Your guide to social media marketing

Why is social media marketing important?

Social media marketing is essential to break into if you want to get yourself, your brand and your products out there.  South Africans spend an average of over 8 hours and 25 minutes online a day – and that was in 2019. Imagine how much that has increased by 2020. Imagine if you were not featuring on those potential feeds. You must be present on these channels if you are going to grow. Keeping your brand top-of-mind and relevant is key to retaining and growing your market share.

Social media is one of the easiest things to access on the planet, especially with the adoption rate of devices able to connect to platforms on the increase, and internet accessibility growing on a global scale. Use this ease of access to branch out and talk to people.  

The thing about social media marketing is that it features on people’s personal feeds. The content you put out there needs to be crafted and targeted to the right people. You must put together a strategy that is well planned, measurable and adjusted over time.  

A key point to consider? Which channels are going to work for you. Where does your target audience hangout, what is your angle for the content you are posting, can you post regularly enough to keep their interest?

Social media channels

There are so many out there. Some have a huge reach, some are more niche. Trying to find which one suits your purpose can be difficult and overwhelming. 

Research is your friend. If you know you have a more niche product or service offering, look for channels that fit and start engaging. Start with a list of 3 or 4. An amazing thing about most of the big channels is that you can create your own little niche within them by way of groups, pages, subcategories, smart hashtags and more. 

Social media channels to consider:

• Facebook + Facebook Messenger
• Twitter
• LinkedIn (for a more professional focus)
• Instagram
• YouTube
• WhatsApp
• Pinterest
• Quora
• Reddit
• TikTok
• SnapChat
• Medium

There are so many out there, but the above is a list of some of the more common ones. Once you master these, then you can start delving into the more specialised, niche options. 

Social media advantages

If used correctly, this tactic has the potential to help you become a well-known brand, to create long-lasting relationships with your audience and increase your brand awareness on an ongoing basis.

To help you focus on some of the bigger reasons you should be using social media, think of this:

• You can share many different types of content, which means you can do almost anything
  • Video
  • Images
  • Animated images
  • Podcasts
  • Blog posts
  • Ebooks
  • Etc
• Communication is easier than ever and it’s a 2-way street. You can do it reactively, or proactively:
  • Social listening is a thing – you can see what people are saying about your brand or products and engage with them to celebrate or reassure
  • Converse with people who are speaking directly on your posts, create those relationships
• Location is not important – people can be buying your product from all over the world, or you might even find new distributors in locations you haven’t considered
• You’re able to keep on top of trends by doing something as simple as plugging into trending topics or looking for ones that relate to you

The truth is, if social media marketing isn’t part of your strategy or thinking, and you aren’t constantly upskilling yourself on this tactic, your brand will suffer.

Download the pdf guide to get more in-depth information on social media marketing, and start implementing it…now! An interesting note for you – this guide is made up of information taken from our Social Media Marketing online short course, which may of interest to you as well. 

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