Like services of varies digital marketing firms, SMM and SMO are becoming powerful strategy and campaign to leverage business goals and targets. Since most customers are now online, it’s a must for companies to diversify their marketing strategies.

Why Invest in Social Media Marketing (SMM)

On average, Facebook has 2.2 billion active users in the last quarter of the year 2017. Instagram has 800 million monthly active users where 80% of its population comes from different parts of the world. Twitter has 330 million monthly active users. These numbers show users who can be your audience and customer. Signing up for a social media platform enables you to build an account to reach these users to market your products and services as well as inform them of your brand. Thus, social media is a communication channel. It provides content while establishing engagement with your audience.

There are several social media sites, but these five are the most popular among users:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Instagram
• YouTube

There is no right or wrong social media platform, but it pays to be in an online community where a brand can acquire most of its audience. Thus, it pays to ensure that the business and the user will be using the same platform. That way, the firm takes the highest return on investment (ROI) from its niche.

How To Integrate SMM to a Business Strategy

Start by setting up accounts on chosen sites. Signing up is free while deleting the accounts is simple so it’s a quick way out in case the marketing strategy doesn’t work out. Still, some social media sites offer targeted campaigns through paid ads and promoted posts. These features help the company concentrate on specific demographics which is helpful in gathering data for crafting campaigns.

The bulk of the work of SMM comes in maintaining the feed. The content will be the users’ basis to know, like and trust the business. Content planning must be part of the process for SMM to become successful. Other than the consistent posts on social media accounts, engagement is a must to maintain relationships with customers and share information about the product or service. Using a post automation tool keeps the social media feeds updated without struggling to catch deadlines. Combing the tool with an editorial calendar takes off the pressure of pulling off the marketing campaign.

The audience will grow along with the business so outsourcing a social media manager will be beneficial to manage campaigns. An additional hand efficiently builds a highly visible relationship with prospects and spread content to turn visitors into loyal followers of the brand.

Social media sites have billions of monthly online users, an untapped market by several brick-and-mortar businesses. Though users have preferences, having them as part of your audience is better than losing the opportunity to increase your online network. Integrating SMM into company marketing strategies results to high ROI especially when a campaign is a hit

Now that SMM is out of the way, what about Social Media Optimization (SMO)? What is the difference between SMM and SMO? Does an enterprise need to implement both online marketing strategies?

What is the Fuss about SMO

Social media optimization (SMO), which is also called search marketing optimization, is the process of improving a website to make it “sociable.” Digital marketers and webmasters optimize their site to make it visible on the web. SMO provides the audience ways to connect and interact with the business.

The techniques in SMO aims to drive traffic to the site through the brand’s social media presence. The process boosts site ranking which may also increase conversion rates. Furthermore, it solidifies the business’ brand as quality content and engagement become consistent across all channels. SMO focuses on a website’s traffic and data with the help of SMM. Meanwhile, SMM centers on publishing content, spreading awareness, and maintaining engagement on social media platforms.

Business must implement both to support their digital marketing strategies. SMO will not exist without SMM while the latter can stand on its own. However, practicing SMM without the support of SMO doesn’t maximize the influence of your brand.

Social Media as a Powerful Marketing Tool

Like everything on the Internet, social media transforms with the blink of an eye. Platforms started out as online messaging systems until they became tools to publish content real time. It pays to invest on SMM and SMO to gain access to markets and industries across countries. Before diving into a marketing strategy, remember to take the guesswork out of working on an online network. Knowing the stipulations of each platform is the key to successful marketing implementation.

The post Social Media: A Sampler on Marketing and Optimization appeared first on Internet Marketing Reach.

Reasons for social media marketing gone wrong

1) Misaligned business goals and social strategies

Business goals are created at the start of the business operation. Now, the social strategies should be aligned with these wherein every activity occurring on the site should reflect the VMGOs (vision, mission, goals and objectives). Let’s say your business is a digital marketing agency. You cannot just sell the services on your Facebook page. You must also tell your target market what the benefits of using the social platform in building brand awareness, for instance, are. If you are publishing case studies and white papers, you might as well explore SlideShare and LinkedIn. Relevance is key here.

2) Impractical brand expectations

The impact of social media is profound and not necessarily miraculous. Social media have limitations, too, aside from its own response time, and 30,000 likes do not mean a popular brand either. With this, know that social media cannot transform your business in just two weeks or so despite investment lots of effort and even money. Realistic, data-backed expectations matter, so you won’t be disappointed in the end. Developing social strategies is not a separate activity. Think about the business objectives and work your way backward. Let the goals drive and direct the strategy.

3) Lack of social media understanding

Social media are not universal wherein what you do on Facebook you should also do on Twitter. Each platform is different from demographics of users to usage patterns. For example, about 85% of moms in the US use Facebook regularly and closely followed by Pinterest at 39%. This means if your business targets mothers, you should be on Facebook and Pinterest and not on Twitter, Google+ or Instagram. It also stands to reason that not because Twitter is working for your rival, it will also work for you. This is not always the case. Not all platforms will have a good fit with the nature and scope of your business. Don’t spread yourself too thin across all the platforms. Think of your core business and decide from there. Pick up to three relevant platforms and focus on them.

4) Employing the wrong talents

Strategies are only as good as those who implement them. This rings true even for social media strategies. You cannot just hire talents who are aware of how to tweet or update status almost every two hours. You should look for talents who know every nook and cranny of these platforms. Essentially, what they think they know is different what they should be aware of in reality. Look beyond the resume. Social media may be free, but you must invest in the right people or those individuals who are willing to align their individual goals with the goals of the brand as well as the goals of the social strategy.

Despite your best efforts, your brand may not reach its full potential because of flawed approaches. Don’t be victimized by your own inefficiency, digging your own pit to fall into. Also, understand that social strategies take time before concrete results are generated. Sometimes, things are really working out just fine, but you hardly notice them. Focus on knowledge-building to understand social media in a way that they will benefit your business. Steady growth means you are on the right track.

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