A Beginner's Guide to Social Media Marketing

We all know (if you don’t know, I’m telling you now) how vital it is to have social media as part of your business’s marketing strategy today. To be frank, if you don’t utilize social media, you’re basically non-existent...

The power of social media can attract and engage your desired clients and customers. There are literally billions of users on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, so social media marketing has become a very lucrative avenue for businesses to connect with their audience and promote products and services.

If you’re new to all of this, just the thought of starting can be super overwhelming, to say the least, but, with a good plan and a positive attitude, you’ll be able to reap the rewards of social media marketing.

Let’s dive in, shall we!

1. Define Your Goals

First things first, you’ll want to define your goals. What do you want to achieve with your social media marketing? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, generate new leads, or drive sales? When you put these goals into words, it will help you create a strategy that’s in line with your business objectives.

2. Choose the Right Platforms

Once you determine what your goals are, then you can choose the appropriate social media platforms. There are multiple platforms available, but not all of them might suite your business. Here’s an example: if you are a business-to-business company, like a wholesaler or retailer, it probably makes more sense for you to be on LinkedIn, rather than Instagram. On the flip side, if you’re hoping to reach a younger audience, then Instagram and TikTok are the places you need to be. 

3. Create a Content Strategy

Content is probably the most important piece of your social media marketing. You’ll want to create engaging and relevant content that your audience can relate to. To build your content strategy, you have to understand your target audience, and what they prefer. What do they like? What tone resonates with them? After answering these questions, you can start organizing a content strategy that your audience will connect with. 

4. Build Your Profiles

Next up, the fun stuff, time to build out your social media profiles! Each platform is different, so pay close attention and make sure your profiles are fully complete with all necessary information like website, location, and contact details. You’ll want these profiles to reflect your brand’s image, i.e., logo, colors, brand voice, etc., and be sure to use high-quality photos and videos. 

5. Engage with Your Audience

Social media is a two-way street. To build a relationship with your audience, you need to engage with them. Respond to comments, answer questions, and ask for feedback. Your brand will gain more trust and respect the more you engage with your followers. 

6. Leverage Advertising

Advertising on social media is an effective way to reach your target audience. Platforms like Meta offer different paid ad options like sponsored posts, carousel ads, and video ads. 

7. Analyze Your Performance

It’s important to analyze your social media performance on a regular basis, quarterly, or monthly even. You can use analytics tools to measure the success (or lack thereof) of your marketing efforts. When you analyze your performance, you’ll be able to determine what’s working, and what’s not, and then make changes to your strategy. 

Social media is a powerful marketing tool, and, like most everything these days, is ever changing, and ever evolving, so we will be ever learning, and ever adapting, to keep up with it, but I hope this helps you get started, and achieve success, for the time being.

About the Author: Alex Westerhausen is the Visual & Engagement Creator on the Exclamation Marketing team, emoji fanatic, and manager of our social media channels. Alex enjoys long walks on the beach (no, seriously), all kinds of music from classical to heavy metal (minus most country), anything spooky or scary, traveling, golfing, reading, lots of alone time, and spoiling her dog-child, Maple.