Social networks are part of everyday life for many people. When companies use these channels to acquire new customers, retain customers and increase their awareness, we speak of social media marketing. This article will show you how to use it for your business and create a strategy for it. Also, learn how advertising works on social media and get to know exciting tools to support your work.
Table of Contents
Social Media Marketing: The Four Most Important Questions At A Glance
Almost every company benefits from social media marketing. It is an essential addition to classic marketing measures. The following questions explain roughly what this is all about:
- What is social media?
These are virtual platforms on the web through which members can present themselves and network with one another.
- What are the most popular social media outlets?
Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter are the networks with the most active users in the world.
- What is social media marketing? This includes all paid and unpaid marketing activities that run through social media.
- What can social media marketing be used for?
The main goals are branding, increasing brand awareness, acquiring new customers, and retaining customers.
Statistics show how important social media are in everyday life. Learn more about this and the unique features of the individual networks in the next section.
Facts & Figures: Social Media & The Most Important Channels
Statistics show the importance of social networks and how they are mainly used. Here are some examples of the figures published by Statista:
- 89% of 16 to 24-year-olds and 22% of over 65-year-olds in Germany use social media.
- 34.9% of German internet users are regularly active on social media with mobile devices.
- Average daily time spent on social networks (Germany): 64 minutes
- Global market share of Facebook (by page views): 67.73%
The following social media are of the most significant importance
- YouTube
- Snapchat
Each network has its profile and is preferred by certain groups of people. Find out more about the individual social media channels in the following paragraphs.
Facebook is currently the social network with the largest market share. Registered users create profiles through which they can share content and network online. Facebook is used by all age groups, although the older age groups are also relatively well represented compared to other networks.
Many companies have their own Facebook page for social media marketing. The network also offers extensive opportunities to advertise in a way that is appropriate to the target group.
- active members worldwide: 2.7 billion
- active members in Germany: 32 million
- Advertising revenues per year: the US $ 55 billion
YouTube
The video platform YouTube offers registered members the opportunity to present their videos. All internet users can access it free of charge, even without registering. With Account, it is possible to comment on the videos, network, and use some other functions.
Companies can use YouTube to publish their videos, which can be integrated into their website if necessary. The advertising opportunities are also attractive. Since YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, advertisements are placed via the Google Ads account.
- active members worldwide: 1.9 billion
- active members in Germany: 6 million
- Advertising revenues per year: US $ 14 – 15 billion
On Instagram, the focus is on sharing photos and videos. Since this is often about lifestyle presentations, Instagram has a special meaning for influencer marketing.
But around 38% of online shops also have their own Instagram profile. Instagram belongs to Facebook and offers similar advertising opportunities via a business account.
- active members worldwide: 1 billion
- active members in Germany: 18 million
- Advertising revenues per year: the US $ 10 billion
Twitter is designed to regularly send short messages to your followers, who can also comment and share them. For companies, this is a way to stay in touch with customers. There are also advertising opportunities.
More than half of the online shops in Germany have a Twitter account. Exceptionally creative and original tweets can go viral very quickly, thanks to the brevity on the web. Many companies and people in public life consciously use this effect to increase their awareness.
- active members worldwide: 330 million
- active members in Germany: 2.5 million
- Advertising revenues per year: the US $ 2.6 billion
On Pinterest, the focus is on visual representations in the form of photos or graphics. Every user can publish this on a virtual pinboard and, if desired, share it with others. The purpose is to collect ideas and inspiration. Pinterest offers a visual search engine for this.
As an entrepreneur, you have the opportunity to publish your content online and generate traffic by linking it to your website. Every profile on Pinterest also has its followers, making it suitable for social media marketing. It has also been possible to place advertising since 2019.
- active members worldwide: 322 million
- active members in Germany: 7 million
- Advertising revenues per year: the US $ 1 billion
LinkedIn, which belongs to Microsoft, differs from the social networks presented so far. The focus for companies is not on maintaining relationships with customers but on business contacts and the search for employees. Job seekers or employees who are interested in new connections put their CV online and can make contacts.
