September 1, 2020
Social media marketing is more than just likes and shares. Today’s landscape goes well beyond posting a thought or meme and hoping someone picks it up. Generally, there are three types of social media marketing (SMM) that should be on your radar if you want to retain a competitive edge. They are as follows:
This is a fairly new type of marketing that relies on other users to promote your brand through their network. It’s the use of other experts in your industry who already have a sizeable audience that trusts and respects them.
No matter the business, it’s likely there are people in your field who have an established reputation and audience. These are the professionals you can learn from and would be valuable to have a relationship with them.
The benefit to a business is that when someone likes or shares something you’ve written, it reaches a vastly wider audience. However, you can’t expect anyone to share your stuff unless there’s already a relationship in place.
So, it takes some effort and time to get influencers to trust you. Once an influencer recognizes your expertise, they will be more likely to share your content without you having to ask.
Social media is the great equalizer, especially on sites like Twitter and Instagram where you can follow whomever you want. Simply find the influencer in your niche, message them, and get to collaborating!
It’s that simple. Reply and comment on posts that interest you and share anything that has relevant content to your audience.
The next step is to include the influencer in your own content by quoting them or linking to their content. A live video interview is also another great step to getting into someone’s good graces. It might be more work to organize and promote, but it’s a great opportunity for content creation.
This is one area you can’t really measure but is an important part of digital marketing. This refers to all the ways people can share your content with others, without your knowledge. Examples of dark social media include:
In each of these cases, people are sharing your content without your knowledge.
While you cannot exactly track the impact this has on a business, that doesn’t mean you should ignore it either.
For example, consider putting email buttons on all blog posts. On the website, ensure there is an “Other” button next to the social buttons where people can be prompted to email.
When a business sends a newsletter, this is also an opportunity to include social sharing buttons directly in the body of the email itself. All content going out should have a strong call to action that asks the reader to perform tasks like:
All of these things help to further capture the attention of dark social readers.
Lastly, strongly consider incorporating paid social media in your marketing strategy. Every platform now offers the ability to promote posts. This, in turn, allows more people to see your content than an existing follower base.
However, be careful. It’s easy to run up social advertising costs without ever seeing much return on investment (ROI). Makes sure you are using the right platform for your brand and are targeting a certain audience with the best content possible.
One of the least expensive platforms to advertise on is Facebook. It sports the largest global userbase and has the best targeting tools online for social media. Other places that have robust advertising capabilities include:
Paid content that is particularly strong on Facebook typically drives email signups. Whether it is a content upgrade or e-book that readers can download for free, it’s the perfect CTA to get someone’s foot in the door and create targeted leads for your business.
The right types of digital marketing can get a focused message to a particular audience fast. Hundreds of readers and prospects are reached through simple social ad campaigns, influencer marketing, and dark social media. All it takes is a little bit of faith and effort to really get the creative gears grinding!
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