October 9, 2020
People today are using many different types of social media to connect online for various reasons.For this reason, social media is a great platform for businesses to drive consistent sales for their websitethrough advertising.
Businesses can advertise their brand, and share information about their products and services along with customer reviews for people to know more, and also share the addresses linking to the different online platforms where they have a presence, communicate with them regarding any queries on the platform. This is known as social media marketing.
Different types of social media available today include:
1. Social networks
These are networks where we can connect, get to know or stay in touch and communicate with other people.
Examples of this are – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
Businesses can use these networks for a lot of things that help with marketing, such as research (on people’s preferences, thoughts etc),creating brand awareness by sharing relevant information in a way that helps generate leads (potential customers), maintaining food contact with potential and existing customers through relationship building, and opening yet another door to customer care by providing service through social media by answering customers’ queries. All these can highly benefit business and help your brand create a great rapport and recognition with people.
2. Media sharing networks
These are networks where we can share photos, videos, and other media with other people. Examples of this are – Instagram, YouTube
Media sharing networks are also social networks, but they are a little different from the social networks mentioned above, in that with people or accounts on these networks the sharing of media is their primary defining purpose.
Whilst most of the posts on regular social networks like Facebook contain text, ,posts on media sharing networkslike Instagram and YouTubehave an image or video as the primary content, to which users may or may not decide to add text like captions, or long paragraphs, mentions of other users or accounts.
For businesses to promote their brand, products or services on such networks, it’s important to consider the available resources – the kinds of media that they can share and how it can help the business. If thoroughly planned and executed, posts on media sharing platforms can heavily impact business and bring many customers on board - both previous customers and new ones.
3. Discussion forums
These are networks where we candiscuss ourviews, opinions and ideas related to any topic with other people.
Examples of this are – Quora, Reddit
These are the sites where you can find what people are talking about with respect to a certain topic, and also weigh in your opinion, vies and ideas. These networks or forums also have an option for the user to be anonymous while posting their comments, so people who are generally shy in expressing their views aren’t shy on these.Â
Discussion forums are great platforms for businesses to observe, and track what people are saying about their brand or products, or ask questions about them, and post your answers, responding to related queries. These can greatly help in spreading awareness about the brand or products, and burst myths or false information if any.
4. Interest-based networks
These are networks where we can share things related to a topic of interest, and write or readviewson them. These are dedicated to one category, where we can read or write reviews of things under that particular category – like books or restaurants.
Examples of this are –SoundCloud (for singing and music), Good Reads (for Books), Zomato and Yelp (for Food/Restaurants), TripAdvisor (for hotels and resorts), etc.
If there is any such network devoted to the kind of products or services your business provides, it can be a great platform to engage with the kind of audience for whom your product is meant, build brand awareness, and generate leads.
Social media marketing is greatfor businesses and brands todo customer research, to use social tracking tools to detect conversations around specific relevant terms, to engage with potential and existing customers, to find like-minded people who could become potential business partners, and so on. Hence, every business owner must and should consider investing in social media marketing (of any one or all types) for the benefit of their business, if they haven’t done it yet!