Understanding social media marketing: an introduction

In 2021 and beyond, social media marketing is something your brand simply cannot continue to avoid.

With 3.5 billion users and counting (Emarsys) holding an active social media account, your business, whether local or global, could benefit exponentially from making the social switch.

But social media marketing can be almost overwhelming for the uninitiated, and so we have put together this introductory guide explaining what social media is and how it used to grow business online.

What is social media?

Oxford Languages defines social media as “websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking”. All over the world there are people logging on to applications like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat using these applications’ various methods of communication.

Not only is social media at the forefront of global communications, it now provides amazing opportunities for business owners to market their brand.

So, with this in mind…

What is social media marketing?

In fact, 71% of social media users who have a positive experience with a brand on a social platform will likely recommend it to other people (Ambassador). Through defining your target audience, their age, location, interests, online behaviour etc. you can start to produce content that they are highly likely to engage with, thus potentially increasing conversions on an unprecedented scale.

Your brand has endless potential to market itself to valuable leads who actively want to engage with your brand, and with an experienced team at your disposal, your business could realise outstanding new conversion rates.

How social media marketing drives conversions

Social media marketing has become one of the business world’s most important marketing forms, and there are many ways in which social media marketing can increase conversions rates, including:

1. Boosting brand SEO: Social media profiles are some of the highest ranking brand websites. If your brand has high quality social accounts with awesome followers, your social pages can continue to go up in the search rankings thus becoming more visible to potential customers.
2. Drive web traffic: Social media users the world over use their chosen platforms to search for products, and with a creative, engaging social campaign part of your digital repertoire, your website could begin receiving the clicks that take it to the next level of success.
3. Quality posts drive conversions: Not only is social media a great way to bring new customers to your site, but a quality post can be all you need to sell a product in itself.
4. Learn about customers: Social media marketing is one of the best ways to find out about your target demographic and their buying behaviour. Through web and social platform insights provided by your customers themselves, you can gain valuable information on how to further market your brand in the future.
5. Increase brand awareness: It is almost as if social media was created to win and facilitate valuable leads. Through getting your name out there with an awesome social account, your brand will continue to win new customers and, with the right strategies, foster their loyalty, too.

Want to find out more?

If you would like to learn more about your business’s undeniable social media potential, simply call the Light Forest experts or submit an enquiry form via our contact page.