A Beginner’s Guide to Successful Social Media Advertising Part 1: Saying Hello

The first thing to understand about social media advertising is that this is just a part of a larger marketing strategy that can and should website design, SEO, content marketing, digital advertising, and email marketing, too. It is not the be-all and end-all of advertising, nor should it be. A well-rounded ad campaign uses different venues to reach different audiences. One slice is not the whole pizza. Here is how to figure out what social media venues are right for you, and how to work them to get the results you want.

What is your audience?

You need to target your content, and decide where it will work best. While almost everyone uses Facebook to greater or lesser degrees, you should consider Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram, and LinkedIn, but many of these are not going to reach the same users. Most people use one or two sites per day – for instance Facebook and Instagram, or Vine and Twitter – with some social media butterflies using four and five sites per day.

Professionals use LinkedIn to network with an influence other professionals.  Half the users have completed college and then some, obtaining postgraduate and professional degrees, with 82 percent of their users being over thirty – in some cases, well over. Pinterest users are largely female, aged 18-49, and “pin” their interests for others to see from architecture to zymurgy. Tumblr is visually oriented, though text posts make up a lot of traffic – and the user base is vocal and engaged, and overwhelmingly Millennial with an urban orientation. As you can see, social media is not a monolith, but more of a faceted diamond.

Engage the Users

Building a social media presence takes more than just a few viral memes or videos. It takes consistency, effort, and dedication to creating great content. Fortunately, it’s possible to use free social media to hone your marketing chops by seeing what your followers do and don’t respond to. On social media, you’re building a relationship as well as marketing who you are and what you do. You want to seem approachable and friendly, but professional. Your content needs to reflect that, and at the same time bring your followers to identify with and trust your brand. This gets them in the top of the funnel, and starts the process of conversion from follower to customer.

Get Real

One of the frustrating things about social media advertising is how long it can take to build presence. You’ve probably seen countless companies’ Facebook pages that were last updated around 2012. These companies gave up. Adjust your expectations accordingly, and don’t put all your eggs in the social media basket. Crafting a marketing strategy with a professional can help you get where you need to be, and still have social media play a big role. Feel free to read through the blog, there are a lot of posts that can give you tips, tricks, and tools to get you started.

About 4 Step Studio

4 Step Studio is an online marketing agency that specializes in website design and redesign, SEO, social media and more. Our team of experts focuses on helping small business get found online, while educating them on what will make them successful in the digital world. To learn more about what we can do for you, visit our website at www.4StepStudio.com