The immense potential of social media marketing (SMM) is rooted in its unique ability to aid marketers in three fundamental aspects of their craft: connecting with consumers, interacting with them, and gathering customer data.
Social media provides businesses with the opportunity to communicate with customers in ways that were not previously available. Additionally, there is a vast selection of ways to reach out to the desired demographic, such as content websites (e.g. YouTube), social networks (e.g. Facebook), and microblogging services (e.g. Twitter).
The ability to actively communicate or passively show approval on social media sites gives businesses the opportunity to take advantage of free advertising through eWOM (electronic word-of-mouth) referrals between customers who already use their services and those who may be considering them. The power of eWOM to influence consumers is extremely valuable, and an added bonus is that the interactions taking place on social media can be monitored and evaluated. One illustration of this is businesses assessing their “social equity”, which is a way to calculate the benefit from their social media marketing (SMM) campaigns.
A well-structured SMM plan provides another valuable asset to help enhance marketing results: customer information. Rather than being overwhelmed by the huge amounts of data, the vast variety of forms it comes in, and the speed at which it’s generated, SMM tools can take the information, generate useful market analysis from it, and even use the data to create new strategies.
How Social Media Marketing Works
As social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram became popular, they changed not only the way people interact, but also the way companies can impact the decisions consumers make – from sharing material to encourage interaction, to collecting geographic, demographic, and personal data to make sure their messages are relevant to users.
An effective SMM strategy requires targeting for maximum results. 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
Social media marketing is different from traditional marketing in that it includes two types of interactions that can be used to deploy targeted CRM tools: customer-to-customer and firm-to-customer. This allows for a more effective customer relationship management system. Put differently, traditional marketing typically only measures the value of customers by looking at their buying habits, whereas SMM can measure value both directly through purchases and indirectly through product recommendations.
Businesses can use the increased interconnectedness of social media marketing to create eye-catching content that encourages customers to buy their products, and also makes them want to spread the word. Word-of-mouth promotion is an extremely effective way to reach potential customers, since it carries the implicit endorsement of someone familiar to the individual. This makes creating content that can be shared on social media a key factor in driving growth in marketing.
Social media marketing is the most efficient way for a business to receive brand exposure from sources that are not paid advertising, such as customer-generated product reviews and recommendations. This type of exposure is referred to as earned media.
Viral Marketing: A different Social Media Marketing approach that relies on the viewers to form the message is viral marketing, a sales approach that attempts to cause a speedy propagation of word-of-mouth product information. When a marketing message is spread to a large number of people that go beyond the original target group, it is referred to as being viral – a straightforward and cost-effective way of boosting sales.
Social media marketing provides a more precise way of segmenting customers than traditional marketing channels, allowing companies to make sure their marketing efforts are reaching the exact demographic they are aiming for.
Tracking Metrics
Sprout Social suggests that when tracking SMM metrics, the main focus should be on the customer: engagement (including likes, comments, shares, and clicks); impressions (the number of times a post is seen); reach/virality (the amount of unique views a post has); share of voice (how far a brand’s presence is spread online); referrals (how users find a site); and conversions (when a user makes a purchase). It is also essential to look into how quickly and frequently the business responds to customer messages in order to evaluate its performance.
When a company is trying to decide which numbers to keep track of in the vast amount of data that social media produces, the rule is to connect each business objective to a pertinent metric.
Using Instagram for Business by the Numbers
Approximately one billion people use Instagram regularly each month. This is up from 700 million in 2017. 90% of users on the platform have subscribed to at least one business page, and more than 200 million people check out a company’s profile every day. It is also worth noting that over 25 million accounts on Instagram are business profiles, a good portion of which are owned by small businesses. Projections suggest that by the end of this year, the majority of American companies, at 75.3%, are expected to have an Instagram account, which is a considerable increase from the 69.2% that had one in 2018 – making it the swiftest developing of all the major social media networks.
The spike in Instagram business profiles may be due to the common occurrence of “ad fatigue,” when social media users become so accustomed to seeing advertisements from the same brands that they lose interest and disregard them.
When this occurs, advertising initiatives become less successful, diminishing the organization’s return on investment in the long run. Instagram does not appear to be suffering from the same serious problem of ad fatigue that is impacting Facebook and other social media networks. Surveys show that the majority (78%) of users think that brands on Instagram are well-liked. Likewise, the majority of people feel that these brands are imaginative, amusing, pertinent, and devoted to forming a sense of togetherness.
As of late, Instagram has become a commonly utilized social media site for eCommerce advertising, proving to be an effective tool in each of the three primary phases of the sales process. According to a survey, the vast majority (83%) of people reported that Instagram aided them in finding new items and services. Approximately four-fifths of people employed the platform to look into products and services. Approximately four-fifths of people were assisted by Instagram when it came to making informed decisions about what to buy.
Taking into account these components, it is not shocking that the networking site is experiencing an increase in both worldwide and American net advertisement profits. It is predicted that the figure of $9.08 billion in 2019 will rise to $12.32 billion by the end of 2020. It is predicted that the US market will reach $15.65 billion in 2021.