LinkedIn is internationally oriented, which is why the profiles can also be created in several languages. Thematic groups can be opened to establish and maintain contacts. It is also possible to advertise your products on company profiles.
- active members worldwide: 303 million
- active members in Germany: 11 million
- Total annual sales: the US $ 6 billion
XING has the same purpose as LinkedIn and works similarly but is regionally limited to the DACH region, Luxembourg and Spain. Here, too, the focus is on mediating between job seekers and companies and maintaining professional networks.
For entrepreneurs, in addition to the search for personnel, the possibility of self-presentation, professional exchange, and advertising opportunities are also of interest. XING has proven itself for announcing events such as trade fairs, congresses, and seminars or for searching for them.
- active members worldwide: 16 million
- active members in Germany: 14 million
- Total turnover per year: € 252 million
Social Media Marketing – The Advantages
Social media marketing is associated with effort and costs. Nevertheless, it is worthwhile and offers several advantages compared to traditional advertising. These are the reasons why social media is advantageous:
- Large Reach :
You can quickly reach a lot of people online via social media if your content is shared frequently. There is also no regional restriction.
- More Attention :
Postings via social media are perceived less than advertising and therefore more consciously.
- Diverse Targeting Options :
Advertising in social networks can be played out in a very target-group-oriented manner due to the extensive data available.
- Relevant For Every Type Of Company :
From the large brand group to the small business, almost every company can benefit from social networks.
- Direct Exchange With Customers :
The direct communication options with customers and interested parties are a great advantage of social networks. This strengthens customer loyalty, and you receive valuable feedback.
- Rapid Dissemination Of Information :
Sometimes it is essential to be able to react quickly to current developments or to spread the news. That’s not a problem on social media.
- Good Options for measuring and controlling success :
The success of social media marketing can be evaluated and controlled with the help of appropriate tools. In this way you avoid wastage.
Keep in mind that many customers now expect to be able to connect with companies via social media. That alone is a reason not to close yourself off to these possibilities.
Goals And Areas Of Application Of Social Media Marketing
Why do companies deal with social media marketing, and how do they use social networks specifically? Find out more about the overall goals and areas in which you can be active.
General Goals Of Social Media Marketing
Social media offers companies several options for realizing individual projects. Which of the following overarching goals is most important has an impact on your social media marketing strategy:
- Branding: Brand Characteristics can be communicated very well via social media. What information you publish, and how will it shape the perception of your brand. Start-ups can consciously build a new brand via social media.
- Increase In Brand Awareness :
Use the broad reach of social media to make your brand better known. However, you can only achieve this goal if you are regularly active in the networks and follow a uniform strategy.
- Customer Acquisition :
You can win new customers through social media marketing by having satisfied customers share or comment on your content and recommend your offers to their friends and followers. Target group-specific advertisements are another way of acquiring new customers.
- Customer Loyalty: Social networks are also very suitable for not only winning but also retaining customers. Regular postings and reactions to comments and questions are part of this.
In the following section, you will learn how to be primarily active on social media as an entrepreneur.
What Companies Specifically Use Social Media For
Companies use social networks for different purposes. In most cases, the focus is on the customer. But there are also other areas of application:
- Sales :
The focus of social media marketing is often on selling one’s products. Matching posts or advertisements lead potential customers directly to the online shop.
- Customer Service :
If customers have questions about the product, the order process, or other service questions, it is customer-friendly if they can also ask them on social networks.
- Customer Communication :
Communication with customers about service issues is also an essential part of social media marketing. This is how you strengthen the bond and receive feedback.
- Recruiting :
LinkedIn and XING are mainly interesting for recruiting staff, but Facebook can also provide valuable services here.
- Internal Company Communication :
Some companies also use social networks to communicate with employees. It’s an easy way to share information and stay in touch with the workforce.
A high reach is an advantage for the success of social media marketing. The following section explains how you can increase this.
