With over 80% of consumers reporting that social media—especially influencer content—significantly impacts buying decisions, marketers across industries are driving the evolution of social media marketing (SMM) from a stand-alone tool to a multipronged source of marketing intelligence on an increasingly important—and growing—audience.
Within 18 years, from 2004 (when MySpace became the first social media site to reach one million users) to 2022, the dramatic growth of interactive digital channels took social media to levels that challenge even the reach of television and radio.
By Q1 of 2022, there were 4.6 billion social media users globally—over 58% of the world’s population—an increase of over 10% in one year alone.
As the use of social media trends upward, marketers are perfecting strategies to capture the significant competitive advantage that engagement with this key audience can deliver even more rapidly and effectively than traditional marketing.
What Is Social Media Marketing (SMM)?
Social media marketing (SMM) (also known as digital marketing and e-marketing) is the use of social media—the platforms on which users build social networks and share information—to build a company’s brand, increase sales, and drive website traffic. In addition to providing companies with a way to engage with existing customers and reach new ones, social media marketing (SMM) has purpose-built data analytics that allow marketers to track the success of their efforts and identify even more ways to engage.
Why Is Social Media Marketing So Powerful?
The power of social media marketing (SMM) is driven by the unparalleled capacity of social media in three core marketing areas: connection, interaction, and customer data.
Connection: Not only does social media enable businesses to connect with customers in ways that were previously impossible, but there is also an extraordinary range of avenues to connect with target audiences—from content platforms (like YouTube) and social sites (like Facebook) to microblogging services (like Twitter).
Interaction: The dynamic nature of the interaction on social media—whether direct communication or passive “liking”—enables businesses to leverage free advertising opportunities from eWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) recommendations between existing and potential customers. Not only is the positive contagion effect from eWOM a valuable driver of consumer decisions, but the fact that these interactions happen on the social network makes them measurable. For example, businesses can measure their “social equity”—a term for the return on investment (ROI) from their social media marketing (SMM) campaigns.
Customer Data: A well-designed social media marketing (SMM) plan delivers another invaluable resource to boost marketing outcomes: customer data. Rather than being overwhelmed by the 3Vs of big data (volume, variety, and velocity), SMM tools have the capacity not only to extract customer data but also to turn this gold into actionable market analysis—or even to use the data to crowdsource new strategies.
How Social Media Marketing Works
As platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram took off, social media transformed not only the way we connect with one another but also the way businesses are able to influence consumer behavior—from promoting content that drives engagement to extracting geographic, demographic, and personal information that makes messaging resonate with users.
SMM Action Plan: The more targeted your social media marketing (SMM) strategy is, the more effective it will be. Hootsuite, a leading software provider in the social media management space, recommends the following action plan to build an SMM campaign that has an execution framework as well as performance metrics:
- Align SMM goals to clear business objectives
- Learn your target customer (age, location, income, job title, industry, interests)
- Conduct a competitive analysis of your competition (successes and failures)
- Audit your current SMM (successes and failures)
- Create a calendar for SMM content delivery
- Create best-in-class content
- Track performance and adjust SMM strategy as needed
Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Compared to traditional marketing, social media marketing has several distinct advantages, including the fact that SMM has two kinds of interaction that enables targeted customer relationship management (CRM) tools: both customer-to-customer and firm-to-customer. In other words, while traditional marketing tracks customer value primarily by capturing purchase activity, SMM can track customer value both directly (through purchases) and indirectly (through product referrals).
Shareable Content: Businesses can also convert the amplified interconnectedness of SMM into the creation of “sticky” content, the marketing term for attractive content that engages customers at first glance, gets them to purchase products, and then makes them want to share the content. This kind of word-of-mouth advertising not only reaches an otherwise inaccessible audience but also carries the implicit endorsement of someone the recipient knows and trusts—which makes the creation of shareable content one of the most important ways that social media marketing drives growth.
Earned Media: Social media marketing (SMM) is also the most efficient way for a business to reap the benefits of another kind of earned media (a term for brand exposure from any method other than paid advertising): customer-created product reviews and recommendations.
Viral Marketing: Another SMM strategy that relies on the audience to generate the message is viral marketing, a sales technique that attempts to trigger the rapid spread of word-of-mouth product information. Once a marketing message is shared with the general public far beyond the original target audience, it is considered viral—a very simple and inexpensive way to promote sales.
Customer Segmentation: Because customer segmentation is much more refined on social media marketing (SMM) than on traditional marketing channels, companies can ensure they focus their marketing resources on their exact target audiences.
Tracking Metrics
According to Sprout Social, the most important social media marketing (SMM) metrics to track are focused on the customer: engagement (likes, comments, shares, clicks); impressions (how many times a post shows up); reach/virality (how many unique views an SMM post has); share of voice (how far a brand reaches in the online sphere); referrals (how a user lands on a site); and conversions (when a user makes a purchase on a site). However, another very important metric is focused on the business: response rate/time (how often and how fast the business responds to customer messages).
