The key word is the emphasis on “social”. Social media marketing is simply word-of-mouth, powered by technology. The networks have been engineered as the modern way to connect people, build relationships, and assist social interactions. It is easy to share information and current content with your friends, family and coworkers, and the vast majority of people presently have at least one social media platform where they connect and interact with others.
The fact that so many people are involved in social media means that it has become an essential platform for all sorts of businesses to attract consumers and drive their business. Social media gives your business a place to communicate with your customers, and expand the widespread reach and knowledge about your specific services and products.
It is a great opportunity for smaller businesses and those starting out to get their services and products made known by a wider audience online. Although, it is crucial to continue your presence on social media after you have reached a level of business success and recognition.
The Many Platforms
When getting started for your business, there are such a variety of social media platforms. All of these seem to offer similar services, with slight differences and methods of getting your desired consumer attention. However, usually they fit into 3 categories: word-based, image-based, and video-based platforms.
However, a few of these categories do overlap. Although there are similarities between a few of the various channels, there are often distinct differences between the audiences that each platform reaches. The audience is often the pivotal reason to choose a certain social media network. Each business should have a certain kind of consumer in mind, and cater to that consumer through their branding and marketing. However, it is overall more beneficial for your business and brand expansion to diversify onto many social media accounts.
Successful Campaign
If you are still wondering about the benefits, and how it can help your business, then there are so many good, fun examples to be found online! Here is one UK example that you will probably remember and appreciate:
One of the biggest successes in 2013 revolved around Three Mobile and their dancing pony. The campaign was based on a television advert about a Shetland pony moon walking across the countryside to the sound of “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac, which really grasped viewers’ attentions. The advert ended with the hashtag #danceponydance, which then sparked the attention online and over social media. The video went viral right away, and consumers utilised their hashtag all over Facebook and mainly Twitter. The video went up on YouTube, and achieved 1.5 million views in the first week, and currently it has gained around 10 million views to date.
Three Mobile’s campaign also included a second part, which was entirely online, and revolved around their ‘Pony Mixer’: dressing up your own pony and picking a song for the pony to dance to. The whole campaign lasted precisely 17 days, and over this period the results are clear: 1.3 million ponies generated on the Pony Mixer, 190,000 Tweets using #danceponydance, and a total of 100 million overall consumer impressions. This led to a greater success for the UK mobile network, through public perception and knowledge of the brand alone.
Why Choose Social Media?
Ultimately, all companies and businesses utilise it in some way, and you don’t have to put on a massive marketing campaign in order to get noticed and help your brand awareness. Sometimes, the most effective is just making sure that your feeds are kept up to date with relevant, fun posts and information for your consumers.
Many businesses understand the role of social media marketing, and how it can be cost effective and make huge gains for their brand awareness and all round sales.