Five Strategies For Organic Growth In Social Networks
Organic growth means increasing your reach on social media even without paid advertising. Different focal points can be the focus:
- Increase in the number of followers :
The more followers you have, the more people will see your posts and may also share them. This is an essential requirement for increasing your awareness.
- Increase the reach of a post within the target group: The reach of a bar indicates how many people have seen it since it was published. This range should be as high as possible, especially within the target group.
- Increase in the interaction rate :
The more your followers feel addressed by the published content, the more actively they interact, i.e., they like, comment, or share posts. This has a positive effect on the range.
- Promoting virality :
This is specifically about sharing. Only content that is considered particularly valuable is shared. A high vitality of individual posts can quickly and sustainably increase your reach and awareness.
There are specific strategies you can use to drive organic growth on social media. The following few sections introduce some of them.
Strategy 1: Content Marketing Posts
Inspire your followers with high-quality content. Whether specialist information, videos, or podcasts, which offer added value to your profile visitors, is often accessed and shared.
For example, a nursery can regularly publish gardening tips on its own YouTube channel. Or an IT company provides whitepapers for download on the website and links them to social media. Excellent content can go viral and increase your number of followers.
Strategy 2: Competitions
You can quickly increase your number of followers with free competitions on social media. This is especially true if liking the page is one of the game conditions. Please note the legal framework here.
But competitions also generally increase interaction and thus promote interest in your brand. Depending on how the game is designed, it is possible to generate leads if you need to provide contact details.
Strategy 3: Ask Me Anything
With the AMA method, you or your company’s employees answer questions from your followers. Above all, this method strengthens the interaction rate and customer loyalty.
The questions can be answered in a live chat or live stream and with questions sent in advance. These are then answered in a recorded video or podcast or simply by written text on the social media page.
Strategy 4: Passion Pages
Passion Pages are social media profiles that a company supports, but this is not immediately recognizable. This is why these pages are not primarily perceived as corporate pages for advertising purposes and are accepted more quickly by many users.
If the profile stands out from others through high-quality, entertaining, or particularly original content, the chances of new followers are great. Only the branding effect, i.e., the increase in brand awareness, takes a back seat.
The pages primarily relate to a specific topic, making it possible to address interested parties in a target-group-oriented manner. For example, a provider of triathlon equipment can create a thematic page on the subject of triathlon.
Strategy 5: Use Animated GIFs
Animated GIFs are very commonly shared on social networks. If you occasionally publish a GIF that you have created yourself and include your brand, you can achieve a high level of virality and promote the branding effect.
GIFs that express emotions are cheap. Some even allow playful interactions, e.g., B. should be stopped at a particular moment.
Social Media Marketing Via Paid Ads
In addition to the measures for organic growth, paid advertising on the platforms is also part of social media marketing. Social networks offer excellent opportunities for this.
Advantages And goals Of Social Media Advertising
The extent to which social media advertising is worthwhile for your company depends on your individual goals and the situation. The following points speak for it:
- exact target group-oriented approach through analysis of extensive data
- Additional personalization options for advertising through the evaluation of cookies ( retargeting or remarketing )
- the rapid increase in range possible, e.g., B. to push new profiles, product launches, or special promotions
- Better perception of advertising than with traditional advertising media due to more active users
- It can be used both for new customer acquisition and customer loyalty.
- Advertising opportunities for companies of all sizes
- Easy to implement and control via the Account
Costs always offset the benefits. Find out what these depend on in the following section.
Cost Of Advertising On Social Media
There are different billing methods for the costs. The usual price per click (CPC) is where you only incur costs when someone clicks on your advertisement.
There is no fixed price for this on Facebook. Instead, you enter a maximum bid. The ad matching the criteria with the highest recommendations is then always displayed in the advertising space because an algorithm simulates an auction process in the shortest possible time (real-time bidding).
The actual click price can, therefore, also be lower than your maximum bid. On average, the costs per click on Facebook are between 40 and 50 cents – but there can also be large deviations up or down. Decisive for this is, among other things, the advertising format and the target group.
Another cost model that is sometimes offered is CPM. A price for 1,000 impressions is agreed upon, which you have to pay in any case.
Also Read : Affiliate Marketing: Definition + Guide To Making Money
Implementation Of A Campaign On Facebook
Creating a social media advertising campaign is no problem on all platforms, thanks to user-friendly tools. The process is described here using the example of Facebook or Instagram or Audience Network (advertising in mobile apps):
- Creation of the campaign via the Facebook ad manager
- Selection of the overall target of the campaign from several options
- Definition of the campaign name
- Create an ad group and name it
- Definition of the target group by selecting several properties such as age, interests, or location
- Choose placement for Facebook, Instagram, or Audience Network (automatic stations also possible)
- Select options for the delivery of the advertisements
- Determine the schedule
- Set a running time or daily budget
- Specify the highest bid for the click price
- Create ad
- Select display format (e.g. picture, video, slideshow)
- Upload media or use templates and write text
- Selection of further options (e.g., Facebook pixels for analyzes)
- View preview and confirm
- possibly create additional ads or ad groups
First, Facebook is reviewing the campaign. If everything is in order, the ads will be displayed according to your selection in a target group-oriented manner. Payment is made according to the agreed options.
Strategy For Social Media Marketing: Step By Step To Success
Don’t start social media marketing without a plan. Your efforts and financial investments are more likely to pay off if you are strategic. The following steps are recommended:
Situation Analysis :
Do you already use social networks? How successful has your social media marketing been so far?
Goal Setting :
Do you want to maintain customer relationships, increase brand awareness or win new customers?
Target Group Definition :
Social media marketing can be designed in a very target group-oriented manner. Therefore the exact definition of the target group is a critical success factor.
Competitive Analysis:
How active are your direct competitors in social networks? What do you notice positively or negatively?
Resource Planning :
What are human and financial resources available to you?
Selection Of Networks :
Which social media does your target group mainly use?
Set Up Accounts :
Once you have decided on one or more platforms, set up the accounts.
Schedule Posts :
Schedule not only the content of your posts but also the timing of their publication.
Possibly Place Paid Advertising:
Advertising campaigns complement the posting and promote your reach.
Success Control :
There are tools with which you can control the success of your campaigns and optimize them.
A well-thought-out strategy is essential to your success. But also note the tips in the following section.
Seven Tips For Working Successfully With Social Media
Certain factors mainly influence the success of social media marketing. This is how you can avoid mistakes and make better use of the potential of social networks right from the start:
- Create value-added content: The content you post must be of value to your followers. They should either be informative or entertaining.
- Adapt ontent to the platform :
When choosing social networks, consider what you want to post. Complex topics are not suitable for Twitter, and longer texts are not ideal for Instagram.
- Appear friendly :
Always respond to comments in a friendly and factual manner, even if you are wrongly criticized.
- Communicate authentically :
Do not use automated or standardized formulations, either in posts or in responses to comments.
- Strive for virality :
Make some of your posts particularly original. With a bit of luck, these will go viral and increase your reach many times over.
- Post regularly :
You don’t have to post daily, but you do need to post regularly. Think about the rhythm your followers expect.
- Use hashtags :
Use hashtags occasionally. This will give you more attention.
Successful social media marketing requires experience. They also collect these by monitoring your campaigns and measuring their success. The following section explains how this works.
Don’t forget: measuring success in social media marketing.
Engagement in social networks does not always have a direct impact on economic success. This often only occurs later as a result of increased awareness and good customer loyalty. Key figures that can be used to measure specific goals are therefore particularly suitable for measuring success :
- The number of followers :
The number of followers is an indicator of how your reach is developing.
- Interaction rate :
This shows how often your posts are liked, shared, and commented on, i.e., how active your followers are.
- Virality Rate :
This is all about sharing. Posts with high virality rates increase your brand awareness.
