Nowadays, social media is for so much more than sharing statuses and photos with friends and family. Gone are the days of “poke wars” and vague quotes as statuses. In today’s world, social media is all about creating and representing your brand – even for your own personal page.
With the rise of influencers, everchanging algorithms, constantly changing trends, and new apps appearing more frequently than ever before, it can be extremely difficult to keep up. If you don’t work in social media, sticking to what you know seems like the easiest option, even if what you know is no longer getting you the results you are after.
In this post, we will go over why social media is an important part of your marketing strategy, why hiring a social media company could be beneficial to your business, and how to find the right social media company for you. Keep reading to learn more about the importance of social media marketing and finding the right company.
Jump Ahead:
What Is Social Media?
Why Do I Need Social Media?
Why Hire a Social Media Company?
Finding the Right Social Media Company
What is Social Media?
The dictionary defines social media as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.” This broad definition leaves a lot up to interpretation, but that’s what we’re here for!
People use social media to stay up-to-date with their family and friends and share their thoughts, ideas, and life updates. Businesses utilize social media to connect with their community, market their products and services, and promote their brand. There are many different social media platforms for brands to take advantage of, all with different demographics and capabilities. Knowing your target customer and how they are using social media is essential to the success of your social media success. So, what exactly are the different platforms that can be utilized for social media marketing, and what are the best ways to be successful in each?
Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms and is commonly the first platform that comes to mind when social media is mentioned. This is because there is such a wide demographic of people who log on and use Facebook every single day. Here are some helpful statistics that could be beneficial to your Facebook marketing needs:
- Facebook is the most popular social media network for people between the ages of 35 to 44
- Over half of the Facebook ad audience are men, with men between the ages of 25 to 34 holding the largest share of ad reach
- 49% of American adults say that they check Facebook multiple times every day
If your target audience includes millennials and older generations, Facebook is a great place to start your social media strategy. With Facebook, you can create a business page, run ads, share promotional content, and more!
Following Facebook came the rise of Instagram. What started as a photo-sharing platform has quickly become a space where you can share multiple forms of content, easily be discovered by new customers, and share more relatable content in an effort to reach and connect with your target customers. While Instagram does not have as many users as Facebook, they still offer a wide demographic of potential customers to target.
- Instagram has more than 2 BILLION active users on their platform
- The largest demographic of Instagram users are between the ages of 25 to 34
- More than 25 MILLION businesses utilize Instagram to promote their products and services
- 90% of Instagram users follow at least one business account on the platform
In recent months, Instagram has gone through multiple algorithm changes and design updates, adding new features and allowing users to upload and share a wider variety of content. This platform is definitely one that goes through the most changes in an effort to keep up with newer platforms like TikTok, so having a social media company that can stay on top of the changes may be beneficial, so you don’t have to.
TikTok
TikTok is one of the most recent trending social media platforms. While the app was launched in 2016, it quickly gained popularity at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 and has continued to grow into one of the most popular social media platforms to date. While TikTok was quickly becoming more popular, critics argued that it was simply an app for kids to do dances on the internet, and saw little to no value. However, after some time, brands discovered how to use the app to gain the attention of a younger demographic by using the trends that users create in more fun, casual ways.
- TikTok has a total of 1.2 BILLION monthly active users
- TikTok caters to a younger demographic, with 43% of users being between the ages of 18 to 24
- In 2020, TikTok was the most downloaded app with around 850 MILLION downloads
One of the biggest features of TikTok is the use of the “For You Page” (fyp). This is because TikTok uses an algorithm to determine which videos to show each individual user based on the videos they are liking and interacting with. The more time spent on TikTok, the better the algorithm is at showing users videos they will actually like. This means that if your video lands on someone’s For You Page, it is more likely that they would enjoy it and even go so far as to purchase your product or service.
Twitter is a quick-moving social media platform, meaning that your tweets do not have as long a lifespan as your statuses and posts on other social media platforms. This is because Twitter only allows users a maximum of 280 characters per tweet, meaning these are quick thoughts that can be easily skimmed by other users. To stay relevant and top-of-mind on Twitter, it is best practice to keep your Twitter profile active, tweeting multiple times each week.
- An average of 6,000 tweets go out every SECOND on Twitter
- Over ⅔ of Twitter users are male
- A majority of Twitter users are between the ages of 25 to 34
- In 2021, the average user spent a total of 6 minutes per day on Twitter
Twitter is a fast-paced social media platform. This platform can be utilized for connecting with customers and answering questions, sharing quick company updates, and so much more.
LinkedIn is the most professional social media platform. Mainly used as a networking site, LinkedIn serves as a place for users to connect with professionals and share career-related updates. Businesses can use LinkedIn to improve brand awareness, build a network, generate leads and conversions, and increase revenue.
- LinkedIn caters to working professionals, with their largest user demographic between the ages of 46 to 55
- Over half of the users on LinkedIn are college graduates
- At any given time, there are over 20 MILLION job openings posted on LinkedIn
- LinkedIn has 303 MILLION monthly active users
While LinkedIn is a more professional social media environment, this does not mean it shouldn’t be utilized. LinkedIn is a great place to recruit for job openings in your company, share company updates, and more.
