What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing is the process of building awareness about you, your products, or services through various social media channels.
The ultimate goal of any social media marketing campaign is to drive traffic to a website, increase the visibility of a product, gain more social media followers, or find more customers.
The most popular social media networks today are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Tik Tok, and Linkedin.
Why is social media marketing important?
Social Media Marketing is important because:
It’s the fastest way to spread the word about a new product, service, or news item – A tweet can go rival in minutes and spread a message around the Word faster than TV or other traditional media
It’s a trend – Millions of people spend a good amount of their time on social media networks so if you ‘need them’ you know where to find them
It’s the new marketing – Back in the old days, marketers found out that many people spend time in their cars driving so they thought of the billboards on the roads. Today, people are spending time on social media so as a marketer you have to start thinking this way too.
It’s the new influencer – Recent studies show that social media is becoming a great sales channel and more and more companies are stating that they get customers from Facebook or Twitter.
How can you take advantage of social media? How can beginners build a proper social media presence fast?
Social Media Marketing tips for beginners
1. Decide which social media platform(s) to use
2. Optimize your social media profiles
3. Connect your website or blog with your social media pages
4. Add social media buttons on your website
5. Find and follow the influencers in your niche
6. Keep a balance between following and followers
7. Share interesting content (text, images, videos)
8. Post many times per day but don’t overdo it
9. Don’t forget to follow back
10. Follow the rules and be patient
1. Decide which social media platform(s) to use
As a beginner to social media, you have to choose one or two social media platforms and concentrate on those rather than trying to work on all platforms at the same time.
This is a mistake that many beginners do and in the end, they quit without having any benefit.
A nice way to find out which platform is best suited to your niche is to find the influencers and analyze where they have success.
For example, find out the leaders in your niche and check out the number of Facebook fans, Twitter followers, Pinterest followers, etc.
If they have 100,000 Facebook fans but only 1000 Twitter followers then this is a good indication that FB is more suitable for your niche than Twitter.
It is also a sign that you are more likely to have success with FB than on Twitter, so you can use your time more efficiently and engage more on FB rather than on any other platform.
2. Optimize your social media profiles
Once you decide which social media tools you will use (at least for the beginning), the next step is to optimize your profiles on those sites.
By optimizing your profiles you increase your chances of getting more followers and it is also a good way to boost your SEO efforts.
Some general rules that apply to all sites are:
- Use a real photo, showing your face – avoid using animals, places, or anything that is not real. Social media is about connecting people and if you want to have a trusted profile you need to get out of your cage and put your face on the web!
- Write a good description about yourself or your company – What is your background or expertise? What are you proud of? Mention this is your profile.
- Give an indication to users what type of info you will share – Although this is not necessary, I like to read in profiles what kind of info to expect from the particular person. For example in my Twitter profile, I wrote: “..tweeting SEO, social media, internet marketing tips, and advice”.
- Include a link to your website (where applicable) – On Facebook include a link in the ‘About section’, on Twitter and Pinterest in the ‘Web site Section’. In other words, do use your social media profiles for SEO purposes as well.
3. Connect your website or blog with your social media pages
After you have your social media profiles ready the next step is to connect your website with your social media pages.
There is a certain procedure to follow for each platform and it is very important that you do it correctly.
A correct binding between the two means that search engines and social media websites know which website corresponds to which social media page.
- For Facebook, you can follow these instructions
- For Pinterest, you can verify your website using this procedure
- For Twitter, you can follow this
4. Add social media buttons on your website
Besides connecting your website with the respective business pages on social media, you also need to add social media buttons on your website so that readers can easily share your content.
Depending on the platform there are many ways and plugins to do that, I suggest you search Google using “how to add social media buttons to xxxxxx” – replace xxxxx with the platform your website is based on.
For example, if you are using WordPress search google for “how to add social media buttons to WordPress”.
As a general rule of thumb, keep the buttons above the fold to increase exposure and have in mind that larger buttons get more clicks than smaller buttons.
5. Find and follow the influencers in your niche
So far we have selected the most appropriate social media tools for our niche, optimized our social media profiles, connected our website with the social media pages, and added the buttons on our pages for more interaction.
The next obvious step is to find people to follow but most importantly to gradually build our tribe of followers.
I would say that there are 5 basic steps to follow to get more followers and these are described in points 6-10 below.
Before getting into that, you should first find and follow the influencers in your niche.
It is almost certain that they will not follow you back because you have a new account with no followers but doing so is important for 3 reasons:
- Social media platforms will use this information to make suggestions on who to follow so by following popular people in your niche is like telling them that you are also in that niche.
- When you follow popular people who are likely to get followed by others as well. A trick many people use is to follow the followers of a popular person because they know that some will follow them back as well.
- They will most probably share important and useful information about the niche so you have a chance to learn something new and re-share that with your followers.
6. Keep a balance between following and followers
Once you start following people you should always have in mind that it’s better to keep a balance between the number of people you follow and the number of people they follow you back.
