Social Media Marketing – What it is and how it works

Having an engaging website and publishing regular, relevant content in the form of informative pages, case studies, articles, videos (and anything else referred to as ‘content’) is of course the starting point of any good digital marketing campaign. Social Media Marketing (SMM) has become a crucial player in the overall process of spreading word of your products and services online. This can be achieved via platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Tumblr, Pinterest, Google Plus. Others are of course available.

By managing your Social Media presence properly you can post updates, run ad campaigns, competitions, solicit feedback, get ratings and generally create a 'voice' for your business – all of which can drive valuable traffic back to your website and generate business.

By interacting with your Social Media posts, people can get a very quick appreciation of what you are offering as a business. If it is of interest to them, and with a little encouragement, recipients will comment upon and even share your content to other users.

Why 'Content Is King'

Google (and other search engines) continually crawl the internet to find and rank new content that is current, on trend and being shared organically - in short, content that is valuable. This in turn can make the source(s) of that content much more valuable in the eyes of search engines and these website(s) may rank higher on their Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).

Share & Share A-Like

Here is a very real and recent example of how something can quickly generate interest on social media. Irish actress and model Caitriona Balfe, most famous for playing Claire Fraser in the TV programme Outlander, bought some jewellery from a small independent designer, Becky Smith of Smith & Gibb. Caitriona wore the jewellery to the Paris fashion show and as a result it was widely admired and talked about on social media and photographs were almost instantly shared online. As a result, the retailer received an instant spike in traffic, general interest and more importantly, sales!

It's Free

What's even more amazing of course it is FREE to open an account and create a presence on these platforms for everyone. You may as well take the opportunity to reach out to clients, customers and potential customers in the most effective and powerful way. 

We are often asked to rate our experiences when we buy something from the likes of Amazon or when we have booked an hotel on TripAdviser. Marketing on Social Media makes it easy to reach people who already have an interest in what it is you are offering. When use to it's full potential, it is a VERY powerful and a way of narrowing in on your target market rather than using a more scatter-gun approach.

You have probably seen online competitions on Facebook where you can 'Like' a page and 'Share' to enter. This is just one of the relatively inexpensive way of getting more likes for your page and spreading word.

Getting It Right

We know that 90% of all business to business purchases start with some kind of online research. Whether you are a large multi-national or a small, niche business you will gain FAR MORE from your budget by getting Social Media Marketing right.

For many people, managing and running a business is a full time job in itself. You may not have the time, resources, knowledge or expertise to manage a Social Media Marketing campaign. Much in the same way as your company doesn't service their own vehicles or design and print their own stationery because they realise that to have it done properly they need to outsource.

If you are looking for ways to spread word of your business using Social Media Marketing Big Red can help. Contact us now on 0141 771 7242 or drop us an email to info@big-red-digital.com

Oh, and if you've found this article useful, please share it on Social Media! We'd really appreciate it! :)