By definition, social media marketing is a form of marketing that involves creating and sharing content on different social networking sites in order to fulfill brand and marketing goals.
Windows and Apple developed the initial operating system that rivaled each other and fast forward decades later both the companies have had a part to play in the revolution of what social media is today. Initially, social media was made for people to communicate with each other and being able to connect over long distances.
However, today companies have their presence on social media and use different strategies to reach the right audience, but are more diversified and costly. Most companies use around 5 components while allocating the budget towards social media marketing.
- Content creation: The average human attention span of a human is lesser than a goldfish hence it is extremely important for companies to spend wisely for new and visually appealing content.
- Software and tools: Google AdWords and keywords are extremely important to understand consumer behavior and enable the right posts to reach the audience. Regularly updating the websites and microsites are also extremely crucial to be ahead of the competition.
- Paid advertising: This form of advertising on social networks have proved to be a success with entrepreneurs small business as well as large multi-national corporations. Most of the social media sites have a section for a paid advertisement. This enhances the visibility of the brand and reaches the right demographics.
- Paid Partnerships: Influencer campaigns and co-branding campaigns are extremely important where top influencers are paid to promote a particular brand. This not only helps the brand to reach a new audience but also helps to influence consumer behavior through associative techniques
- Training: Online training modules are also becoming increasingly important due to the constant progress that the digital world is going through. Hence, training resources like LinkedIn learning, Google digital garage, facebook one-day workshops helps improve the teams’ skills and knowledge.
A good example of a social media strategy used by Nike with their campaign #Breaking2 created a social media storm with new launch of the shoes that helped legendary runner Eliud Kipchoge go close to running a marathon under two hours and also featured Colin Kaepernick in the Just Do It campaign, who at that time was a controversial athlete yet the company backed their athlete and emotionally connected with their audience. Nike has always had such captivating campaigns that disrupt the competition and use new strategies to engage their audience over different social media platforms.
The use of hashtags has been able to generate a lot of attention on social media through Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Companies use special hashtags for their social media campaigns to develop interest, strengthens brand image, help categorize the audience.
Another example of the power of Hashtag is the #Metoo Movement that gained a lot of momentum on social media with its fair share of controversies along with it. Yet the level of engagement it had with the audience all around the world was astonishing.
Social media influencers have a unique way of engaging with their audience through special hashtags they use while posting any content on their social media pages. Companies are willing to pay top stars like Beyonce and Kim Kardashian per posts to be associated with them due to their digital presence.
User-generated content is another way companies have been able to make their customers their advocate. Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook is huge when it comes to user-generated content. Instagram accounts of vloggers and influencers are always adding new content so that the audience always has something to talk about and hence increasing the buzz.
Even as an individual building a personal brand is important. Over the past few years through sports and extra-curricular I did try and enhance my own Instagram account through my passion was running, there was an offer from Adidas India to become an influencer for Adidas Runners Mumbai. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out since I was moving to Melbourne. However, since then I learned how important it is to have a good social media presence if you want to associate yourself with different brands.
“Fake it till you make it” don’t you think firms or individuals are responsible for misusing social media to portrait a lifestyle or liking towards brands that in reality aren’t that good. Has the evolution of social media become more of an illusion of what reality actually is? Would like to hear your thoughts on this.
Joshua Salvador Avelino D'souza 