Worldwide, there are almost five billion people on social media. That’s a ton of potential customers! However, most businesses spend at least 20 hours per month managing their own social media channels. With our social media marketing course, you’ll learn how to strategize, budget, create better content, and organize it all, so you can capitalize on this content marketing medium efficiently and effectively.
Let’s Start with the Basics: What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is a facet of content marketing. It entails using social media channels like Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to raise brand awareness, promote your products or services, and drive traffic to your website.
It’s impossible to know exactly how many brands use social media marketing, but today’s consumers expect it. Social media users go on social channels for research, education, and engagement—75% say they research brands online. And if they have a good experience with your brand on social, they’re likely to tell their friends about it and recommend they follow and buy from you too.
The Benefits of Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing exists for a reason: it works! When done right, of course.
Brand Awareness
People learn about your brand on social media, either through recommendations, seeing your Reels, posts, or ads. People can’t purchase something they don’t know about, making that awareness key to your brand’s success. Think about it. How many things did you buy this year because you heard of the brand on social media? We’re embarrassed to say!
Audience Understanding
Everything you learn about your audience benefits your brand. By using your social listening skills to learn about your audience members and what they like and discuss on social media, you’ll have a better idea of how to reach them. Also, seeing how they engage with the things you post about will help you learn what they like and what you should publish more frequently. When you use popular scheduling tools, you’ll be able to aggregate comments in one place, which makes social listening and engagement even easier.
Website Traffic
Social media helps drive traffic to your website. In fact, if you’re having issues with your ranking in Google, you’ll notice your social media channels rank higher than your website. Just having a social media account will improve your Google ranking!
Customer Loyalty
Social media helps people feel connected to your brand. They feel like they know you and are part of a bigger community. Those feelings evoke loyalty, which leads to future sales and recommendations.
Conversions
Social media helps you convert someone from a passive follower into a buyer. And after they buy, social helps you stay top-of-mind and continue the relationship with them for when they’re ready to purchase from your business again—or refer you to a friend.
Tips for Using Social Media Marketing for Your Small Business
Now that you know that you why you need to use social media marketing, how do you do it? Here are some tips.
1. Master Social Media Marketing with our Best-Selling Affordable Social Media Course
Even if you hate social media marketing—or you have little interest in learning about it—you need to have a basic understanding of this marketing channel and how to best use it for your business. Enter, our Ultimate Social Media Strategy Guidebook!
You can download the Complete Social Media Strategy Bundle, or start with our Ultimate Social Media Strategy Guidebook. Inside our 50+ page guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know about
- Social Media Marketing Budget Planning
- How to Build Your Social Media Management Team
- Choosing the Right Social Channels for Your Business
- Tips to Decide If You’re Ready for Social Advertising
- Social Media Content Strategy 101
- Researching and Using Hashtags Effectively
- Social Media Assets and Video Best Practices
- How to Create Successful Social Media Posts
- The Best Social Media Management Tools for Businesses
- The Best Times to Post on Social Media per Channel
- So Many More Tips and Insights
It’s the most affordable and efficient way for every business owner to gain a better understanding and handle on your social media marketing. Download your own copy here!
2. Define Your Goals and Social Media KPIs
Once you finish reading our Ultimate Social Media Strategy Guidebook, you’ll be so much more versed on realistic and important goals and KPIs (key performance indicators) for your channels. For instance, rate of growing a following, engagement per post, referral website traffic, influencer partnerships, Reels exposure, etc.
Set measurable goals for what you want to accomplish on social media marketing, so you can use benchmarks to hone your strategy and do a little victory dance when your efforts pay off!
3. Create a Social Media Marketing Budget
Sure, you can forgo paying for advertising on social media, but creating content is far from free. Most businesses spend an average of 40 hours per month on social media marketing. However, you can hire an agency like Charm School for up to 50% less the cost of an employee! You can also download our Ultimate Social Media Strategy Guidebook to access customizable marketing budgets by channel so you can decide how much to spend on social media marketing.
4. Choose Social Platforms Strategically
Just because there are a ton of social platforms doesn’t mean you have to have a presence on every single one of them. On the contrary, you should only establish a presence where your target demographic hangs out. It’s always better to start with one or two social channels and do them well rather than water down your approach.
So which channels should you use for your brand? Skip the research! Our Ultimate Social Media Strategy Guidebook will tell you which channels are best for specific age groups and demographics.
5. Hire a Social Team
Hate doing social media marketing yourself? You’re not alone! After you determine your social media marketing budget, decide whether you want to hire an employee, freelancer, or social media agency like Charm School. Here’s a guide to determine if it’s time to bring on a social media manager.
6. Get Organized
Most businesses screw up with social media marketing when it comes to logistics. But when you use our affordable DIY Social Media Strategy Planner and Framework, you’ll be able to keep all of your content marketing organized—in one place! Having an organized copy, design, editing, and cross promotional framework will ensure everyone can provide feedback and stick to your branding across channels. This download will help you
- Plan Out Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Social Media Posts
- Organize Posts on Every Social Media Platform in One Convenient Place
- Draft, Edit, and Proof Post Copy via Comments and Request Approval before Scheduling
- Recognize Over 100 Monthly Themes, Daily Holidays, National Observances, and Trending Events
- Plan Cross Promotion on Your Business Website Blog, Email Marketing Campaigns, and More
- Introduce SEO Keywords to Your Social Media Posts
- Brainstorm and Use Hashtags and Branded Hashtags Strategically
- Organize and Identify Your Target Audiences so Your Posts Speak to Them
- Keep Your Posts Fresh and Diverse with the Help of Content Strategy Buckets
Download your customizable planner here!
7. Plan Your Content
Posting on social media for the sake of posting won’t get you far. You need a solid content strategy for your social media marketing. That’s where our 365 Days of Social Media Post Ideas and Prompts comes in! Our downloadable and customizable ideas are suitable for every business in every industry. The download includes
- 365+ Ideas and Post Prompts—Many with More than One Idea per Day
- Time saving ideas to whip up posts in minutes
- Ideas to Build Brand Awareness
- Trending Holidays and Observances by Day and Month
- More Serious Post Topics to Promote Your Brand’s Vision and Mission
- Diverse Types of Posts from Polls to Video Ideas and Much More
- Social Media Content Buckets to Pinpoint Your Audience and Goal in Each Post
- Hashtag Suggestions and Formulas
- Creative Direction for Images and Videos to Complement Your Captions
You’ll never run out of relevant post ideas to keep your feed fresh. Download 365 Days of Social Media Post Ideas here!
8. Post Consistently
With the help of our Complete Social Media Strategy Bundle, you can create, plan, and publish all of your social media content efficiently and effectively. The social media kit will ensure you know what to post and what day and time. It will also help teach you to optimize each posts for engagement. Scheduling out your social media posts means you’ll show up consistently for your audience and the algorithm. Consistency builds trust with both!
9. Keep Optimizing
We wish it were easy to make posts go viral. The truth is that getting your piece of those billions of people’s attention will only happen if you pay attention to what your audience wants and needs and optimize over time. Social media marketing is more about showing up consistently and growing your audience gradually. As you establish your brand online, you’ll start getting increasingly more attention with every quality post.
Need help getting started with your social media marketing efforts or getting your strategy back on track? Whether you’re a start-up or established business, our social media marketing course will help! Of course, if you’re ready to hire a social media manager, get in touch. We’d love to take some work off of your plate and help you improve your social media presence.
