The most popular social media

First, let’s review the social media that Internet users most often use. It may be surprising that the most popular medium is not Facebook, but YouTube – it is used by as many as 92.8% of Internet users aged 16-64 (source: Paraphrase-Online.com Digital 2021). Facebook ranks second, followed by Facebook Messenger in the ranking. Then, in order, we have such platforms as:

– Instagram,
– WhatsApp,
– Twitter
– Skype,
– Snapchat,
– TikTok,
– Pinterest,
– LinkedIn.

These social media have much smaller reach than the top three giants, but they are still used by a huge group of network users – from 60 to about 25% of internet users. These numbers go to the imagination, which is why social media marketing is gaining popularity all the time. However, it is important to approach it methodically and with a developed action strategy.

Social media marketing – channel selection

First of all, it is worth realizing that effective marketing does not mean that our brand must be in all available social media channels. Of course, if we have the time and resources, we can invest in activities on various platforms, but it is worth considering how profitable it will be. First, the analysis should cover the habits of our target group. You should consider what types of users are in it and see where they spend the most time. This will help select the social media channels that will work best for a given type of business. Sometimes the choice is quite obvious – it is known that business partners are unlikely to be found on TikTok, and hydraulic services are not an ‘Instagram-like’ industry. However, when conducting an analysis, it is worth following not only your own feelings and experience, but also available statistics from various sources – there is a good chance that this way we will find recipients that we did not have access to before.

After the first screening, it is time to assess whether the budget will allow you to appear in all channels that we found useful. It is also worth considering whether the time will allow us to actively deal with each of them or whether we can afford to entrust the care of social media to an external agency. Obviously, omnichannel and sales support works best wherever our customers are. With the skilful use of various social media and a coherent message, we can count on synergy that will ensure a significant increase in profits. However, if we have a relatively small amount of resources, it is better to focus on fewer platforms. This will keep the quality of your ads and posts high, making your promotion more effective than chaotic activities across channels.

What does effective social media marketing look like?

The essence of effective social media marketing is to get to know the specifics of each of the channels in which we operate. Promotion on the Internet is very different from what can already be called classic – that is, on TV, radio, in the press or on billboards. Its essence is that the recipients do not remain passive, but are in touch with the brand, they can comment on its posts, ask questions, insert reactions or pass the material on to show it to their friends. In addition, we only have a fraction of a second for the interest of the recipient – whether it is an advertisement or a non-promoted post. Users are bombarded with various information on the Internet and only a small percentage of them focus their attention on longer. That is why publications in social media should be primarily:

– eye-catching – it does not mean that we should use a whole rainbow of colors and dozens of emotes. The point is to somehow grab your audience’s attention. You can do it with an interesting composition in a photo, an intriguing slogan or in any other way – the more creative the better. – engaging – in social media it is not enough to show your products or services and wait for applause. It is important to post content that prompts users to act. We can ask our recipients for their opinion, preferences (e.g. the brand’s favorite product), encourage them to respond to posts or organize contests with prizes. Sometimes, in order to interest the recipient, it is enough to show the brand from the backstage: describe how it works or introduce its employees. Such posts generate great commitment and increase brand credibility.
– adaptation to the medium – each social medium has its own specificity. On Instagram, we work almost exclusively with the image, and we build the reach with appropriately selected hashtags. On Facebook, we often link an image or video to the text of a post. LinkedIn is a medium for industry publications, in which the substantive value of the entry is valued. TikTok uses short videos that have nothing to do with polished TV commercials – they are spontaneous, natural, amateurish, but in a positive, relaxed way. If we do not follow the unwritten rules, our communication will be artificial and, as a result, ineffective.
– current – not every entry has to refer to the current situation, but in the posts it is worth referring to the events that society lives, but of course only if they can be associated with the brand’s offer or its business profile. We are talking about permanent elements such as holidays, holidays, the beginning of the school year, Black Friday, sports competitions (Olympics, Euro, etc.), but also about less obvious events. When looking for ideas, you can refer to the calendar of unusual holidays or even information portals. Often a funny politician’s mishap, unusual event or comic photo becomes a breeding ground for internet users and a base for virals. However, when using Real Time Marketing, you need to act really quickly and creatively. Only an immediate and brilliant reaction to the event will be applauded by the Internet community. Late “reheated chops” will only bring you weariness and irritation.
– valuable for the recipient – a common mistake of companies conducting social media marketing is to write about themselves instead of about the user. Often the only solution is to change the narrative. Example? If a cosmetic company boasts that it has created a new hair conditioner, the value of this message for the user will be nonexistent. It is different, however, if it communicates that it has a unique solution for people struggling with hair that is difficult to comb. Then our target group will feel that the given entry applies to them and it is worth taking an interest in it.

