In the last two years, the impact of social media has been immense worldwide. As Statista.com, puts it, social media is reshaping the world. The accessibility of social media has created a renewed popularity, particularly after the pandemic times and this is not going away anywhere. The global social media penetration in 2020 was recorded at 49 percent with East Asia and North America citing the highest rate of penetration at 71 and 69 percent respectively. Northern Europe registered 67 percent penetration. A top social media marketing company advocates that for entrepreneurs with businesses of any size, this is the right time to make a sweeping impact on social media.
So what does social media really do to your business?
Social media is defined by popular social giants (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube). Business owners are busy handling their businesses and do not have the time to learn how social media algorithms work or how to plan the right strategy. A social media marketing agency in Kolkata rolls out the right solution for potential planners to mark their footprints on social networks without losing their sleep. Let us find out how?
What is social media marketing?
The top social channels are visited by thousands regularly and taping your existence in them makes sense to your business. How do you do it? You create content for the social platforms related to your product or service. With help from a social media marketing agency, you work towards creating and expanding a community by getting your target audience together. These platforms realize the role they play in bridging the gap between customers and manufacturers and are upgrading their features regularly to narrow this gap. By choosing to work with a social media marketing company, you can utilize the upgraded features to create powerful communication that brings you closer to your prospective customers. Through social media, you can meet your target audience easily. No matter where they are placed, your business nature and type will take you to the right customer if you believe in social media. Social media is defined by a network of channels each of which follows a strategy and knowing the trends of each channel demands observation and careful study to succeed on the social platform.
Before going into further details let us get a brief overview of what each channel can mean for your business.
With around 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook commands popular attention as a top social media channel in today’s date. The channel includes interest from Generation X and Millennials. According to a Facebook ads agency India, Its impact is more dominant on B2C companies and has made a phenomenal difference to brand awareness and advertising. Since its launch in 2004, the channel has made paramount changes in its function and is steeped with organic scopes for businesses. Facebook is banned in a few countries, so before planning a strategy check the reach while rolling out a Facebook campaign.
TikTok
Tiktok made an overwhelming 1 billion monthly active users worldwide record. It is mostly followed by Gen Z and Millennials and has a positive influence on the B2C and B2B market owing to its short video user-generated content, the brand awareness is huge and hits directly to make an immediate impression. It is placed directly after YouTube and is an effective tool for community building. Tiktok too is banned in a few countries. Make sure you keep a note of it while launching global campaigns.
With nearly 1.4 billion users are on Instagram, this channel primarily caters to the Millennials. This channel is essentially for B2C businesses. As the years progressed, the channel made some very relevant changes that heightened its popularity. The advanced economic tools make this platform’s popularity compounded. The audience can easily browse through brands and new products and services without purchasing them. As they surf they are tempted to purchase. The app allows direct communication between businesses and customers says an Instagram advertising company which makes this platform increasingly fetched and adds value to a window-shopper’s time which can in no time convert to a serious shopper.
This channel has almost 290.5 million monthly active users worldwide. This channel primarily targets the Millianals, and manufacturers of both B2C and B2B products and services find this channel useful to them. The channel allows a huge outlet for public relations, customer liaison and service, and the most effective form of community building. This is a nonvisual dependant platform unlike the others stated above. Building communication on ‘words’ limited within 140 characters, there are various ways in which people like twitting with interesting content and makes this channel so ideally beneficial to the Millennials.
Recording a user density of 690 million globally, this is a favorite channel that cuts across to generations from Baby boomers, Generation X, and Millennials, feels a Top LinkedIn Marketing Services in India. This marketing platform is essential for the B2B industry, ideally building business relationships, working on business development, and joining communities with common business interests. It can be said that LinkedIn is the business face of Facebook. The defined audience segmentation makes this platform have a niche following and people just know what they will find here which makes their work so much easier.
YouTube
YouTube records a staggering 2 billion monthly users worldwide. The popularity of this channel is huge and impacts both the B2C and B2B industry. This channel cuts across genders, ages, and regions. Though the Millennials score an all-time high viewing percentage here, YouTube Marketing Agency observes that the brand awareness impact is huge with its offering of both long and short video; this is the second most visited website after Google. Marketers consider YouTube as the best platform that supports community building. The popularity of this channel is only growing with its added attraction on long-format content making businesses and services expand their knowledge sharing informative videos here.
Snapchat
Adding its value to social media CNBC reports that Snapchat touched 500 million monthly active global users. Dishing mostly to Gen Z, this is a B2C industry platform that relies on content sharing between known users. There were some speculations that Instagram Stories may oust the popularity of Snapchat, but the channel holds its popularity regardless of the attractive features Instagram adds to its parcel.
