How To: Social Media Marketing

Marketing has always been an important part of a business, as it can boost brand awareness and generate more leads and conversions. In the past decade, social media marketing has emerged at the forefront of the marketing industry, with platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter changing the ways that companies communicate with their customers.

Social media marketing is held in high esteem by marketing professionals such as Ajab Samrai, as it enables brands and businesses to speak directly to their target audience, eradicating many of the inefficiencies of traditional marketing.

Marketing through social media platforms is for everyone, from huge multinationals and global brands, to local enterprises and small retailers. There are huge numbers of people using social media on a regular basis, with data from 2018 showing the total number of people on social media platforms to be around 3.2 billion globally. This irrefutably proves to businesses that customers are already online, searching for products and services. 

Amongst the most popular social media platforms are Facebook – with around 2 billion users; Instagram, with 1 billion users; and Twitter – with over 300 million users. Although there are many similarities when marketing through social media, each platform does have certain attributes and features that make it suitable for particular businesses, products and audiences. 

Social Media Marketing: Lead Generation and Improved Conversions

 Building a strong presence on social media sites is an excellent way for a business to increase leads, sales and conversion. Social media does this in a more efficient way than many of the more traditional forms of marketing, as customers have already opted to follow a brand, meaning they are more receptive to its messaging, offers and promotions.

Social media sites let businesses link to their website in a number of ways, all of which increase the visibility of the site and the full product range. Businesses should link to their own site in the profile, bio and posts, and should aim to communicate quickly and efficiently with customers to build positive, long-term relationships.

Social Media Platforms: Choosing the Right Platform for You

A social media presence also enables businesses to keep tabs on the competition, observing their social media strategies, analysing the things that they do well, and the areas in which they fail to deliver. Using this information, it is possible to create an effective social media strategy that is tried-and-tested with the right target audience. The insights gained from social media analysis will make a brand stand out amongst its peers, eventually becoming a firm favourite with its target market.

Business Advice: The Importance of Advertising

Businesses of all sizes understand the need and value of advertising, with its unique ability to spread a message and hopefully influence the purchasing decisions of potential customers. There are several ways to reach out to customers through advertising. Some have been around for a long time, such as television and radio adverts, whilst others are more modern inventions, such as social media advertising. 

The first step in any successful advertising campaign is to understand who the target audience is – i.e. who the advert should attract and communicate with. Once the target market or audience has been defined the campaign can get underway, taking into consideration the preferences, habits and behaviours of that particular market.

The Objectives of Advertising

There are many different ways that a business can advertise to its customers, with different methods emerging throughout the past few decades. One of the most important and impactful changes in the advertising industry was the invention of the internet, which brought with it the many possibilities of digital advertising. Seeing clearly through the countless choices and options can be difficult, so many businesses rely on the expertise of a creative agency or advertising agency.

Chief Creative Officer Ajab Samrai gained his experience at one of the world’s most prestigious agencies, Saatchi & Saatchi London, which – along with other advertising and creative agencies – offers industry knowledge, skills and experience to its clients.

Bringing experts on board to advise on an advertising campaign helps to ensure that it will be as effective as possible. An agency will often suggest which platforms and mediums are best to use, as well as giving advice regarding other parameters that are likely to affect the success of the campaign.

The UK's advertising industry is one of the most dynamic in the world.

Traditional Adverts and Contemporary Platforms

There are a number of advertising methods that have been tried and tested over the years, including broadcast advertising and display advertisements. Broadcast advertising includes TV and radio adverts, which have typically been used to reach a large audience and communicate with the masses. Although TV and radio ads remain popular both with audiences and advertisers, technology has disrupted this part of the industry thanks to ad-free streaming services and the ability to fast-forward.

A growing sector of the advertising industry focuses on social media advertising, which allows advertisers to target their customers through their smartphones on platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Not only are social media ads more highly targeted, they are also much more cost-effective, making them an attractive alternative to the traditional methods of advertising.