Looking at Social Media Marketing Effectiveness: Is it Right for Your Business?

There’s no doubt that social media is a powerful marketing tool. But, like all tools, it’s only effective if you know how to use it correctly. In this blog post, we’ll explore social media marketing effectiveness and some concrete examples of successful social media campaigns. And finally, we’ll discuss the importance of engagement and how to measure it. So whether you’re a small business owner who’s new to social media marketing or you’re looking for ways to improve your current strategy, this blog post is for you.

Who Uses Social Media Sites?

When it comes to social media platforms, there are countless options available. The most popular include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Depending on your target audience and the message you want to communicate, each platform offers different features that can maximize engagement and conversions.

First things first: the social media basics. You should probably know how many Facebook users there are versus who’s on Snapchat. Once you know how many people there are – and who they are – you’ll pinpoint what social media accounts your target audience has made.

Social Media Channels & Their Users

• • Facebook: Nearly 3 billion
  • YouTube: 2.6 billion
  • Instagram: 1.5 billion
  • TikTok: 1 billion
  • LinkedIn: 850 million
  • Snapchat: 347 million
  • Twitter: 238 million

Of course, each platform offers different social media content, so your marketing efforts need to fit the format. Just because a LinkedIn post does super well, it doesn’t mean it should be a tweet. The demographics are different, too. Younger people use YouTube and TikTok, while millennials and boomers are scrolling on Facebook.

Keep Your Competition Close

Do you know who else uses social media? Your competitors. So if you aren’t on any social networks or rarely post, you should probably change that. Your potential customers could be already interacting with the competition. Trust us; they’re making purchasing decisions whether you’re tweeting or not, so join the conversation!

Perks of Social Media Marketing

Besides keeping an eye on your competition, there are other great reasons to add social media ads and posts to your marketing strategy.

• Reach target audiences on a hyper-specific level.
• Build a following and create brand awareness with direct interaction.
• Reach broad audiences.
• Higher conversion rates.
• Higher engagement rates.
• Better SEO rankings. (Remember: SEO stands for search engine optimization.)

Think about it. Everyone is on some form of social media; it makes sense to build relationships with active users who want to use your brand. Proper social media management creates a strategy that emphasizes (good) interactions with your audience.

As people learn about your brand, keep a level of authenticity and humanity. If a customer posts a criticism, reach out as soon as possible. Sometimes a simple response like, “Hi! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Can you DM us so we can discuss this further?” goes a long way. Others will see you are actively trying to get to the root of a problem, which builds trust. Plus, you can repair the complainer’s view of your company as well. Sometimes you can sway a person’s perspective on your company by taking their criticism in stride and making things better (unless they’re a total Karen, then hope is probably lost).

Gauging Success

How do you know if your social media marketing approach is working? A couple of ways.

One way is by going through your ROI, or return on investments. Some platforms and third-party software programs analyze social media marketing effectiveness. Your budget is looked at, breaking down how many people engage and view ads. If a campaign isn’t working, don’t do it the same way again.

Another great way is to dive into metrics. Social media networks help gauge metrics like impressions and engagement. Now, you can look at these metrics all you want, but they won’t mean anything if you don’t do anything with them! Audit your posts to determine the best time of day to post, what format people are drawn to, and if they feel inclined to share it.

Social Media Marketing Madness

Let’s get into some wildly popular social media marketing campaigns.

Back in 2017, Starbucks created an absolute frenzy with the Unicorn Frappuccino. The popular social media campaign truly encapsulated what a “unicorn” is – unique and magical – with how captivating this drink was (and how many people we’re talking about it on social)!

The coffee powerhouse’s social media marketing strategy worked for several reasons.

• Starbucks built the Unicorn campaign because people already constantly talk about the company and its “secret menu” products through social media.
• The drink was extremely photogenic thanks to its bright, swirling colors. People went nuts taking pictures of the drink, tagging Starbucks, and using hashtags associated with the campaign.
• It was offered for a limited time, adding to the excitement. People wanted to get in on the trend before it was too late.
• The hype helped increase brand awareness with potential customers, turning them into new customers.
• Best of all? Little to no ad spend! Most of the posts were user-generated content (USG for short), so they didn’t have to make – or pay – to keep putting the drink out into the world.

Let’s talk more about the cost-effective (we mean free) advertising with this campaign. Already having a strong social media presence, the Unicorn Frap was a perfect recipe for social media advertising, influencer marketing, and having social media users provide content for a new product. The rest is marketing history.

It might be safe to say 2017 was a great year for social media marketing. That’s also when Spotify launched Wrapped, which gives its subscribers a breakdown of how many songs and artists they listened to. Spotify even takes it a step further with insights on the music listeners played throughout the year, from January through October. It creates buzz that makes people craft social media posts across different social platforms, highlighting their music tastes. Every year the Spotify Wrapped craze gives anyone with Apple Music some major FOMO.

Lift Marketing: Your Social Media Marketing Gurus

While social media can be a lot of fun, different aspects can be a lot of work. At Lift Marketing, we have a skilled, kick-ass digital marketing team ready to help you build your brand and measure social media marketing effectiveness. Contact us today to get started!