What is Social Media?
Social media encompasses a wide range of websites and apps, enabling users to create and share content or to participate in social networking.
Some, like Twitter, specialize in sharing links and short written messages. Others, like Instagram and TikTok, are built to optimize the sharing of photos and videos.
Examples of web-based social media platforms include Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest.
WhatsApp falls under social media as a networking app and (believe it or not) is the most used social media platform in South Africa, followed by Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok and Twitter.
Social media is mostly used to stay in touch and interact with friends, family and communities. However, it provides an excellent platform for businesses to market and promote their products and track customer concerns.
What is the difference between social media and social media marketing?
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms for the purpose of marketing a business’s products or services. Social media is a vital part of marketing for businesses of all sizes. Businesses can use social media to build a presence online with which market products or services and just as importantly, to engage with its customers. For small businesses this dynamic marketing tool can be used at no or little cost, later expanding to paid strategic ads and the use of affiliates and influencers.
Tips & Tricks of Social Media
- Be consistently active on the platform of your choice. One of the biggest mistakes a business can make is to open up accounts on any social media platform they think is relevant and then leave them alone with no activity. In fact, social media users may be turned off by a business that does not engage. It is better not to have a social media platform that you not going to actively engage with it on a daily basis.
- Don’t use social media to talk about what is important to you. Rather talk about what is important to your customer. Your goal should be to provide content that is relevant to your customer and engage with them to the point that they want to share your post with others. Shared posts are how you get the most traction with Facebook and Instagram.
- Engage with your customers, involve them in a dialogue, and ask them for their opinions. Post a picture of two items you are considering carrying in your store and ask customers which one they like best. This creates a dialogue that leads to shared posts and engaged followers. Plus, if you successfully engage with your customers, it will help you better identify their tastes and preferences.
- The most commonly-shared content on social media is an image.
- Most social media algorithms will favour posts with the most “shares”, rather than the most “likes”. More shares will put your content ahead of others. While building up a large network of followers is great, a better measure of social media success is how often your followers share your content—no matter how many followers you have. This is the new form of “word of mouth.”
By its nature, social media is a short attention span media—you have to catch your customer’s attention as they scroll quickly through dozens of posts at a time. The most important thing to remember is to master your messaging. Ad headlines and copy should be well thought out and carefully planned.
This is what RubyMBA’s programme, Lists, Launches, and Leverage 2022 is all about – a deep dive into how to master your message. If you want to know more about our programme, email us at theteam@rubymba.com, or sign up for our free masterclass below.
There is no point beating about the bush – social media is daunting. Be patient, take it slowly, and let RubyMBA help to guide you through the social media mire.
Stay in touch as we have so much more information, tips, and tricks coming your way, to ease you through it.
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