SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Let's be honest, Nomophobia (the fear of not having your phone on you and depending on it as if it was a limb) is a real thing. We live with our mobile devices practically attached to us, and we panic when we can't find them. We check our phones religiously, now mostly out of habit and the need to stay connected and "in the loop" at all times. Social media plays a HUGE part in the psychological components of FOMO (fear of missing out).

Now that social media is an integral part of everyday life, it’s also an essential tool for businesses and brands. The days of hiring a part-time intern or delegating your office admin to post memes on your social media accounts are long gone. Social media marketing is much more advanced and requires strategy, planning, dedication, engagement, and follow-up.

What Is Social Media Marketing?

We like to define social media marketing as an inbound marketing strategy that utilizes social media sites to increase brand awareness, engage with your target market, and generate revenue for your business.

Content creation, consistent engagement, and social advertising are all essential parts of social media marketing.

"A large social-media presence is important because it's one of the last ways to conduct cost-effective marketing. Everything else involves buying eyeballs and ears. Social media enables a small business to earn eyeballs and ears." - Guy Kawasaki, Chief Evangelist, Canva

There are endless ways for your business to use social media, from growing awareness about your products or services to providing customer service. No matter what type of business you run, social media is an effective tool you’ll want to include in your strategy. Learn more about social media marketing.

Why Should My Business Invest in Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is not something businesses can ignore or just dabble in. With more than half of the world’s population on social media, it's become a powerful marketing tool for businesses. In addition to making it easy for your customers to find you online—today's businesses are expected to have a social media presence.

If you’re still not convinced that your business should invest in social media marketing, here are some stats that might change your mind:

• 72% of the American public uses social media

• Globally, people spend an average of 147 minutes on social media per day

• 77% of small businesses use social media to help build brand awareness, facilitate customer service, and increase revenue

• 78% of consumers are willing to buy from a company after having a positive experience with them on social media

• 71% are more likely to purchase products and services based on social media referrals

So how do you roll out a social media marketing plan? Well, hopefully, this resource page can provide you with valuable answers and inspire you to start investing in social media marketing for your business.

Looking for social media help without a long-term commitment?

Here at Tribute Media, we have a social media specialist on staff and a full team of experts to develop and execute a successful social media marketing strategy. We love helping businesses grow online, and we know social media is an important part of that.

"Social media is not just an activity; it is an investment of valuable time and resources. Surround yourself with people who not just support you and stay with you, but inform your thinking about ways to WOW your online presence." - Sean Gardner, Forbes Social Media Power Influencer, AI specialist

What Social Media Marketing Services Do You Offer?

We provide a wide range of social media services and tailor each social media strategy to your unique business.

Tribute Media Social Media Marketing Services Include:

• Social Media Strategy: We’ll create a personalized social media roadmap that outlines everything needed to execute your strategy. We regularly update this roadmap based on current trends and any necessary shifts in strategy.
• Social Media Audit: We’ll review your current profiles (and create new ones if needed), content, audience demographics, analytics, etc., to determine what has worked best and what needs to be improved.
• Content Creation: We’ll ensure your social media pages stay active by consistently sharing relevant, valuable content. Content creation includes crafting captions and sharing photos, custom graphics, videos, and more.
• Hashtag and Audience Research: To help your content reach the right people, we’ll find relevant hashtags for your industry and research your target audience on social media.
• Social Media Engagement: In addition to sharing valuable content, we also spend time building your audience by engaging with other social media pages.
• Competitor Research: To help you stay ahead of the competition, we’ll research your competitors on social media to get a better feel for the current landscape and look for opportunities to improve.
• Social Media Advertising: We strongly recommend investing in social media advertising, and we’ll create and manage ads that will help your business grow.
• Social Media Monitoring: For businesses that don’t have time to keep up with messages, comments, and mentions on social media, we’ll manage this for you. We can also help with reputation management for your brand on social media.

Contact us today to start growing your business on social media.

What Social Media Tools Do You Use?

We’re always looking for tools to help us do our job even better. Here are some of our favorite social media tools:

• HubSpot’s Social Media Management Software: We love HubSpot’s social media tool. If you have HubSpot’s Marketing Hub, we strongly recommend using the social media tool to schedule your content, monitor mentions and conversations about your business, and analyze the results of your social media efforts.
• Canva: We’re big Canva fans at Tribute Media. This easy-to-use design tool helps you create engaging graphics, videos, and more.
• Adobe Stock: This is our go-to spot for stock photos and videos. Search keywords to find visuals that will make your content stand out.
• Shutterstock: This is another great tool for finding stock photos and videos.
• SEMRush Social Media Tool: An all-inclusive digital marketing tool, we like to use SEMRush for everything from search engine optimization to social media. The social media tool allows you to schedule content, manage ads, monitor competitors, and analyze results.
• Google Trends: This is a great place to see what people are talking about. Learn about the latest trending topics related to your industry and use that to help with the direction of your social media content.
• Answer the Public: Use this tool to generate content ideas by entering search terms related to your business and finding ways to answer some of the questions that pop up.
• Best-Hashtags: This is a free tool you can use to discover new and trending hashtags.

Social media is a constantly changing landscape, and therefore, best practices continue to change. However, there are a few tactics that have stayed tried and true, and we don’t see them going away any time soon:

Finding a Unique Brand Voice

Brand awareness is one of the biggest benefits of getting your business on social media. Social media platforms provide access to a large number of people, opening up a lot of opportunities for exposure.

However, increasing the visibility of your brand doesn’t just happen by creating a social media page and sharing content with the masses. In order for people to connect with your business, you need a unique brand voice.

Establishing a brand voice is crucial for any web marketing strategy, as it influences the tone of your content and interactions. One of the easiest ways to determine your brand voice is to think of a few words that describe how you want your brand to come across. For example, at Tribute Media, some of our brand voice words include helpful, passionate, and fun.

Your unique brand voice sets you apart from all the other brands out there and allows you to humanize your brand. After all, humans want to connect with other humans, not faceless brands. Plus, a brand voice creates consistency in your social media presence so people know what to expect from you.

Creating Relevant, Valuable Content

Standing out in an endless stream of content can be challenging. These days, people have a short attention span on social media, which means your content needs to grab someone’s attention immediately. But how can you do that?

Your social media content needs to be valuable, relevant, and engaging. Providing value in your content will make someone want to continue following your page. Value can be anything from helpful advice to actionable tips to unique insights into your business.

Your content also needs to be relevant to your audience. Talk to your followers like you know them, otherwise, your message won’t resonate with them. In order to make your content more engaging, incorporate elements like photos, infographics, videos, emojis, and anything else to create more intrigue.

Building Your Audience

Between ever-changing algorithms and an intense amount of competition, growing your audience on social media can feel like an uphill battle. With a combination of an organic and paid follower-building strategy, as well as some patience, you can build an engaged audience on your social channels.

In addition to sharing engaging content, a key part of building your audience is to interact with them. Carve out time to react, comment, and share content from your followers or others in your industry. After all, it is called “social” media!

Resources for building your social media audience:

• Organic vs. paid follower building
• Finding your target audience on social media
• It’s time for your business to be social on social media

Using Hashtags

Utilizing hashtags is one social media marketing tactic that allows you to jump in front of your audience to share information before they may even be searching for it.

Using hashtags helps your business get involved in the right conversations and get in front of the right people. There are many different ways to approach a hashtag strategy, depending on your business goals on social media. Here are the best strategies for using hashtags on social media.

More resources on social media best practices:

• Timing is everything: When to post on social media
• Story branding on your business’s social media accounts