A lot of companies and websites have attested to using social media marketing to help their brand and their business reach more people. A lot of them have also claimed that SMM has helped them with brand loyalty and recognition. It has also helped increase sales and revenues for their businesses.
What makes social media marketing such a strong tool for those who rely on it to reach their target markets and audiences? Are there rules that need to be followed in order to properly utilize this medium? Why does SMM work?
How People Engage with Social Media to Make it Work
Not all social media efforts actually work to the advantage of the company using it, and there are many reasons why this is so. Apart from not having the kind of products that people will want to continue to patronize (low quality, too expensive, poor customer service, etc.), some of these companies do their social media marketing the wrong way. In order for an SMM campaign and effort to be beneficial to the company using it, some things need to be taken into consideration, and these things are what make SMM work.
Listening – listening and hearing are two different things. When you hear something, you know that you heard it but you may not acknowledge it and act upon it. Listening is when you not only hear what is being said, but you also try to understand what was said and find a way to act upon what was said. For a social media marketing campaign to work for your business, you should not only tell your audience what you want them to hear, but also listen to what they have to say and try to see if there is some merit in it.
Patience – apart from not expecting success to happen overnight, patience is needed when you are handling social media marketing in order to properly assess and address the concerns people bring up. Remember, one of the reasons why you are using social media is to get a feel for what people think about your business, and sometimes what they say can be hurtful, irritating, or annoying. Some of these people may go out of their way to get your goat with comments that are designed to bring your reputation down, and you need patience to deal with these in a diplomatic way.
Value – you should always think about giving your audience and your target market value in everything that you do online. Whether it is in how your products are made, in how you create useful content for them, and in how you treat them, value should always be there. People appreciate things with value, and this can be created in more than a few ways. Aside from the aforementioned ideas, you can also inject value to your social media posts by offering useful advice, sincere apologies and valuable information whenever necessary. You should also try to add value to your products by using age-old marketing techniques that include discount coupons, special offers, and promotional items, which you can announce on your social media accounts.
Remember, social media marketing will only work if you take note of the dos and don’ts that come with it. When you know how to properly utilize this marketing platform, you will find that it does indeed work, and this is partly because billions of people are using social media today. Getting to this audience is only the first step. Cultivating a relationship with them for your business is the next step you need to take care of, and knowing how to do that is essential for SMM success.
