Whether your business is selling products or services locally, regionally, nationally or globally, marketing via social media is crucial given that more than 40% of the world’s population is active on social media. Unlike traditional media, social media has the ability to offer customized marketing as per business goals and objectives.

Successful social media marketing is achieved when organizations create clear goals, understand their audience, produce relevant content and choose the right social media platforms for their promotions.

Social media offers connectivity like no other media. They are powerful ways for marketers to create two-way conversations with potential customers. Users too expect to interact with brands more conveniently and in a personalized manner.

Through social media, marketers can engage with their audience and foster brand loyalty and also create new leads.

Two types of social media marketing

Organic versus Paid

Organic is when social media marketers take advantage of the free elements such as posting on Facebook or Twitter etc. Paid marketing involves sponsored, paid, advertising content delivered in the form of videos, carousel ads and is targeted to users based on location, demographics, buying habits or personal interests.

Types of Social Media Marketing Campaigns

Marketers have different options when it comes to planning campaigns – depending on the desired outcomes.

The Prospecting Campaign

Prospecting is about reaching entirely new customers who have not interacted with your product or service in the past. The outcome of this campaign is usually not sales, but to have new prospects join your community.

The Retargeting Campaign

A prospecting campaign can be turned into one that retargets users who have engaged with your business but have failed to take further action. It’s more about identifying those who have shown interest in your product or service but gently circling back to them to engage them in a way that could possibly grab their attention. These could be those who visited your site sometime or clicked on the links of your social media posts or responded to the conversations on your page.

The Conversion Campaign

The conversion campaign helps convert users to paying users – OR take the desired action which could include downloading a white paper, joining an email list, completing a form or engaging in an online chat with your customer care representative.

Creating a social media strategy involves taking the time to understand your potential customer base and what they care about in order to determine what kind of content will work or what video or graphics should be used. Then determine your ultimate goal and get your campaign going!