Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing

Social media marketing (SMM) is also known as SoMe marketing. There are a lot of places where it is possible to do promotion in a social media context. Such places as: Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and other social communities.  

One of the good things about marketing products and services through social media is that we spend a significantly longer amount of time on social media than on traditional news media. Also, young people use YouTube as a search engine rather than Google, Bing, etc.

When marketing your products via social media, one should remember to make it clear that it is, in fact, advertisements.

Some meaning 

Some is just an abbreviation for Social Media. Some is often used together with the term, or the cliché, the SoMe generation. According to the cliché, this generation is very self-promoting, and it takes selfies all the time. The best selfies get that extra bit of tuning so that "one" appears best on social media. The most experienced people in some generation make their selfies look like random scenarios, even though everything is edited and by no means random.

As a business, you should not be afraid of using an influencer from the SoMe generation. Because the influencer's followers fully agree with the basic premise. In fact, it is not unusual that the followers of a certain profile (influencer) look up to that influencer because the influencer shows how proficient he or she is to use the social media in both audio, images, lighting and context. Add to this the personal angle, genre/theme, humour, etc. 

The genre or the theme may relate to some particular lifestyle. It can be hipster; interior decoration or being a mother. Other influencers focus on their appearance, makeup and how they dress or get their hair done. Some influencers have even made what is known in the fashion world as a look book.

The importance that social media marketing has for you should be reflected in your social media strategy, and you can read more about that in the next section.

Social media strategy

Once you know your target audience, it is easy to find influencers for your marketing. As a general rule, you should choose an influencer who has the same age as your target audience. However, the younger your target audience is, the better it is to use an influencer who is slightly older than your target audience.

The influencer(s) that you choose to use for your marketing must also have an appearance that is in line with your products. Otherwise they may quickly appear a bit false. So, if you sell products related to classical home design, it is a good idea to use an influencer who also has a classic decoration style and classic personal appearance.

Your choice of social media channel may also be crucial to your success. In the eyes of the young, Facebook may seem a little dusty and old-fashioned, so the interaction between the influencers and their friends on this media may be a little bit challenged. But check the interaction by reading through the comments and see if the influencer you are thinking about hiring is good at asking questions to his or her friends and to provide hints for tips and tricks. If the answer is yes, then this Facebook influencer may be the right choice for you. 

It is a good idea to have good communication with your influencers. If you give positive feedback to the influencer and you stay in touch, you may benefit from the influencer for a long time. 

Set some partial aims but do not be too critical - especially if you are using micro influencers. The micro-influencers and maybe even yourself may both need to get to know each other and the game.

Here you can see how products can be promoted through an effective social media strategy: