How Businesses Use Social Media For Marketing In 2021

Social media marketing is the connection between a business and an audience comprising of the real people to build a brand, increase sales, drive website traffic, and do much more. This effect is accomplished using many social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, etc.

A large part of social media marketing comprises publishing great content on your profiles, engaging with your audiences, analyzing what strategy works for your business, and running social media advertisements.

Many social media marketing management platforms have simplified things for businesses like Buffer, Hootsuite, etc. It allows many businesses to automate their social media. But that is a step that comes way far down the line. Let’s first talk about the different types of social media platforms.

1. Facebook

Facebook requires an active social media marketing strategy with the tone of content kept deliberately light and friendly.

While it is the least restrictive social media platform on the list, it can be extremely limiting in terms of organic reach. To have a noticeable impact as a business on Facebook, consider having a cost-effective ad strategy.

You have 2.27 billion active monthly users at your disposal to choose a target audience from, based on factors like age, location, device usage, gender, relationship status, etc.

Or even better! You can create Custom Audiences from the list of data you’ve accumulated over the years of phone numbers or email addresses.

2. Twitter

This one is truly for the intellectuals and how could it not be?

The social media platform thrives on written content with 186 million daily active users. As a business, you need to have an extra something to stand out on Twitter. That could be as little as witty replies to your queries.

It primarily revolves around dialog and communication, so engaging with your audience is the way to go.

As a B2B social media marketing platform, it is the best platform out there. Forbes ranks it as the best platform for generating leads, and it accounts for 46% of the social media traffic generated on company websites for B2B firms.

3. Instagram

Instagram features the most influencer marketing out of all the social media platforms. Being a visual platform, allows you to capture your audience by showcasing your business’ true personality or better yet, products.

Heavy on creativity and not so much on text, Instagram’s hashtags are a great way for marketers to reach a wider audience. Other than that, Facebook and Instagram offer collective advertising options for business social media marketing.

4. TikTok

TikTok is the most underrated social media platform for business marketing. With its 689 million active daily users, it makes you relatable to your audience.

You can share behind-the-scenes, product profiles, and generally promote your business on it. Since the pandemic, TikTok has raised the bar of creativity and that has challenged brands to do better in their social media marketing strategies.

5. Snapchat

Snapchat is the first platform that became famous for its real-time updates and promotion of events. Before Instagram stories, it was all the rage.

The businesses that required timely reporting of events for example product launches, etc., used it frequently with the option of custom and branded geotags. It remains a fairly popular social media platform amongst teens or college students.

6. YouTube

YouTube has grown to the number one place for all types of video content. That alone should tell you something about its influence.

Many businesses have tried to come up with unique strategies and made a mark on the world with them. Maybe your company could be next if you used the platform the right way!

1. Improved Search Engine Ratings

While posting alone is guaranteed to bring you at least some traffic, you have the chance to improve the rating or your website rank by putting in a little more effort.

One way to do it is through search engine optimization by incorporating targeted keywords in your content.

This will help in achieving a higher page ranking and increase the traffic to your business website. And trust us on this, that is exactly what you want/need. Why? So that when anyone uses Google to look for something that you can offer, then the best thing for you is to show up on the first page.

2. Higher conversion rates

Give your business the boost it needs by giving the visibility it deserves to result in the conversion rates you’re aiming for. For that, you have to be persistent with your content and engage with your audience to appear as relatable as possible.

When they can relate to you, they buy from you because people want to do business with people, not companies because that is when people can trust you. Studies have proven that social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.

3. Better Customer Satisfaction

Adding on to the last point, when people start relating to you and start trusting you, they are more likely to buy from you and stay loyal to your business. A good way to start is by engaging with your audience as much as possible.

The more you do it, the better it will be for your business as it is your only chance to show your customers that behind the logo and all the corporate structures, there is a brand representative demonstrating compassion for them. Social media is useful in building relationships between a business and its customers.

4. Cost-Effectiveness

Out of all kinds of marketing, social media marketing has to be the most cost-effective out of all of them.

Even when you’re just posting, without placing ads on the social media platforms or collaborating with influencers to get traffic, you’re still gaining the attention of many people out there.

Additionally, it is free to sign up which opens up a whole new demographic for business social media marketers. Furthermore, even when you do start placing ads, you will notice how even a small amount goes a long way if you learn to use it right.

All of that only comes through a long time of trials and errors.

5. Thought Leadership

To become a leader in your field, you need to portray yourself as such on your social media by posting high-quality content.

Your goal as a business is not to be just a sales medium but also to be the brand that sets the tone for everything. This can build brand equity for you and bring a huge amount of traffic.

No matter what industry your business is in, social media offers the opportunity to establish your brand as a thought leader—the go-to source for information on topics related to your niche.

6. Reporting & Analytics

Return on investment was a challenge for all marketers, and people who were trying to figure out the ins and outs of how businesses use social media for marketing from a general point of view.

But with the new features that include social media tracking and analytic tools to the social media platforms, you can now see the full impact of your social media activities. Some tools, like Google Analytics and Hootsuite Impact, are examples of ROI tracking through lossless data-driven metrics.

1. Product Reviews Through Influencers

Influencer marketing is here to stay whether we like it or not. Although we admit that many people feel conflicted to like the idea but there is generally nothing wrong with it.

It has been proven to be a good boost for many businesses in the past as these bloggers have built a connection with their audience in a unique way that other brands can’t offer, no matter how hard they tried.

Thus, there is nothing wrong with using that special connection for your business for reviews and collaborations.

2. Paid Ads & Regular Posts

Consistency is the key. If you are posting something (preferably good quality content) on your social media platforms every day, that is good enough to keep your audience engaged.

Once a day and thrice a week should be the minimum limit of posts you should set for yourself as a business social media marketer. Little by little, you can allow your business to utilize advertisements to help you up your social media game.

3. Collaboration With Social Media Influencers

The next tip on our ‘how businesses use social media or marketing’ list is working in collaboration with influencers.

Roughly speaking, there are 3 categories of social media influencers:

• Mega Influencers: They have the highest number of followers – roughly within, or over, the 1 million users mark.

The biggest benefit of working with mega influencers is increased outreach within a very short span of time.

However, these influencers usually charge a lot in comparison to other levels of influencers. If your business has roughly $5,000 – $10,000 to spare per post, mega influencers can help you to secure a lot of referral traffic.

• Macro Influencers: The mid-tier level is related to social media marketers with over 30,000 – 80,000 followers.

• Nano Influencers: Also called ‘Micro Influencers’, these marketers are usually brand new. Their follower base comprises 10,000 – 30,000 users, and they don’t charge as much for sponsored collabs.

We recommend working with micro-influencers because they are easy to work with due to their flexibility. Plus, these fellas are very creative and tend to work extra hard to sponsor/ promote your content. At a time, you could be working with multiple micro-influencers from different demographics to increase your outreach.

According to a general estimate, micro level social media influencers have the highest audience engagement rate – i.e. between 3% – 5%.

5. Email Marketing

Feel free to set up an email drip campaign to remain in touch with all the referral traffic coming in from paid vs. free social media marketing channels for business.

You can further incentivize the conversion process by offering discounts, rewards, or promo coupons to your visitors so that they have a reason to revisit your business’s online products page.

Recommended Posts

• Macro Influencers Vs. Micro Influencers| Which One Is Ideal for Your Business?
• How To Organize An Influencer Marketing Campaign?
• How to Find Influencers In Your Niche? 3 Incredibly Smart Ways
• Who Is a Micro Influencer & Why Are They So Effective?
• Who Are Nano Influencers & Why Should You Work With One?
• What Is Influencer Marketing & How to Craft a Super Influencer Marketing Strategy?

To put it simply, there is no point in having a business if you’re not going to use social media marketing. Especially in an age like this where even NASA has a competitor, your business cannot just simply exist without a social media presence.

So what does that mean for someone looking to find ways on how businesses use social media for marketing in 2021? Invest your time and resources in a good social media marketing strategy for your business.

Of course, if you don’t have a clear direction at your disposal, go ahead and consult a professional social media marketing firm to lay down the groundwork for you. Monitor the process through data-driven metrics and don’t forget to work with your team to optimize conversions as you go along.