Every business worth its salt knows how important social media marketing is. The reason why it works so well is that social media is a platform where you can directly interact and connect with your audience.
Even with the pandemic happening, the world has found many ways to stay social through online communication. This is why social media management and marketing is a key component in any digital marketing strategy, as it keeps businesses up float sans physical interaction. However, having a social media account for your business does not guarantee you an easy road to success.
What you will need to achieve your marketing goals is a solid social media marketing strategy. Since social media marketing is replete with competition, it requires a level of expertise to stand out. You can do this by hiring a social media manager. They oversee branding, scheduling, publishing, engagement, creating, and implementing marketing campaigns on all your social media platforms.
So how do social media managers help you expand your reach using this platform? Before you consider hiring a social media manager, expand your understanding of social media management first.
What is social media management?
With over 4.8 billion active users, social media has undoubtedly a lot of marketing potential. Using these platforms does not only help your company increase brand awareness but also grows your revenue.
It is a process where you analyze the audience of your social media platform and create a marketing strategy to pique their interest. And it doesn’t stop there—after creating and implementing a strategy, you gather the data and analyze it. Based on this data, you tweak your existing campaign or create a new one.
In a nutshell, it includes
- auditing social media marketing strategies used,
- identifying your company’s target audience,
- creating social media profiles,
- interacting and engaging with users and your followers,
- creating content and visuals that will speak to your audience,
- growing your social network,
- building a consistent image of your brand,
- managing and engaging online communities,
- creating ads for social media platforms you use, and
- making use of metrics that measure and monitor your SMM (social media marketing) campaign’s success.
What tools can you use for social media management?
Usually, social media management tools follow a set of standards in both their design and pricing. These tools make it easier for you to track the progress of the campaign and of how marketing goals are being achieved.
These are some of the best tools for social media management:
This is probably one of the more popular tools out there. HootSuite gives you the capability to manage all your social media accounts in one network. What sets it apart from other tools is the multicolumn interface that allows you to see all your feeds on one screen.
Furthermore, this tool also allows you to assign tasks and generate reports using templates available in the app.
This is a social media management tool where you can schedule and publish your posts. Buffer can also be integrated with all your social media accounts. You also have the option to group the accounts into a category.
What’s more, Buffer can support different types of media like GIFs and videos. Plus, it also allows you to view RSS feeds from your followed blogs and post them immediately to your accounts.
Easy to navigate and use, Sprout Social promises to provide efficient social media management solutions. It also offers social customer services that are being used by leading companies like Microsoft and Hyatt.
This tool supports Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and more. Sprout Social can also be integrated with other apps like Zendesk, Google Analytics, and Bitly to name a few.
CoSchedule is an editorial calendar and a social media management tool rolled into one. It is an intuitive app where you can organize your marketing tasks in one spot. This app helps marketing teams track tasks and achieve goals.
It is one of the fastest-growing social media management tools in the market and is preferred by both mid-sized companies as well as enterprises.
What platforms does it cover?
The next step to social media management is to know what platforms you should use. As a marketer or even business owner, it is important to know which one brings more value to your brand.
Here are some of the top social media platforms:
Still leading in the charts is Facebook. It has more than two billion active users. This social media giant can help you reach audiences with varied tastes. It is a great avenue to build relationships and encourage loyalty in all age brackets and genders.
Facebook is also capable of handling different kinds of content from videos, blog posts, photos, and even live streams. Because its reach is so broad, it is a great platform for you to build communities and promote your latest content.
Next on the list is Instagram. Although this may be one of the younger social media platforms out there, its influence can make up for it with more than one billion active users that range from 18 to 64 years old with 63% of them checking in daily.
Most users are mainly those from 18 to 29 years old, so it makes it the perfect place for businesses that target the younger demographic.
Twitter has about 330 million active users. Although it may not be much compared to the giants above, it is still a crucial platform. It focuses on the latest trends where two-way conversations between people or brands are the norm.
Most of its users are 18 to 29 years old who check in multiple times a day. For most people, browsing through social media is a form of television, where they can get updates on the newest shows, products, and services used by those in their circle of influence; and with Twitter, they can get updated almost immediately.
So, if you are a brand focusing on making personal connections with your audience, you can do so on Twitter.
Why should you have a social media strategy?
A social media marketing strategy is a rundown of everything you need to do to reach your goal in social media. It is practically a handbook of the actions you have to take and the parameters that will let you know whether your campaign is succeeding or not.
Almost everyone uses social media. In fact, 54%, or around 3.78 billion people, have one, and it is forecasted to reach about 4.41 billion by 2025. This is why working on increasing your brand’s presence on these platforms now is important. In other words, when you do not have a plan on building a strong social media presence, you will lose clients and engagements, and, most importantly, you will lose to your competitors.
How much does social media management cost?
Determining how much to spend on SMM is no easy feat, as it can be as flexible as your budget allows. However, it may be helpful to begin by deciding whether you would prefer to do it on your own or hire a team to do it for you.
If you decide to do this yourself, social media management can cost you about $20 - $100 a month. Moreover, if you go this route, be prepared to do a lot of on-your-own research on how to use the media effectively and understand that there is a chance your expenses will accrue if anything is not done right.
On the other hand, if you want to get a team to do the work for you, you can always opt to outsource even with a limited budget. To give you an idea of the current trend, most businesses would prepare to spend at least $500 a month. However, if you want to maximize the power of social media, it is recommended to shell out bigger funds to push brand reach and following to a wider scope of audience. Word of the wise: creating social media accounts and posting organically come free, but placing ads and boosting posts within the platform cost money.
Bottom line is, whether you want to work with an influencer or publish more content yourself, you need to have enough financial assets for your campaigns to have an edge over your competitors. Digital marketing agencies usually have several digital marketing packages at different price points, so we recommend researching and analyzing the costs about the prospective ROI rate.
Why should you hire a team?
Running your business’s social media accounts can take up a lot of your time. Instead of focusing on the business’s operations and maximizing profitability, you may end up in a situation where you micromanage your social media marketing activities. Plus, you will have to hire more experts as well as keep up with the latest marketing trends.
Additionally, hiring a social media management team not only complements and enhances your internal marketing staff but also updates them on the latest trends in the industry. This way, your business can easily cater to the ever-evolving needs of your customers.
If you are interested in amplifying your social media presence, we at Ripe Concepts are ready to collaborate with you.
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