To Sum It Up…
Social media can be utilized in so many different ways. The above list only contains a handful of the most popular social media platforms, each with its own unique demographic and opportunities. Social media is continuously changing, from new apps being released to updating algorithms on the apps we know and love. Staying on top of it all can be difficult, which is why it might be time to hire a social media company to help you out.
Why Do I Need to Include Social Media in my Marketing Strategy?
By now, we all know that social media is more than just a trend. It is not going anywhere. Which is why you need it.
Building a social media presence is just one more way to get your business in front of customers. By utilizing social media effectively, your business can be discovered by a whole demographic of customers who would not know about you otherwise. Some of the top reasons to include social media in your marketing strategy include:
Build Brand Awareness and Create a Following
If people don’t know about your business, they cannot become customers. By creating a social media presence, you are able to boost your visibility among potential customers, which allows you to reach a wider audience and build your following.
Social Media Builds Brand Authority
Nowadays, most customers will research a brand before making their first purchase. The first place they often look is either your website or social media profiles – most of the time, both. Creating a solid social media presence and strategy will make a positive first impression with potential customers, and build trust.
Show Authenticity
Social media is a great place for customers to get to know your business, and also to know you. This is a great way to develop and share your brand’s personality, and showcase behind-the-scenes footage of your company. Social media gives your business a chance to be more authentic and build relationships with customers.
Engage and Interact
There is no better way to engage with your customers and community than by social media. Your audience can directly comment on your posts, send you private messages, and share your content with their own followers. While your followers are interacting with you, your business should be interacting with them as well! By engaging and interacting with your followers and customers, you are able to build trust with your business.
Why Hire a Social Media Company?
Up to this point, we’ve gone over what social media is and why you need to utilize it for your business. It might seem simple enough to do on your own, but many business owners quickly come to the realization that social media marketing is much more difficult and time-consuming than they originally thought it would be.
Between knowing when and what to post, whether to spend money on social media ads or sticking to organic posts and keeping up with the algorithms and trends, social media can easily become a much larger task than it seems. A social media company will have a full team of social media experts that can handle all of your social media needs for you.
Organic Social Media Posting
Posting organically to your social media accounts simply means posting content that is not a paid ad. You are not paying to push this content out to a specific target audience. This content is simply posted to your page for your followers to see and interact with. A social media company will be able to make sure organic social posts are going out to your profiles consistently, keeping you top-of-mind with your followers.
A social media company will also be able to make sure that all of your organic social media posts are branded correctly and cohesively to match your website and other marketing assets, and that the tone and messaging are aligned with your brand.
Paid Social Media Marketing
Creating paid social media ads can be frustrating for those who do not know what they are doing. That is where a social media company can take over. With a social media company handling your paid social marketing campaigns, you can be sure the messaging is clear, the imagery is on-brand, and the target audience is set up correctly. There is no need to stress about the changing algorithms and pouring money into “foolproof” campaigns that just don’t seem to work. A social media company will get you the intended results.
Finding the Right Social Media Company
So, you have finally decided that it is time to hire a social media company for your business. Now the question is, how do you know which social media company is right for you?
With so many social media companies out there, it can be difficult to know what to look for when choosing who to work with. Keep the following in mind when deciding on the right social media company to work with:
They Have a Team of Experts
When hiring a social media company, it is most important that they actually have a team of social media experts. From graphic design to copywriting and SEO, you should be looking for a company that has experts in all areas of social media marketing and knows how to use their knowledge to get results.
They Are Willing to Learn About Your Industry
You cannot expect your social media company to be an expert in your industry, but they should be willing to learn about your business. After all, how can you expect your social media company to create posts and ads that are on-brand if they are not willing to learn about your company?
Quick and Efficient Communication
The right social media company will provide you with quick and efficient communication. This includes during the interview process where you are deciding on which company to use, as well as after you have onboarded and officially begin working with a company. It is important to know how you will communicate with your social media company, as well as who your point of contact is and a standard response time. A good social media company will be able to provide you with all of that information.
You Like Their Work
When searching for a social media company, it is important to make sure that you like their work. When interviewing different companies, ask to see examples of the work they have done for other social media clients of theirs. If they are unwilling to share work samples, this should be considered a red flag.
They Keep Up with their Own Social Media
Why would you hire a social media company that is inactive on its own social media profiles? The answer is, you wouldn’t. Check out the social media profiles of the company you are considering hiring. This is a great way to see a sample of their work with a brand that is important to them – their own. If you don’t like what they are doing on their own social media platforms, they are not the right social media company for you.
It Just Feels Right
Sometimes you just know when something feels right. Getting along with your social media company is key, so when you find a social media company that meets all of the above requirements and you get along with them, that could be all it takes to seal the deal. Alternatively, even if the social media company meets all of the above requirements but you don’t have a good feeling about them, it’s best to trust your gut. Knowing what feels right to you can make all the difference.
Are You Ready to Get Started?
Now that you know what social media is, why you need a social media marketing strategy, why you should hire a social media company, and how to choose the right social media company, it’s time to start thinking about who you want to work with!
ROI Amplified is a full-service digital marketing agency with a team of social media experts who are ready to work with you to create a solid social media strategy. From creating posts to optimizing your profiles, our team will create consistent branding across all social platforms and ensure your business stays top-of-mind with your followers.
If you are ready to take the next step and start working with a social media company, schedule a consultation with ROI Amplified today. We are ready to help you with your social media needs!