Despite the data suggesting otherwise, simply having a business Instagram profile will not ensure success. There is no single solution that works for everyone, and companies will need to experiment to find the formula that works best for them. For this purpose, this thorough guide to Instagram for Business will aid you in taking advantage of the network by giving you expert and proven techniques, plans, and standards to reach your business objectives.
The Professional Way of Using Instagram for Business
The data needed to monitor and evaluate your success will depend on your field, Instagram plan, and individual firm objectives. No matter the distinctions, the KPIs you should monitor should always be in keeping with the consumer’s experience and how they move through it.
Focusing on the Right Key Performance Indicators
- The Awareness Stage: It includes metrics and KPIs related to brand awareness such as follower growth rates, brand mentions, and post reach.
- The Consideration Stage: This includes metrics such as engagement rates, mainly in the form of likes, and amplification rates in the form of shares and comments.
- The Decision Stage: Aside from conversion rates, the buyer’s journey decision stage also includes KPIs such as click-through rates, bounce rates, and in the case of paid ads, cost-per-mille (CPM).
- The Loyalty Stage: After the customer has made a purchase, you can track their loyalty based on the actions they take. These will include product or service reviews, testimonials, brand advocacy, and more.
Setting Goals and Objectives
You should use the metrics mentioned above to decide if your Instagram marketing strategy is achieving your business goals. The objectives you establish must be within a particular structure that will give you a complete picture of your improvement. This is the point at which the objectives known as SMART goals become relevant.
Your business goals ought to be clear, quantifiable, achievable, applicable, and timely (SMART). Rather than having an unclear goal such as “more sales,” “more leads,” or “more followers,” make a SMART goal like “attracting 500 more loyal followers in the next three months.” This can help you monitor your Instagram marketing and identify which areas need improvement.
If you are beginning to utilize Instagram to promote your business, it’s acceptable to have objectives that focus primarily on vanity metrics such as likes, comments, and shares. As time progresses, you should concentrate more on analyzing data points that are connected to your general business goals.
Providing Consistency
Staying consistent is essential for creating an audience on Instagram. As people become more familiar with your brand on Instagram, they will expect to see new content on a regular basis. You should avoid posting too much or too often, as it could cause your audience to become overwhelmed, or you could be forgotten if you post too little or inconsistently. You must make a plan of when to post things and a calendar to stop yourself from posting something twice and make sure that you post regularly so your followers know what to expect.
See when your intended group of spectators is dynamic on Instagram during the week and design your timetable around that. Remember that automated posting schedulers can help you plan your content and get rid of a lot of the laborious and repetitive tasks that come with it. They are able to monitor progress, produce summaries, and compare rivals.
The second component of uniformity is having a consistent theme. Each of your Instagram posts should be able to function independently, however, a unifying element is needed to make them distinctively your own. That’s how you build and maintain follower loyalty. A “theme” in branding terms is an overall attitude and look of consistency in images, IGTV videos, Stories, captions, hashtags, etc. that make up an Instagram feed. The comparison of being on a ship with no destination is pertinent here.
Many businesses err in producing their material as diverse and as dissimilar as feasible in the attempt of attracting as many people as possible. In the end, having a clear and consistent theme will help you draw in and retain a committed and genuine following. Having a consistent theme throughout your posts will enable you to create stronger and more genuine relationships with the people who follow you.
Sharing the Right Kind of Content
Instagram is primarily focused on visuals, so it is essential to have an easily recognizable visual style and image (an aesthetic look). The platform has more user interaction than either Facebook or Twitter. In order to be successful on Instagram, you have to provide content that is of high quality and well thought out, which will be able to draw in and hold people’s attention.
In certain situations, the meaning of this information will be clear and uncomplicated. When displaying your product, make sure you do it in a way that is imaginative and suits the preferences of the person looking to purchase it. With services, however, it can become a bit trickier. You can use customer success stories to draw attention to your brand by creating hashtags that are related to your business. Alternatively, you can take a look at what goes on in the office on a day-to-day basis. You can also give your followers a chance to meet the people behind your product or service. If you have no new ways to demonstrate your product or service, try amusing your audience by sharing humorous content, memes, or quotes.
It could require some experimentation before locating precisely what is effective, but the payoff will be worth the time spent. Once you have decided what you want to include and how you want it to look, stay consistent. This will encompass various hues, filters, and other visual components that make it simpler for your subscribers to identify your content in their Instagram timeline.
Instagram Influencer Marketing
Using influencers to collaborate with can be an effective approach to reaching a large group of dedicated and devoted Instagram users who could be interested in your business. It is essential to recognize what qualities you should seek out, and also what to keep away from, when forming an alliance between your business and an Instagram influencer.
People with a fan base of roughly 10k are usually the most cost-effective when it comes to benefits. They are more economical and have a more specific and devoted audience than those with a huge number of supporters. Having a smaller group of influencers means that you can focus on a particular demographic that is much more likely to be drawn to your brand and product.