Advantages of social media marketing

Marketing in social media has many advantages that a good specialist can skillfully use. They mainly include:

– variety of formats – using social media, we can publish texts, videos, photos, collages, slide shows, create groups, events, add locations, moods and many other elements that enrich the message.
– direct contact with recipients – in social media, like nowhere else, we can build customer relationships with the brand and research their needs. Thanks to them, the recipient has faster, more direct contact with the company than in the case of e-mails or forms.
– the ability to direct traffic to the website – we can post links to the blog, offers or individual products from the assortment, which means that social media can be valuable sources of traffic.
– long range – as we have already written, social media is used by a huge number of people from various age groups. A brand from virtually every industry can find the most appropriate audience for its marketing purposes.
– speed of dissemination of information – if we care about time, social media is an ideal way of communicating messages. There, we can post information about promotions, sales, changes in the offer, as well as unplanned situations, e.g. temporary closure of a restaurant due to a breakdown or a last-minute deadline for a cosmetic procedure that may be taken over by another willing person.
– the possibility of conducting both organic and paid activities – you do not have to pay to run company profiles on social media. So we can build our group of recipients without incurring any costs. However, one should bear in mind the tendency to cut organic reach in social media – as a result, an ordinary post may reach only a small percentage of people who have shown interest in the brand’s profile. However, free activities can be supported with paid advertising campaigns that will reach a very well-chosen target group. After all, who knows more about us than the social media we actively use?
– the possibility of building brand awareness – social media marketing is often used to increase brand recognition, build a narrative around it and inform about the company’s values. Thanks to this, potential customers have a chance to become attached to the brand, which in turn helps ensure their loyalty.

Social media marketing – what should you watch out for?

Social media is a tool that must be used with caution, as the slightest mistake made there can be widely echoed. A badly understood post or advertisement will be widely commented and passed on, which makes the case public and the brand image suffers. The flagship example is a post by a company from a few years ago, which is still a warning to most marketers. The brand published an entry on its fanpage with the question: “What surprised you the most with our company in recent years?” Users began to write massively comments about unpleasant surprises they encountered in the offer and when dealing with consultants. The seemingly innocent post turned into a storm that left scratches on the brand’s image for a long time. Therefore, when handling social media, you need to anticipate potential crises, and in the event of unexpected situations, react quickly and minimize damage.

It should also be noted that social media marketing is a time-consuming activity. It requires not only preparing materials for publication, but also monitoring private comments and messages as well as animating the community, for which high availability is needed. Another downside is that the content posted on social media is more fleeting than anywhere else. Therefore, a large group of people may miss the information posted there, because it will be overlapped with other posts and advertisements. For this reason, it is worth placing important messages not only in social media, but also in other places – for example on your website.

Social media is not homogeneous – although their core remains similar, individual websites use slightly different solutions, have a different user interface, focus on different customer groups and approach data management differently. However, you can find many common features and basic principles that should guide a social media specialist in carrying out his work. These are the foundations that may seem obvious to an experienced marketer, but – as practice shows – in surprisingly many cases they are neglected.

Don’t lie

Almost everyone uses social media – we will see the entire cross-section of society there. Generation Z has naturally come to the digital voice in recent years, growing up in constant contact with computers, smartphones and the Internet. This means that the new generation can – in general – verify data better. People “born with a smartphone in their hand” are much more efficient than previous years of using long tail keyword searches and controlling the accuracy of your message. It was required by their constant presence on the Internet – the constant bombardment with messages naturally made it necessary to filter them.

What does this mean for the marketer? It is more and more likely that the average social media user will say “check” and do a decent research on the product and the entire brand. Only transparency in communication will guarantee that it will not end in a crisis. Basing your offers and image on half-truths today is more risky than ever, and sooner or later marketing manipulations usually turn against dishonest scammers.

Don’t limit yourself to one medium

Does your brand only have a website and Facebook profile? It may not be enough. Diversification of traffic sources has even become a necessity. Your profile on a given portal may disappear in a fraction of a second, for example due to an algorithm error – of course, you will probably regain access to your account, but it may take some time. In such a situation, each day cuts you off from the sales channel, which is in fact irreplaceable. If you don’t separate your traffic sources, you are completely dependent on one of them. Only a skillful combination of SEO, Google Ads and marketing on various social networks will bring meaningful results.

Match the message to the platform

Each social media has its own rules – it results from both the technicalities and the general target group of a given portal. There are of course some universal guidelines, but each portal is a kind of a separate world with a separate communication code. Twitter doesn’t post long elaborations, TikTok is ruled by video – of course you can fight it and go against the tide on a given platform, but most likely it will just end up with very poor results. Use especially the technical guidelines of a given portal, for example, choose the size and format of graphics carefully for the platform.

