Social Media Marketing – What is that?!

What is Social Media Marketing? How many times have you been asked what do you do? A lot of people think my life is about sitting on Facebook and Twitter the entire day. Most of these people including my family [my father especially], just don’t get what I do when I sit down to start the day.

Sometimes I even resort to the simple replies of “Yes, I sit on Facebook and Twitter the whole day and I write updates for them”. The devaluing of my career continues in their response: “Is that all really? Well, anyone can do that”.

I have to emphatically say – No! Actually not everyone can do it but really, are you even listening to me?

Chances are most of the people I work with or I know in the business have gone through the exact same scenario a million times. Explaining our job can be a little tricky – there’s always a need to strike a balance between over selling what we do with high, convoluted words and dumbing it down to the extent we end up back at sitting on Facebook and Twitter the entire day.

I haven’t really found the right explanation, and I tend to see people’s eyes glaze over when I do try. Basically it can be difficult describing what social media marketing really is.

What is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing is not just about posting a status to Facebook or Twitter that just asks people how they are or sells them products but rather about connecting with the right people who will be interested in your content and / or your products and services.

It’s about asking questions of your followers and engaging with them in real time. It is also a way to share helpful content that people can actually use.

Simply, social media marketing is a way of increasing traffic to a website or bringing attention to a business by sharing content and getting others to share that information.

Is Social Media Marketing important?

Duh, OBVIOUSLY! If you look at the number of people using social media these days, there is definitely a need for social media marketing. If you aren’t on the platform where your customers are, how will you engage with them? Even small businesses and NGOs have seen the need to engage with people on these platforms, as can be seen by recent activities, such as the FIFA World Cup.

Social media is now the norm, where previously it was seen as a new and ‘radical’ way of reaching potential customers. Many consumers rely on social platforms for reviews and recommendations of products and services.

Social media marketing drives traffic to your site but it also gets you in front of a lot of people – people that you may potentially have not reached through other mediums such as TV and print. Social media is a powerful tool for people wanting to market their business.

BUT like with everything: EVALUATE, REVIEW and STRATEGISE. Nothing is as easy as just being on a platform.

Image credit: Jason Howie