This is important, especially on Twitter and Pinterest and the reasons are a lot:
- Software applications are using this ratio (followers/following) to make suggestions on ‘who to follow’ so if you have a very high ratio you minimize your chances of getting new quality followers.
- It is a matter of trust – Who do you think has a trusted profile: someone with 1000 followers but following 2500 or someone with 550 followers that follows 510?
- A balanced profile is better for SEO – SEOs have been talking the last couple of months about the importance of social media for SEO and how things are changing and although it is not yet confirmed, it is more likely that people with strong social media profiles are in a better position than those with weak profiles.
A strong profile, in this case, is someone that has more followers than following and someone that is followed by people who are considered influencers in the niche.
7. Share interesting content (text, images, videos)
This is the foundation for having a successful social media marketing campaign. When we talk about publishing content we always say that ‘content is king’ and this is true in social media as well.
If you share interesting and useful content you can get more re-shares, more visitors to your website, and under some conditions more customers as well.
What is interesting content? From my experience (and certain studies) this is a combination of:
-
- Articles/Stories/Pages related to your niche but not only from your own website.
- Interesting statistics about your niche
- Motivational Quotes related to your niche or otherwise
- Research studies
-
- Images and Videos (If you’re making videos for YouTube I recommend a YouTube editing software to make your life easier)
- Funny stuff- whatever your niche, you can share once in a while a joke, a funny image, or a video to make your followers smile.
- Don’t forget about hashtags – hashtags (#) can make your content more searchable so don’t forget to use hashtags in the networks that support it (Twitter, Pinterest).
8. Post many times per day but don’t overdo it
A common question by people who are just beginning on social media is “how many times should I post per day?”
The answer depends on the network.
There are many studies analyzing the effect of posting frequency and some best practices are:
- Facebook personal page – As many times as you want
- Facebook business page – No more than 1-2 times per day and no more than 7 times per week.
- Twitter – The more you tweet the more exposure you get.
- Pinterest – a few times per day is enough
9. Don’t forget to follow back
Most people concentrate on how to get new followers but they forget to follow back those who have already followed them.
Every day you should create the habit of viewing the people who are already following you and decide who to follow back.
If you don’t do this on a regular basis then most likely some will un-follow you and this is why you may sometimes notice a decrease in the number of followers.
10. Follow the rules and be patient
Social media networks have rules to keep spammers away. For example, there is a limit on Twitter on the number of people you can follow per day; Facebook has its own rules, etc.
This means that it may take some time to build thousands of followers so you need to be patient and not try to rush into results either by breaking the rules (your account will be suspended) or by spending your money on ‘buying followers or tweets’ or anything similar.
Try to spend your time creating a great social media profile that will stand over time and why not become one of the authoritative profiles in your niche.
Conclusion
When it comes to social media there are 2 important pillars.
The first one has to do with the setup of your social media profiles and the second one is about usage i.e. how you use your social media account.
For the first pillar, it is important to engage in the networks more suited to your niche and to have a proper connection between your social media pages and website.
For the second pillar, it is important to follow the right people, be followed by the right people, and share relevant and interesting content always by adhering to the rules of the different social media networks.
Guy Tomlinson says
Nice article with some great tips for beginners Alex.I totally agree with the points you make here in regards to the importance of Social media in SEO.
Guy
Alex says
Hi Guy
Glad that you liked it!
Thanks
Alex
Catherine Marshall says
With social media marketing, it’s an inexpensive way to advertise your product, however it can also work against you if you don’t have a clear strategy for it. Thanks for sharing!
Alex says
Hi Catherine
Yes, having a clear strategy is important for all aspects of digital marketing including social media marketing.
Thanks
Alex
Matt says
Social media is really an essential thing now a days to promote any business or product. Its really great post where anyone can learn social media marketing tips.
Serge Duval says
I know of a lot of companies that have really exploded thanks in large part to social media marketing. It’s true that marketing needs to keep up with current trends in society. As explained, hash tags and interesting content are very important in getting your name out. No one will want to follow a page that posts nothing but boring business content. Thanks for the useful tips!
TonmoyParves says
Hello Alexa, Thanks for your useful Article on Social media marketing. It’s really helpful for me as a Beginner social media marketer. New-a-days social media is a big source to get traffic for Blog. So, it’s so much valuable for Blogging Also. Hope, you will give us more advanced Tips and Tricks about Social media marketing
Ram Prasath says
Great article. I am very happy to here read this. These are the valid points to learn about Social Media marketing. Thank you.
Mia Gordon says
Very helpful for newbies. Social media appears to be a complex beast to master, but its getting the simple things right and focusing on the right things saves a huge amount of energy. Quality vs quantity.
Alex says
Hi Mia
Quality is a must. If you can manage to get lots of quality work published in your social media networks, the results will be even better.
Thanks
Alex
melina cameran says
Very useful article. What should be the peak time in twitter
Parveen says
Thanks for suggesting these amazing ideas to grow the social network. I am a regular user of this website and want to appreciate the work you do.
Regards
Debbie says
Such a useful resource that is thoroughly explained! Thank you for the tips.
Alex says
Thanks Debbie, glad I could help.