Don’t count on organic

You refresh your Facebook feed, and after pressing F5 you see completely different posts than a second ago. You set Facebook as the “show newest” user and a moment later you see again what the algorithm has chosen for you. Big data rules social media – organic reach is successively decreasing, and portals find new ways to monetize users’ activities every day.

Although it is less and less frequent, many social media specialists still believe that it is better to publish, for example, 4 or 5 sales posts a week, instead of one, but “burnt” with a decent campaign, significantly increasing the reach and click-throughs. Overproduction of content on social media disturbs rather than helps, and by engaging the time of graphic designers and copywriters, such an approach can actually increase the financial and time cost, rather than optimize it.

Don’t look at the number of likes

The number of likes really matters little. Of course, a large number in the profile adds to a certain digital prestige, which is important for potential collaboration with other brands and overall brand perception on the Web, but usually the impact of this factor is horribly overestimated.

Facebook is slowly withdrawing from showing this value on fan pages, which means that the exposure of the number of “likes” decreases (the number of followers of a given page remains public, however). Algorithms reduce the reach of posts – organic traffic in social media experiences difficult moments without any prospects for improvement. Your posts won’t be shown to all subscribers without your ad investment.

It can be assumed that if the fanpage was set up a few years ago, a certain number of users no longer use a Facebook account. These dead souls are of no value to the marketer – an inactive user is not a potential customer.

The same is true when we decide to buy followers – apart from ethical issues, it will not actually help us sell the product in any way. Fake accounts “clog up” the space to display our posts and advertisements that could be used for marketing purposes. The fake account will not buy your product, which will burn through your advertising budget. It is also prestigiously a complete shot in the foot – the flood of likes from suspicious-looking foreign accounts will light a red lamp for anyone with anything to do with social media marketing.

Use Stories

Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and even recently LinkedIn – all these portals strongly focus on fleeting content in the form of reports. Social media posts have always been characterized by a lot of flyby, and the Stories format makes the shelf life of a message shorter than ever.

However, the data show that a skilfully prepared relationship can bring great reach and sales effects. In order to conduct effective marketing in social media, you cannot afford to disregard this format.

React quickly and use RTM

It is not only about responding to customer questions instantly, although this is of course also a very important aspect of social media marketing.

Is the occasional post for Valentine’s Day, the football world cup or the presidential election real-time marketing? Theoretically yes, because it concerns current events, but usually such activities have zero marketing power. They are simply predictable – we have known the date of these events for a long time, we see news about it long before the actual event, so there is no chance for a surprise effect.

Good real-time marketing is based on spontaneity, instinct and quick reaction. When an internet buzz about a topic breaks out, it usually fades away after a few days. “Late” and “imitative” are two words that should definitely not be associated with real-time marketing. In many companies, this is of course due to the need to “pass” a given post through all levels and the acceptance of several people. Real-time marketing, however, requires overcoming the organizational power of inertia – in this case it is better to react as quickly as possible or not at all.

Marketing – the “invention” of the 20th century?

The concept of marketing appeared relatively recently, as it was around the time of World War II, in the USA. However, the fact that it was only then called this phenomenon does not mean that marketing itself was not born until the mid-twentieth century. Because the first ads can already be found in excavations straight from ancient Greece or Rome. After all, competition in the world of selling products and services has never slept. However, it must be admitted that it was the 20th century – not to mention the current times – that was the time when the market developed extremely dynamically. We operate in a consumer-oriented society with extensive needs and open to new products and services. The number of brands, products and solutions is growing not only from year to year, but also by the minute. And if so, the activities themselves that are to encourage the customer to choose product X, not Y, are evolving.

Modern marketing – the one we know today – therefore differs from previous attempts at promotion by one detail that is of colossal importance. It has the form of organized strategic activities, subordinated to a specific goal. Although there is a lot of room for creativity in it, there is no chance and chaos. Then, the likelihood of budget overflows is highest.

What is marketing?

The question of what marketing is is more difficult than you might think. Not at all because there is no definition of this term. On the contrary. Over the past few decades, a whole lot of them have appeared, as well as disputes about what marketing is and what is not. For example: are PR activities part of marketing or a completely separate plot? And … does it matter?

If we define marketing as all activities that support the sale of products and influence customer decisions – not necessarily. Because this group of activities includes almost everything – from designing the brand logo to activities in social media or price reduction.

One thing is certain: marketing focuses on the needs of consumers and satisfying their needs through a specific offer of products or services. By acting in this direction, the company increases the likelihood that the customer will choose its offer, rather than the competition – because it will be better suited to his expectations.

Is marketing the same as advertising?

