Social Media Marketing

The internet has 3.17 billion users and 2.3 billion of those are active social media users. That means it's time to get your social marketing right then doesn't it?

38% of businesses plan to spend more than 20% of their annual advertising budgets on social media channels and this number is only growing. There's a good reason for that.

So, you think your business is the kind that doesn't suit social media? Well I'm afraid you're wrong. I agree some businesses don't work on Facebook or Twitter, but there are many more social media channels out there that your business can use to grow. For example, we have a client that manufacturers plastic components for motor vehicles. Let's face it, that's just not exciting enough to engage users on Facebook is it?

That is because it is a B2B business and Facebook is simply a B2C platform that works very, very well if that's your target market. But that doesn't mean that your business can survive without using social media marketing as an advertising platform. What ever you do, don't give up. This is due to the fact you need to start exploring social channels such as Twitter and Linkedin to name just two, because this is where your business's target market is hiding.

By 2020, the number of worldwide social networking users will be just under 3 Billion. That's 40% of the world's population. Crikey!

So how can social media marketing work for me?

The golden opportunity to engage with prospective customers

We've already done the figures above so you get the idea of how big this marketing platforms is, but you're just unsure on how it can work for you right? Well let's put it this way, regardless of your business there is a social channel that can seriously help it out. It's the perfect opportunity for you to not only talk to your existing customers, but also prospective ones too whilst promoting your brand and its products/services. It's as simple as that!

So I want to go ahead, what's next?

Let's start from the ground up.

So first things first and that means a social media audit. We will perform an audit of your existing social accounts and also your target audience. From there we can decipher whether we are currently targeting the right channels for your business to succeed. We shall then begin to build your audience by putting your brand in front of your target users and building relationships with them.

I thought social accounts were free. So why is there a cost attached?

Those days are gone we're afraid as the likes of Mark Zuckerberg cash in.

We all know Mark Zuckerberg, the clever computer programmer from America who is the co-founder of Facebook. Well he's worth 51 Billion now and that's not from doing things for nothing.

Facebook was always intended to be built to get an audience so great that it could start charging businesses to get to their target market. With clever algorithms like the ones used by Google for organic search (SEO), Facebook can help you get your branding in front of your specific audience immediately.

At one point you're right this was free, but those days are long gone. Like a drug dealer, Facebook gave us a powerful product that got us new customers and then after we were hooked, took it away unless we wanted to pay. Sneaky.

Either way you have to look at it that it's still a very affordable and specific advertising platform when used correctly. Now it's not all about Facebook we know, but we cannot deny their place in the market. After all they do have 1.71 Billion or the 2.3 Billion social users!

Do all social campaigns cost money?

Not at all. We can pick and choose the ones right for you.

I know we've predominately been talking about Facebook, but there are so many platforms out there too that are free. For example Twitter is perfect for B2B and costs absolutely nothing, that is unless you wish to be impatient and try and buy followers through Twitter's very own promoted tweets. Generally speaking though, most Twitter users hate these promoted tweets and you're better off building your presence and followers organically over a period of time.

So many businesses see social media as more of a hassle than a positive. "We've just not got the time" is our coined favourite. Reality is that it is part of your daily marketing whether you like it or not. There are no excuses for not being social. If your client or CEO asked you for a report everyday you would do it right? So everyday you would allocate a certain time slot to doing that report and therefore you need to do the same for your social marketing too.

But relax, we've already told you that we can help. If you genuinely don't have time because you're a small business or you need help with your existing social accounts to streamline them and target the right potential customers, help is at hand. So the next step is that you need to head over to our digital marketing quote page, where you can scribble a few words describing your issues and attach a budget to that too. It literally takes less than 60 seconds so what are you waiting for?

In other news, how bad is my existing website's presence?

Well there is one quick way to find out. Click below to get your instant and free SEO report with our SEO checker tool, that will point out all your social markers as well as tell you where your site is failing you.