What Is Social Media Marketing and What Is It NOT?

Social media marketing is all about promoting a brand, product, website or person on social media networks. It is also about building up an online presence, an online brand, an online followers’ base & an online reputation, so that people start recognizing your brand.

This stage in the customers’ purchase journeys is called the ‘awareness stage’, when people are interested in learning the facts and features about new products, services and promotions). 

When people hear the word “marketing” they often think of direct selling, but the click through rate (CTR) for Facebook is only 8-13%, which is why it is far better to build brands and educate customers via social media networks instead of trying to directly sell to them.

On the other hand, if you do want to direct sell to people or get them to visit your website, then a mix of brand building, reputation building and outright promotion are required.

You may also want to raise awareness about a specific product or service or even for a good cause. In order to get noticed, you need to build up a followers’ base, fans, and become an influencer, or hire influencers from social media networks to convince people to visit your website or buy your products.

Each social media network has its own method of gaining followers, with only a few allowing you to reuse the same material and delivery method, e.g. Facebook and Google+ , or YouTube and Daily Motion.  

It sounds straight-forward but the number of professionals and business owners that get it wrong is astoundingly large. To make sure you understand what social media marketing is, make sure you also understand what it is NOT!

Here’s a handy list for your convenience!

What is NOT social media marketing

• Something that anyone with a Facebook account can do 
• A job for a junior member of staff with no or little marketing/PR experience 
• A job for a traditional PR agency 
• The creation of nice looking social media profiles 
• A promotional post once a week 
• A series of promotional posts every day 
• A mere presence on social media in the form of a Facebook page or a Twitter account 
• Buying fake followers/friends 
• Using social networks to shout about your offers 
• A side-kick of Search Engine Optimisation

Are you using the social networks to promote your online business and attract new clients, or for any other reason not mentioned above?