Social Networks are important because they capture the attention of many people. Facebook recently noted that they have more than 2 billion unique monthly users of their network. That is more than one in four people on the planet. People are shifting their time from reading newspapers and watching television to engaging with their personal social network of friends on mobile phone or computer. The purpose of Social Networking is to connect to people and to expand your network of friends and peers.
Social Media is different from Social Networking, though largely intertwined and dependent on one another. Traditional media included television, newspapers, magazines and books. This media was relatively passive or static. Consumers watched or read the media, but were not participants in the creation or distribution of it. Social Media is a broad definition which includes more digital forms of content such as streaming video, blog and Facebook posts and shared photos as a few examples. Social Media is where this digital information is shared and communicated to your personal social network.
This tremendous shift in people’s time and attention away from traditional forms of media towards Social Media is a profound one. An organization – big or small, global or local, must look at shifting some of its marketing efforts to where their potential audience is, which is on Social Media. This has led to the rise of Social Media Marketing.
Social Media Marketing is a form of online Internet marketing that utilizes social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others as a marketing tool. It is sometimes abbreviated SMM. The goal in Social Media Marketing is to produce and distribute content that users will share with their personal social network. This will help a company or organization increase its awareness and brand exposure. If done properly, it can also increase the company’s credibility and new interest from prospects.
There are many terms associated with Social Media Marketing. Below are a few basic terms that you should know before you begin embarking on spending any money in this area.
Content – Content for Social Media Marketing is generally one or more photographs, a video, a paragraph of text, or even a musical song. Content is “posted” by users and then becomes shared with each user’s personal network.
Impression – An impression is the number of times that posted content is seen by others. In Facebook, the content appears in the news feed of a user who shares this content and in the news feed many of his or her friends in their personal network.
Reach – Reach is the number of people who received the impressions of a post. Reach comes in two flavors– Total and Organic. Total Reach is the number of people who saw a post which includes fans, non-fans and advertisements. Organic Reach does not include the people who saw the post from an advertisement.
Engagement – Engagement includes the number of public posts along with likes, comments and clicks. While this does not often translate directly into business, it is an indication of how many people may have been exposed to your brand through some online interaction rather than just a photo scrolling past a person.
Clicks– If your post has an associated web address – such as a website, page within a website, or perhaps a Facebook Page for your business, school or church, then Social Media users can “click” on the content and it will jump them to this targeted address. Clicks are important because they elevate an interested person to a specific message – which could be an upcoming event, a sale, or key theme.
Click-Through-Rate (CTR) – The click-through-rate is the ratio of users who clicked on content versus the number than have seen an impression. Usually the higher the CTR the more effective the marketing campaign has been at bringing people to a website or Facebook Page destination. The destination should try to elicit some sort of action – to read an article, to learn about an event, or to become more aware of a business or church. Advertising campaigns are often priced by the number of click-throughs. For instance, a click-through on Facebook can cost between $0.50 and $0.75 for a targeted demographic audience.
These initial terms are part of the jargon associated with Social Media Marketing. While these terms are important for understanding how much Social Media Marketing can cost, ultimately what matters is that you as a small business or non-profit organization are able to get your message out there and drive more prospects through your door.
Coming up next…
The next part to this series, we will talk about whether Social Media Marketing can really be effective at bringing new clients, customers or members inside your four walls.
View the Next Article in the series – #2 Can Social Media Marketing be Used to Win New Customers?
Additional Resources:
Case Study: A Movie Theater
Case Study: A Brewery and Restaurant – Oasis Brewery
Case Study: A Baseball Team – The Frisco Rough Riders