ads are able to target audiences according to their age bracket, interests and other attributes. Therefore the return on investments (ROI) for these targeted ads would be higher than advertising to the general public. 

Social media ads can also cost less than traditional media. You have much more control over how long you want the ads to run, and how many people you want to reach. These details can help bring down your marketing costs too. As long as you create a winning marketing strategy, your target audience will start responding.

2. Building Stronger Brand Awareness

In order to gain more customers, the first step is to get people to recognize your brand online. This means building trust and gaining a stable following. Potential customers need to see that you are a trustworthy brand and one way to gain their trust is by providing as much information as possible. 

The best way to provide information is to have a good body of content on social media. Traditional ads can only show several minutes of information. However, on social media, you can give out so much more. In fact, you can put out a brand related post everyday, with pictures or videos along with it. 

This will expose your brand to the public in a better and more effective way. Very soon, your logo and tagline will be instantly recognizable, with the correct social media marketing strategy.

One of these marketing strategies is to recognize and be able to use latest facebook marketing trends and humor.

3. Gaining Feedback for Marketing Improvement

These days, marketing relies heavily on data. When you run a social media campaign, data about the response to that campaign can be gathered easily. For example, on Facebook, you can easily see how many people are engaging with an ad or post. From here, you can gauge whether you are targeting the right demographic.

If your ad or a post is performing poorly, you can study the backgrounds of those who are really engaging with your content. You can then re-target your ads or content to fit these audiences better. 

Apart from demographics, data from social media marketing allows you to know other parameters you can improve on. These include the best times to run your ads, the type of content that does better, and much more.

4. Cost Saving and Within Your Budget

Social media marketing doesn’t have to cost a lot. There is a wide variety of channels you can use to market your brand. One example of a cost saving marketing channel is e-mail marketing and chat apps marketing. These actually won’t cost you anything at all. 

Signing up for social media accounts is free too, and you can post content for no added costs. You can advertise on your own page, or join certain groups and advertise there. These steps are free of charge.

Of course, some of these need a fee, such as Google Ads and Facebook ads. However, the cost is relatively low compared to traditional advertising channels. In fact, you can reach a large number of people just by boosting a post, which costs less than RM100.

5. Better Customer Engagement

As a brand that wants to reach out, you have to project an image that’s customer friendly. One way to go about this is by being active on social media. Social media allows you to be closer to your customers and visitors, by engaging with them.

Here, you can answer questions and gauge reactions. Social media also allows you to be current and relevant. These two things will drive people to your brand, once they realize that there’s a human face behind the postings.

Another way you can engage with your followers is by getting an influencer on board. Influencers will be able to promote your brand to their followers, which is added traffic and more potential customers too. Influencers marketing bears similarities to celebrity endorsements, which will increase public trust for your brand. 

6. Build Customer Loyalty Easier

What exactly keeps customers coming back? Well, it’s usually a combination of things. Good products and services, great customer service and much more. Being on social media allows you to have a following of loyal customers. 

Research has shown that customers will follow your social media accounts if they’re particularly interested in your brand. This gives you a chance to build up brand loyalty and keep them coming back for more. In short, it makes your effort to create loyal customers that much easier. 

Social media has many avenues for content. You can post pictures, videos, live streams, blogs, vlogs and so much more. Rather than just feeding your followers with information, you can keep them entertained and this increases their investment in your brand, both monetarily and in terms of time.

7. Opportunities for Lead Generation

Not every content on social media has to be a hard sell. Sometimes, it’s all about lead generation i.e, driving potential customers to your brand. Social media is able to reach a wider spectrum of the public. A percentage of them would no doubt be interested in your products or services through indirect soft selling content. 

This process of lead generation increases your opportunity for conversion too. This means that the more leads you can bring to your website or store, the more potential you have of converting them into customers. This is one of the advantages of social media marketing.

It is up to your persuasive content and special benefits that will bring them through the various purchasing steps. The good thing about social media is that there are various platforms you can generate leads on, and many effective tactics to convert those leads into proper sales.

How Can I Create An Effective Social Media Marketing Campaign?

An effective social media campaign requires careful research and planning. It should ultimately be based on data and customer needs. A creative and relevant marketing campaign requires certain steps in order to be effective. These steps include:

1. Define Your Marketing Objectives

The very basic step you need to take before any social media campaign starts is to determine what you want to achieve. You need to state these goals into solid measurable objectives. 

For example, you would perhaps like to increase your Facebook and Instagram followers to 10,000 people. Another example is perhaps to get 5000 leads by the end of 6 months. 

