What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing (SMM) is when a company uses social media websites and networks to market their products and services. Social media marketing is a way to reach and engage with both new and existing customers and promote its desired culture, mission or tone.
Social Media Marketing Benefits
On social media there are many opportunities for your business to gain brand awareness. For example your logo/icon needs to be clean and easily recognisable and this can be placed on every photo, in your profile and on the cover photo. This will benefit the business as people will see the branding everywhere and start to trust it.
In 2018 around 2.62 billion people were using social media. By marketing on there and linking your website to your social media marketing there is a high chance there will be an increase in traffic on your website.
What is the Job of a Social Media Marketer?
A social media marketers job is to: Create marketing and social media campaigns and strategies, including budget planning, content ideation, and implementation schedules; ensure there is brand consistency in marketing and social media messages by working with various company department members, including advertising, product development, and brand management; Provide training and guidance to social media and marketing team members on social media implementation best practices and strategies; Collect customer data and analyses interactions and visits, plus uses this information to create comprehensive reports and improve future marketing strategies and campaigns; Report progress to senior marketing management, Grow and expand the companies social media presence into new social media platforms, plus increases presence on existing platforms including Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram; research and monitor activity of company competitors and create and distribute engaging written or graphic content in the form of e-newsletters, web page and blog content, or social media messages.
Should I Outsource My Social Media Marketing?
Are you someone that says I’ll post when I have time?
Outsourcing your social media marketing can be useful as it can be difficult for small businesses who are already spending time on their business developments to find time to strategise and dedicate time to social media. Also it means that there will be more regular uploads on the social media. Another good reason to outsource your social media marketing is you may only be using Facebook but the person / company you outsource to could also put you on Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin or other social media sights they may know.
Best social media marketing courses for beginners?
Udemy Social Media Marketing-Complete Certificate Course.
Udemy offer a comprehensive course that currently has 42,117 students enrolled. For a cost of £109.99, you will have unlimited, lifetime access to 2.5 hours of on-demand videos, 16 articles and 29 downloadable resources which are also accessible through mobile and tv. Upon completion you will receive a free digital certificate which can be used on your website and on LinkedIn. On the course you will learn: to understand the foundations of social media; plan goals and create a vision; understand the basics of Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Instagram and Blogging; understand the wide scope of social media; to use social media not just for marketing, but for customer services and PR; to fully audit your organisation; build a social media strategy; to use advanced features of the most popular social networks;to Understand the risks of social media and to understand the fundamentals of content marketing.
Hootsuite Academy Social Marketing Training
Hootsuite offer a 6 Chapter social marketing training course which ranges from beginner to intermediate. This course will help you develop foundational social marketing skills to grow followers, engagement, and business results. The 6 Chapters introduce you to the most popular social networks used by businesses, optimising your social media profiles, an A-Z on Social Strategy, growing a relevant community of interested people, how to craft a content strategy and how to take your advertising to the next level with social media advertising.
This course can also be followed by an optional $199 USD Exam to gain the Social Marketing Certification.
Boot Camp Digital
Boot Camp Digital offer an online social media Certification course which has a high cost of $997 which includes a full year access to 70+ hours of online digital marketing master classes, tips and tricks, quick start guides, checklists, 1-1 Office Hours with instructor and personalised feedback and 3 months digital marketing insiders membership.
Alison’s Certificate in Social Media Strategy for Small Businesses
This is a free course is designed to give you all you need to effectively use social media for your business, from how to research and plan for a dynamic website to how to measure and enhance social media engagement. This gives a Certification and takes 2-3 hours with an assessment. There are 47,866 people currently enrolled on this course.
Sources:
- https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-media-marketing-smm.asp
- https://coschedule.com/blog/benefits-of-social-media-marketing-for-business/
- https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/
- https://oursocialtimes.com/why-your-small-business-needs-outsource-social-media/
- https://www.business2community.com/social-media/10-reasons-outsource-social-media-marketing-someone-else-01835687
- https://www.inc.com/rhett-power/the-absolute-best-social-media-courses-for-busy-entrepreneurs.html
- https://hiring.monster.co.uk/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/job-descriptions/social-media-marketing-job-description.aspx