In the digital age, social media is our number one tool to engage new and existing customers and clients. Getting to grips with these new tools is essential for both old and new businesses. Did you know that ⅓ of the world uses social networks regularly? And that 51% of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when searching on their smartphone? Just this info alone shows how effective and essential social marketing is. There is a platform for every objective, target audience, and content type and we want to help you to understand where your brand fits into the world of tweets, likes, and hashtags. To do that, what aspects of your business do you first need to consider before looking at your marketing channels?

Branding

Understanding your brand inside and out in the first step to brilliant social marketing; it’s all too easy to lose a sense of what your brand stands for, the objectives, and most importantly the customers. There are so many targets to reach that these things can become of less importance. However, it’s time to get back to basics and get to the heart and soul of what your business is and what you want it to be.

But what is a ‘brand’?

On a basic level, it is the name of your business – something to trademark. Beyond that, however, it is the identity of your product/service. Your brand should have a personality and express values and quality. Your brand will mean different things to different people.

Developing your brand

Before setting up social network accounts, and starting social marketing, you need to be clear on who the audience is, which platform is the best to reach your audience on, what are you doing that your competitors aren’t, can you make improvements, and what are your objectives? This is where something known as the 7Ps can help you in developing your online presence:

• Product – What does your product/service offer? Can you make improvements?
• Promotion – Advertising, PR, Sales, and of course social media.
• Price – Is your business good value for money?
• Place – Do you operate in a physical building or online store? What is the distribution process of your product/service? If you operate in a physical location, is it easy to locate?
• People – The people who run your business to make sure things run smoothly.
• Process – The delivery of your service; is it at its best or can you make changes?
• Physical evidence – Your website, social media pages, customer reviews.

The marketing mix is an essential tool to use when creating an effective marketing strategy. It allows you to look at the bigger picture and how everything connects rather than just focusing on sales. Without the place or physical evidence, for example, it would be difficult even to make sales.

Why?

You need to ask yourself why you want to set up social media accounts for your business. If you don’t have a clear idea as to why then you won’t be able to use social media marketing as effectively as you could be. Set goals and take steps to reach them. Will your online presence increase sales? If so, how? Which social platform is best matched to your target audience? Or maybe you want to provide better customer service or product awareness.

Generating traffic and leads is 63% of companies top marketing challenges – but with an effective social media plan in place, you will likely find that customer interest increases in no time at all. For example, 74% of people reported that they use Facebook for professional purposes – so if your target audience is B2B, Facebook is an excellent start in your journey to mastering the art of social media.

Or perhaps you want to reach out to a broader audience; did you know that targeting content for an international audience is 21% of the top marketing challenges. Why not make use of Instagram? It has 500 million monthly active users. 59% of Instagram users visit the platform daily, and 35% visit several times a day. With exposure like that, you can maximise on your opportunity to generate interest.

Armed with a basic understanding of who you’re targeting and what your goal is, you can harness social marketing to excel your business. Perhaps you want to drive sales, or improve your brand identity? Maybe you want to excel at customer service. No matter what you’re looking to achieve, social media can get you there.

More Information

If you’re a business owner, we have created 72 essential marketing questions that you should be asking for growing a business.

For more information on the latest in Digital Marketing, please go to, 2019 Digital Marketing Strategy that will keep you ahead of the competition

If you need a professional marketing company to steer your business in the right direction, get in touch with KUB today on 0345 053 7417 to see how our services will get you to the top. Alternatively, message us through the icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.