- Post coverage :
How many times was the post seen since its release? You can also use this metric to determine when your target group is active.
- Social Share of Voice :
How often is your brand mentioned on social networks?
- Social Media Traffic :
This measures the visits to your website. Social media marketing should help increase traffic.
- Leads :
Leads are used when visitors to your website are, for example, B. Leave contact details for a download or a newsletter subscription. Then you can assume a fundamental interest in your offers.
Tools, which usually have other valuable functions, will help you with the analysis. You will get to know some of these in the next section.
Tools for social media marketing
Social media tools not only help with success analysis, but they also offer other exciting functions. So you can z. B. Publish posts at the optimal time through automation. Get to know three of these tools below.
Hootsuite
Hootsuite offers a wide range of functions and allows the simultaneous management of up to 35 social networks. The tool is relatively complex, so it is mainly suitable for very active social media marketing.
You can post several hundred articles, which are automatically published at the optimal time. Mentions of your brand can also be filtered out of social networks. Extensive reporting functions are also available.
Buffer
Buffer isn’t as complex as Hootsuite, so it’s also suitable for beginners. The primary function is the timing of the postings. The tool can automatically determine when the posts reach the most followers.
Also, with Pablo, Buffer offers its program for graphic design. You can use the reporting to monitor the most important key figures. Buffer can be used in conjunction with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn.
Fanpage Karma
Fanpage Karma specializes in monitoring Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter accounts. Automatic posting is also possible. The focus, however, is on analysis, whereby you can also include competing sites and search Facebook posts for trending topics.
Teamwork in social media marketing can also be organized, e.g., B. when it comes to replying to messages. A Shitstorm Alert shows you were to react quickly.
Social media threats to companies
Social media marketing offers companies many opportunities. On the other hand, there are typical dangers that can lead to significant damage in severe cases. Pay special attention to the following:
- Shitstorm :
Negative comments from individual users encourage others to express themselves critically. Sometimes this leads to a wave of anger. Then react quickly, be friendly, and come up with solutions to the problem.
- Data protection :
Note the provisions of the Federal Data Protection Act and the GDPR. In connection with social media, the handling of personal data plays a role. You may not collect, save or use these without the consent of the person concerned, nor use them for purposes other than intended or pass them on to third parties.
- Copyright Infringement :
Posting is considered publication. You may not publish photos, graphics, videos, or music from other authors without further notice. There are accessible and freely usable materials as well but always check the source and terms. When buying stock media, make sure that the author restricts its use for specific purposes.
Are you unsure about these dangers, or are you unable to cope with the effort of social media marketing yourself? Then commissioning specialized external service providers is a possible alternative.
In-house or via agency: What social media marketing costs
Professional social media marketing is complex and requires experience. That is why there are specialized agencies that offer their services in this area. For companies, the question arises as to whether they should instead take over social media marketing themselves or commission it. Consider the following advantages and disadvantages of an external solution:
Advantages
Experience in this complex area usually has higher costs than in-house solutions.
Lower staffing requirements in the company.
Flexible booking of services.
Disadvantages:
Areas usually have higher costs than in-house solutions.
Authenticity in social networks can suffer because followers do not communicate directly with the company.
Communication effort between company and agency
The general service with content creation, support, advertising, and answering inquiries can cost around € 2,000 per social network per month for small start-ups and about € 5,000 for medium-sized companies. But these are only guidelines because there are very different price models and many factors also influence the costs.
It is also possible that companies only purchase individual services, e.g., B. the content creation. Think about which tasks you can do in-house, what new hires are worthwhile, and what you would prefer to commission. To do this, compare the costs of the alternatives.
Also Read : Facebook Ads: What It Is And How It Works
Conclusion: Social media with high potential for success for your company
Social media marketing offers excellent opportunities for branding, new customer acquisition, and customer loyalty. If you are committed to it, your company will benefit in the long term.
Take particular care to monitor the success of your measures. Over time, you will be able to take a targeted approach and reach the right users.