When a business is trying to determine which metrics to track in the sea of data that social media generates, the rule is always to align each business goal to a relevant metric. If your business goal is to grow conversions from an SMM campaign by 15% within three months, then use a social media analytics tool that measures the effectiveness of your campaign against that specific target.
5 Tips for Running a Successful Facebook Live Q&A
During a live Q&A, your audience asks questions that you answer in real-time. A Q&A differs from other video marketing practices and digital marketing strategies because interactions are immediate. Your audience receives instant answers to their questions, and you gain valuable real-time market research insights.
Consider these five tips to maximize your Facebook Live Q&A’s impact.
- Promote your Facebook Live Q&A ahead of time.
Your audience must know about your live stream well in advance so they can plan accordingly. You won’t generate interest or excitement without providing advance notice to your target market. An effective promotional strategy for your live stream will garner more views and engagement.
Here are some tips for promoting your Q&A:
- Market your live stream. Use social media marketing to spread awareness via all your social platforms and email marketing to reach current customers and prospects. Emphasize how they’ll benefit from tuning in and submitting their questions.
- Start promoting early. Give yourself at least a few weeks to promote your livestream Q&A. Treat it like an event, instead of a spontaneous conversation, to create audience eagerness and enthusiasm.
- Share the details. State the date and time you’ll be going live, and encourage users to subscribe to live notifications so they’ll always know when you’re beginning any live video.
- Encourage questions. Ask your followers to submit questions ahead of time. You’ll get an idea of the information your audience wants while engaging them before the event even starts. As a bonus, you can fall back on these questions during your livestream if you run out of questions or experience a gap between questions.
- Prepare the main points of your Facebook Live Q&A.
Q&As are tricky because you don’t want to seem overly rehearsed, but you must have some idea of what you’ll be discussing. It’s important to find the sweet spot between preparing and letting the livestream run organically.
Here are some Facebook Live Q&A preparation tips:
- Make an outline. To prepare, create an outline or bulleted list with the primary points and subjects you’d like to discuss during the livestream. This way, you won’t forget to mention them.
- Keep submitted questions nearby. If you’ve gathered questions from viewers ahead of time, keep them available for easy access once you’re live. You’ll be able to refer to these questions to avoid awkward pauses and keep the presentation running smoothly.
- Consider a moderator. If you’re answering questions directly from participants during the livestream, consider using a moderator to help you select the best questions.
- Go live before broadcasting your Facebook Live Q&A.
Every technical element of your broadcast must go smoothly. To ensure this, consider going live before your official broadcast. You can change the privacy settings so only you can see and hear what you’re doing. This preparation can ensure everything runs smoothly when you go live in front of your audience.
When you go live early, do the following:
- Test your equipment to ensure your tools work correctly.
- Check your microphone and camera to make sure people can hear and see you properly.
- Ensure you’re in a well-lit room so viewers can see you clearly.
- Double-check that your internet connection is solid and won’t burn out midstream.
- If your setup needs a tripod for extra stability, purchase one and test it before your airdate.
- Interact with viewers during the Facebook Live Q&A.
Part of what makes livestreams successful is the amount of user engagement they garner. An excellent way to boost user engagement is by interacting with viewers as they join and comment on your livestream Q&A session. Don’t hesitate to start a conversation or encourage more questions from users. If they’re already watching you, you know they’re interested.
Personalize your live Q&A by addressing users by their names when answering their questions. This will show them you’re paying attention to what they’re saying and will encourage them to stay on your stream longer. Facebook suggests planning to stay live for at least 10 minutes to increase engagement length, but you can broadcast for as long as four hours.
- Go live regularly with Q&A events.
While it’s essential to treat each live Q&A as its own event, Q&A sessions should be part of your overall marketing strategy to increase user engagement. If you’ve hosted live events but haven’t gotten the numbers or traction you expected, consider making them a consistent part of your marketing plan.
When you arrive promptly and do what you promised, you demonstrate that your brand is reliable. You also increase engagement because your audience knows what to expect and when to tune in to your content. If you’re consistent with your schedule, future livestreams will yield increased interactions, views, and shares.
Set up your Facebook Live Q&A for success
Hosting a live Q&A doesn’t have to be stressful. When you’re prepared and passionate about your subject, it’s easy to engage your audience and deliver value.
Remember to promote your Facebook Live Q&A and prepare your main points. Interact with viewers to show them you value their presence and input, and go live regularly to build a loyal audience.
How Can One Get Started in Social Media Marketing?
To start working in social media marketing, it is good to have at least a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related field. Then, it’s critical to gain a good understanding of how marketing campaigns work on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. After that, showcase your talents by creating compelling and effective content. Follow influencers and other social media marketers to learn what they are doing well and where they fall flat. Together, use these steps to create a personal brand that you can use to sell yourself and your work.
The Bottom Line
Social media marketing (SMM) is the use of social media platforms to interact with customers to build brands, increase sales, and drive website traffic. As social media usage grows around the world, both via computer and mobile devices, the ability to drive sales from certain user populations is a growing business, rife with competition for views and clicks.