It cannot be denied that both concepts are closely related. However, they are not the same. Advertising is part of marketing strategies. These are specific messages aimed at promotion, which are sent to recipients. But marketing itself covers a much broader scope of activities – those that have, among others:

– inform the customer about the existence of a given problem / topic or its exposure,
– inform about the existence of a specific brand / product and maintain this awareness in the long term,
– arouse interest and encourage interaction (which at the beginning does not have to be a purchase),
– help “push” the customer towards conversion – understood not only as buying a product, but also, e.g. leaving contact details or starting communication with the brand,
– build a positive brand image based on a specific set of values,
– build and maintain communication with the target group of potential customers – also to research their needs on an ongoing basis and to better match the offered products,
– build long-term relationships and brand attachment – so that the customer returns to it many times.

The very description of these marketing goals shows that advertising alone is only a fraction (very important!) Of this area of functioning in the business environment.

Is marketing the same as sales?

The sale transaction is the last stage to which marketing activities always lead. So that’s the result of marketing. However, marketing alone does not focus on closing sales, i.e. negotiating the target terms of the contract with the customer. The marketing funnel leads the customer from interest in solving a problem or response to needs, through interest in a product or service, to inducing the need for a specific solution. Activities in its area are also carried out after the sale – so as to maintain communication with the client and make him come back again. So let’s keep these differences in mind and look at marketing as a separate element of market communication – the most diverse and crucial for business efficiency in the business world.

The 7P concept, i.e. the elements that make up marketing

To understand even better what aspects marketing covers, you can refer to one of the concepts of marketing mix, i.e. a network of related elements that affect the market environment of an enterprise.

In the first version, created in 1960, E Jerome McCarthy talked about 4P, and thus about the success of the company’s strategy is influenced by:

– product – its quality, design, packaging, brand and fit to customer needs,
– price – the demand for it also depends on how much the product costs. But this does not mean that the pricing policy must be guided towards the maximum reduction in rates;
– place – a market where products go,
– promotion – and this includes, among others, advertising and PR activities or merchandising.

Currently, the literature also adds further aspects to this list, such as:

– people – it’s both about the customer service staff and the customer himself,
– process – the way in which customer service goes from interest in the offer to after-sales service,
– physical evidence – all “tangible” elements of the company’s image that affect its perception, e.g. the brand’s logo, its website, visual identification system or the appearance of its headquarters.

There are also another “P“, e.g. “pleasure“, i.e. the pleasure of using services, so important in today’s consumer market. So, as you can see, issues related to defining marketing are a river topic. One thing is certain: if you take any action with a view to ultimately increase sales – this is part of marketing. Since marketing includes such a large group of diverse activities, you can guess that there are also various divisions and classifications. It all depends, of course, on what criteria of division will be adopted.

Traditional and internet marketing

Marketing, especially online, is a very broad category of activity. Which one will you choose? It depends, among others from the industry in which you operate, as well as your target group or promotional goals. However, it is worth looking at the most popular types.

SEO marketing
These are all activities related to website positioning. The absolute foundation of communication with clients in the 21st century. Why? You will answer for yourself if you think for a moment where you are looking for e.g. information about good restaurants in the area or proven ski equipment. Modern consumers direct their first steps to the Internet search engine and most often click on the first few results on the list. And if so – the position your website achieves in SERPs (search results) determines how effectively you reach customers.

Content marketing
It’s so-called content marketing, and therefore all activities related to “textual” communication with the recipient. This broad category includes content published on your website (and not only, but also because of SEO), external image articles, as well as product descriptions and much more. The better and richer the content you create, the greater the market potential of your brand.

Social Media Marketing
So all activities related to market communication carried out in social media – e.g. on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn. Warning! It is not only about paid advertising, but above all about adding interesting posts, as well as building a community and communication with its members.

Video marketing
Contrary to appearances, this is not the same as TV commercials. The content of video materials that are posted for marketing purposes can be completely different. Popular are, for example, thematic guides with product placement, cooperation with vloggers or purely image-based clips.

Remarketing
These are automated activities that aim to display to the consumer ads related to what he has previously searched on the web. For example, a person who has visited a website of an online store with clothing displays his ads when he visits other websites. Remarketing is one of the most interesting solutions especially in the context of abandoned shopping carts.

Word of mouth marketing
Based on product and service recommendations – these are now more and more often authentic opinions obtained from customers.

It is also worth mentioning on mobile marketing – activities aimed at interacting with smartphone users (including, among others, sending SMSs with information about promotions!), and above all about inbound marketing, i.e. ‘inbound’ marketing, which is aimed at waking up interest of the recipient – so that he himself actively searches for content related to a particular brand, as well as offers. Strategies based on it are considered to be the most effective.

This, of course, does not exhaust the list of marketing varieties. But it will never end, because new ways of reaching the customer are constantly emerging – along with the evolution of the market itself, technology and social needs. Keep this in mind when planning your marketing strategy – to be effective, it must be adapted to current trends.