Make sure your goals are achievable and your expectations realistic. For example, it would be more realistic to gain 300 followers in three month if you’re an unknown startup than 5000 followers in the same amount of time.

In order to know what a realistic objective is, you would have to consult an expert. Here’s where  a good social media marketing agency comes in. They would have the necessary experience and be able to guide you in setting your goals, and suggest the perfect time frame to do it. 

These are some of the common social media goals set by companies. Source: EngageBay

2. Identify Your Target Audience

To make your marketing strategy most cost effective, you have to define your target market. Not having a target market is akin to going into a swimming pool blindfolded. 

In the end, you may not get where you want to go. Also, all your effort and resources may be wasted. 

Experience is the best teacher when determining your target audience. Don’t worry if you can’t get it right the first time. The beauty of social media marketing is that you’ll be able to obtain data that can help you improve.

For example, Facebook will be able to show you which ads perform better, or which posts gain more interaction. You’ll be able to gauge whether an ad targeting women in their 30s does better, or an ad targeting men in their 30s. 

The type of business you are will also determine who you target. There’s a difference if you’re a B2C ( business to customer) enterprise, or a B2B ( business to business) enterprise. The type of audience you want to target will also determine the tone and content you put out. 

For example, B2B content tends to be more formal, while B2C content would generally be more fun and casual. 

3. Choose The Correct Social Media Platform

Not all social media platforms are the same. Different social media platforms emphasize different functions and therefore attract different types of users. 

For example, Instagram is a very visual based platform, and its users tend to be urban young people  interested in popular lifestyle trends. On the other hand, LinkedIn attracts many professionals who are on the platform to network with one another. 

Therefore, you have to pick the platforms that suit your business the best. If your products are highly visual, Instagram is a good choice. Businesses that work best on Instagram include cafes, arts and crafts, beauty products, cosmetics and more. 

If you’re a B2B company,a professional platform  like LinkedIn is a good place to start. LinkedIn is home to many corporate decision makers. Therefore, having a presence there can build brand awareness among potential clients that matter. 

How Can We Measure Social Media Marketing Success?

When you launch a social media marketing campaign, you also need to know if it’s working. To do this, you need a system in which to measure the campaign’s effectiveness. Usually, there are several parameters to measure, which include:

1. Page Traffic

Traffic is defined as the number of people visiting your page. If you have set a goal to improve the traffic to your social media page, this is what you’ll be measuring. 

As a page administrator, you’ll usually be able to see how many views each of your posts have gotten, even if there hasn’t been any interaction with it. 

An increase in page traffic means that there is also an increase in interest for your brand or business. It also means that your page has entered the knowledge of more people, and there is a potential to convert these visitors to actual sales.

2. Page Interaction

Page interaction is one of the easiest parameters to measure when it comes to determining your marketing campaign’s success. It is measured in the number of likes, comments, shares and clicks on the links you post. 

Tracking these very obvious and external elements will allow you a clearer picture about where your campaign is headed to. For pages that have just started, it often takes some time before engagements pick up. 

Most social media platforms will provide you with metrics on your content’s engagement rates. In addition to the number of interactions on your own page, there are also ways to measure off-page engagements, such as when other users mention you or tag you in their posts. 

Page interaction is sometimes measured against traffic. This tracks the number of visitors that actually react to your content. If the engagement rate is high, this is an indication that your content is very interesting and relevant. 

3. Impressions and Reach

These parameters are usually tracked when you’re building brand awareness. Impressions are defined as how many times your page shows up on the timeline of users whereas reach is how many users have seen your page content on their timeline. 

Your page reach can be improved by sponsored posts, ads, or by followers sharing your content. If your content shows up several times on a person’s timeline, either due to it being advertised or shared, your impression increases.

4. Conversion Rates

 When followers of someone on social media actually purchases your products or services, this is known as conversion. Conversion rates is a data that’s not provided by the social media platform themselves. You’ll have to set up a system to track and link purchases to social media engagements.

For this,  social media marketing companies can help. If you obtain social media services, they can help set up a system which can gauge how many of those you encounter online actually contribute to sales and income. 

Social Media Marketing For Your Future

The advantages of social media for your brand cannot be emphasized enough. It is truly the future of marketing, and will ensure that your company has a sustainability it needs. 

As we’ve seen, the benefits of social media marketing are numerous. In short, social media marketing is ready to welcome your brand. The question is, are you ready to market your products and services on social media?

If your answer is a resounding ‘yes’, then come talk to us at One Search Pro. We have all the resources to help you get started and more!