7 assignment

Social Media as a Marketing Tool

• Social media marketing is the use of social media to market and sell different products and services.

• According to Appel et al., (2020), social media are software based platforms that are digital and where the users get to send and receive information over a social environment and interactions.

• The social media platforms allow companies to reach their intended audience through the interactive platforms by posting the product and service listing, customer care services and also selling.

How do you understand social media marketing?

Why Social Media?

Companies develop loyal fans.

• Loyal fans are the people who give feedback on the products and services.

Gain market intelligence • Understand the response of consumers

towards particular products

Generate leads • Possibly sell through social media

Other benefits include: • Increase product and service exposure • Increase traffic • Expand business partnerships • Improve sales • Reduce marketing expenses

How do you use social media as a marketing tool?

• Facebook is the most preferred platform for B2C while LinkedIn is the major interactive platform for B2B.

• Social networking allows a company to gain popularity.

Social Networking • Uses social media to create

awareness of a brand.

• Encourages people to share advertising messages and posts.

• Intended for creating interest for new users

Viral Marketing

• Social media news platforms can be used by companies to engage their fans in company news and updates

Social News

These are social media features where companies can actually communicate through instant

messaging to the customers who respond directly to the posts.

Instant Chat Messaging

Social media marketing activities

• Content Promotion- This is boosting ads to a customized audience in order to reach more social media users.

• Product Launch- lets users know and understand new products and services

• Content creation- post content on products and current trends in the industry

• Event management- let fans know about company events and also events in the industry

• Corporate communications- communicate with fans on issues related to products thus offering customer care support.

• Crisis management- respond to issues and also offer PA management.

Social Media Marketing Statistics

500 million users 35% conversion rates

100million users 25% conversion rates

1.4billion users 45% conversion rates

1.85billion users 85% conversion rates

110million users 20% conversion rates

Set Goal

• This is the goal of the content-is it a product or service?

Determine Audience

•Adopt the needs of the audience to the content

Choose Platform

•Choose the appropriate social media platform to reach the target customers

Create Content

•Appropriate content and captions to get your audience attention

Implementation

•Post the content on social media.

Track and measure progress

•Keep track of the comments, concerns and also the conversion rates on the social media platforms.

Adjust

•Adjust the content to fit the feedback provided by the audience and also depending on the response of previous content

Strategies to use in Social Media Marketing

Skills for a Social Media Marketer

Conversion Rates- How many customers are able to buy your products as a result of social media marketing?

Social Media traffic and subscription growth- number of likes, comments and chats on social media platforms

Social Media Sharing- the number of shares of the posts, products and pages.

Sales Revenue- increase of sales from the social media marketing advertising and marketing.

What Metrics do you use to evaluate social media marketing?

Challenges of social Media Marketing

Identifying the right platform

• The challenge comes when identifying the platforms that the target audiences use.

Declining Organic Reach and Engagement Rates • Companies and marketers are unable to

balance between goals and budgets.

Expensive advertising • Due to the increased social media advertising,

the cost of sponsoring ads.

Other challenges include: • Competition • Maintaining the connections • Creation of original content • Quality visuals

Social media marketing allows company to generate ideas, and publish content in a digital environment reaching many people. It’s a marketing platform that both traditional and modern organizations cannot avoid.

References

Appel, G., Grawel, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2020). The future of social media in marketing. Journal of the Academy

of Marketing Science volume, 48, 79-95. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1

Bansal, R., Masood, R. Z., & Dadhich, V. (2014). Social Media Marketing-A Tool of Innovative Marketing. Journal of

Organizational Management, 3(1), 1-

7. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318225418_Social_Media_Marketing-

A_Tool_of_Innovative_Marketing