Alex
Jessica Kaur says
Hi Alex,
I really enjoyed your blog, its an amazing information on social media profile. Will you please share some social media tools from which we schedule our social media campaigns.
Burt Silver says
Thanks for the tips for social media marketing! I have been interested in this for a while, but my experience is very slim. I like that you mentioned that you should connect and integrate your website with your social media pages for easy access. That could be a really great tip, I will definitely keep it in mind for the future in case I need to do any social media marketing.
Anjali says
Thank’s for share informative post, As I am a beginner in SMM. I always thought that SMM is best for branding and it’s ROI thanks for adding to my knowledge although I knew few of them I want to appreciate for some tips that I know here.
Alexis Moreland says
Effective tips for business promotion.
Rebecca Robert says
It has some basic but must to do tips to enhance your business and bring it up in front of your targetted audience.
Junayet Sajib says
Amazing article. Social media marketing is the most powerful way for businesses of all sizes to reach prospects and customers. I think Y our customers are already interacting with brands through social media, and if we are not speaking directly to our audience through social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, we will miss out a lot. Thank you for sharing this fabulous post.
Jane Brewer says
These all very important and helpful tips for social media marketing. Worth reaiding
Kristine says
I am thinking to start my new business, but always get confused how to manage social media. In fact, I also prepared an FB page that works well now and I also buy new followers from FB, but it does not work so good. Thanks for your tips.
Robert James says
Great post. I’ve already shared your article with a couple newbie bloggers. Thanks!
Md Afraz Alam says
Well explained the insight of social media marketing tips and tricks. Social Media really works wonderfully for all size of businesses to build an online reputation, increase social signals, reach and engagement. Thank a lot for sharing such a nice article!
John Wood says
Thank you for a great set of tips to help beginners to social media that will help them market their products and services to get more exposure.
James Saward says
Hello Alex Chris,
Thanks for sharing this informative blog about social media marketing tips and importance. Social Media has become one of the most important ways to boost productivity and market your business. Thank you
Drell Torres says
Indeed, that “The ultimate goal of any social media marketing campaign is to drive traffic to a website, increase the visibility of a product, gain more social media followers or find more customers.” Very well explained thoughts about SMM. Thanks for sharing!
Samueal Smith says
Brilliant article, thank you. Packed full of genuinely useful tips. I keep meaning to get to grips with Twitter more and start publishing on LinkedIn, now I’ve got even more incentive to get my finger out…thanks for the prod!
Ella Hayes says
Hi Alex, Your all tips are worth following for the beginners. It will help the new learner to work with social media marketing. Thanks for sharing this tips.
Alex Chris says
Hi Ella
Thanks a lot. All the best with your social media efforts.
Alex
Mark Patel says
Social media is really an essential thing nowadays, especially for e-commerce business. This post will help beginners in social media marketing.
Alex Chris says
Hi Mark
That’s true, social media is important for all kinds of businesses.
Glad I could help!
Alex
Sima Singh says
Thanks for the nice list! deserves to be bookmarked for reference. Its true we are in a dynamic world these days be it social media or day to day life, all have great pace. Thanks for sharing this great post.
jay says
I have got some new ideas from this blog. Of course, nowadays social media marketing is too much important for any industry to grow their business. Social media marketing also increases your websites SEO ranking factor. Keep writing, I would like to read more.
Raheel says
What a brilliant article about Social media marketing , you have explain all the basics of social media marketing. Beginners can easily understand the concepts of SMM, It helps me a lot . Your blog is easy to understand , recently I m doing online tutorials on social media marketing your article make it easy for me. You are just and awesome person, keep sharing this type of informative article . Regards
Elly says
Great Stuff!! thanks, a lot for sharing.
I think Social media is great for branding and it helps a brand to discover new potential customers. I want to grow my Business account but, I don’t know what content should I post? please let me know what should I post regularly.
thank.
Rama Bariya says
Nowadays social media platforms are very important to grow our business awareness, leads, conversations, and many more advantages, thanks for sharing such an informative article about social media, it’s very useful for newbies like me. keep sharing such knowledgeable articles and update us.
Roxy says
This article is an excellent guideline for beginners who are interested in social media marketing. As a social media marketers, they should follow these tips and tricks. Thanks for sharing this awesome article with us.
Naval says
Thank you so much for your guide. It is very helpful. I am planning to start a brand and came across this article. At first I was very confused about different terms like brand strategy , identity etc. But this article was very helpful. Now I am confident to start working on my own brand.
Thank you so much once again 😊
Alex Chris says
Hi Naval
Thanks a lot and all the best with your social media efforts.
Alex
vamshi says
Thank you the blogger for sharing valuable information on social media marketing its very useful for beginners in Digital marketing.
Alex Chris says
Hi Vamshi
Thanks for your comment. Glad I could help!
Alex
Nnenna says
Social media marketing is a very effective way to start and grow a brand. It however needs you to know what aspects to really focus on and be intentional about it.
Thanks for this post. It does help a lot.
mary4046 says
Sir, Thank you so much for sharing this useful and valuable article. This article provided the best information about social media marketing.