Social Media Marketing:
A Beginner’s Guide

It’s estimated that almost 4 billion people around the globe use some form of social media, and this number is likely to keep growing. It’s no wonder, then, that companies have been using social media accounts to boost their online presence, generate leads and make more sales. If you’re looking for a beginner’s guide to social media marketing, here are some tips to help you on your way:

Choose the Right Platform

Gaining followers, posting engaging content, and getting the most out of social media is a lot of work, so in the early stages, it’s best to start an account on just one or two platforms.

Choose which platforms you want to use carefully. Think about your target customer: how old are they? What is their gender? What is their expected income? Different social media platforms attract different demographics. Older users (like baby boomers) are more likely to use Facebook, while younger users (such as Gen Z) are more likely to use YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok.

Target Your Content

Once you’ve chosen a platform, make sure you’re creating content that is right for that platform and right for the followers you want to attract. There is no point in creating social content to attract middle-aged businessmen as followers if your company’s target customer is predominantly teenaged girls.

Create content that will be popular on your platform of choice, and that will gain followers who are likely to want whatever you’re selling.

Keep Up to Date

Social media is changing constantly, and platforms that weren’t popular a year ago can quickly become the next big thing. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, TikTok experienced a surge in downloads and has now been downloaded over 2 billion times.

If you’re not up to date with the latest social media trends, whether that means what’s popular on the platform or which platform to use, your marketing campaign will probably be unsuccessful.

Need help with TikTok marketing? Check out this helpful post on how to advertise on TikTok.

Get Inspired

A great way to improve your social media output is to get inspired by competitors, whether that’s fellow businesses in your marketplace or influencers who may be attracting similar followers. Follow pages that publish similar content to you. What are they doing to attract more followers? How are they engaging with the followers they already have?

You could also take a look at accounts that aren’t related to your business. Look at your favorite profiles and take inspiration from them. Maybe they post funny videos or memes. Think about how you could incorporate humor into your page, but remember to always…

Stay on Brand

The most important part of building a successful social media account, whether you’re a business or an individual, is to stay on brand and stay on message. People will follow you for a particular type of content, so if you’re a design business and you start to post links to funny videos that have nothing to do with that, you’ll probably lose followers.

Find a balance between content that entertains and engages your audience but also informs and drives them to make a purchase. That balance is the key to social media marketing.