Pinterest records 431 million monthly active users worldwide. The channel is popular among Millennials, Gen Z, Gen X, and Baby Boomers. This reaches out to the B2C industry offering visual advertising inspiration to customers. Highly sought by lifestyle manufacturers and producers in the beauty, home interior, food, art, and other lifestyle businesses it assumes the form of a visual storyboard as pointed out by a Pinterest Advertising Agency India. Regular users love this channel as they discover new brands and products through visual narratives that iconify this channel.
With nearly 2 billion followers the channel is heading towards robust growth. After YouTube, this is the third most popular social media channel worldwide. This is a platform that clearly meets the texting demands amongst friends, co-workers, and family, but this highly penetrating social platform can be equally penetrating for your brand and it is. Used across age groups, both B2C and B2B industries should know, content sharing is its most powerful medium and it forms a direct sustainable customer link through other social channels. Once you have your customer on Whatsapp you can start a brand new story. Through careful planning, you can start personalized communication that leads to trust, faith, consultancy, and a lasting relationship.
How does social media marketing work?
Going by our collective assessment of each social media channel, why you should have a business presence on one or more channels is anyone’s guess. The benefits are far too fetching and if you consider this marketing route with help from a top social media marketing company the gains are sure to be far-reaching and much more widespread than you can imagine. So what can a social media marketing agency do for you?
Increase a wider brand influence
The popularity of the social channels inspires greater attention if you are planning to market there. With proven records of brand-boosting that encourages engagement which includes comments, shares, reposts, or just views along with saves, there is a good chance that the traffic will be directed to the website and you can impress your audience with your website content, profile, and bio. However, making the first impression through a social media organic post will demand some amount of planning. Help from a social media marketing agency will take you there.
Lead generation and conversion
This is a phrase you must have heard digital marketers often repeat. Promoting your product and sharing it over social platforms is the best way to generate leads. If the lead that you floated is of interest to an onlooker, a closer look may direct to conversion, even if it is not immediate, there is a good chance that it will in the long term. A social media marketing agency in Kolkata suggests creating contests, including website links with offers, hosting live videos, with social media campaigns, you can create social media profiles and sell through that profile directly to customers. Some channels like Facebook and Instagram allow live shopping sessions. Also, products and materials are permanently added to the profile for shopping when customers want details on the product including pricing.
Nurturing Customers
Social media allow you the feasibility of directly connecting with your customers. Interactions can go a long way. From customer retention to finding new customers, you can make the most of this feature.
Competitor Alert
While you are making use of social media so are your competitors. As you watch what your competitor is up to, remember that the same is happening from the competitor’s end. In all of this, your target audience also follows the rift. A social media marketing agency will design a meaningful strategy following the audience response that they procure through advanced analytics.
Types of social media marketing
Going by what a top social media marketing company preaches that content is the key to being different on social media. At the core of any strategy lies powerful content which communicates the voice of the brand to meet the thoughts of the audience. A leading social media marketing agency helps to understand the types of social media content that have stood well after analytics and determined better business opportunities for businesses.
Video
The market has approved 54% of videos and it goes without saying that well-made videos have quite effectively achieved marketing goals than any other. However, the social media marketing agency, feels that despite the success of videos, content strategists favor photos that contain links to the website. Videos however attract engagement that still photos cannot. The popularity of YouTube, TikTok, Instagram Reels attract 10 times more engagement than still photos. Videos do not require a major investment and have the ease of being spun and repurposed into other formats of content and reposted.
Images
The effectiveness of images is a close second on social media. The ease of procuring and sharing still images that are dependent on instant views from the audience makes them quite popular. There are various platforms that support high-quality images. Instagram, Pinterest create visual treats that some brands that largely rely on visual experience can explore.
Images with text
The power of words with images creates an unbeatable impact. A keen observation comes from a social media marketing agency in Kolkata, that text-based posts are valued more by customers as it sets a brand voice connecting the visual brand with written message allowing a greater understanding of the brand communication, particularly if you are dealing with a product. The best text-based platforms on social media are Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.
Stories
Stories according to a social media marketing company are sterling engagement opportunities. We do not say that stories will increase immediate conversion but this classic engagement opportunity will create the right impact to spark audience interest towards the band and hold it. The total creative freedom in stories can add a thread of connection through your brand communication with the audience. Stories have been implemented by almost all platforms but the leverage that Instagram stories provide is huge. The reactions on Instagram allow immediate connection with customers.
Live Videos
The speed with which the digital world has touched so many lives comes from its immense contact with it. It was most noticeable after the pandemic when businesses were thinking of innovative ways to reach out to their target audience. Live videos were a great source to connect with the audience in real-time and small businesses made the most by connecting with their audience with winning deals. The live interaction offered direct collaboration with customers which was convincingly helpful. Businesses began creating a community and announced live sessions earning more participants who were converted to customers. YouTube Instagram and Facebook experienced a huge hit with live sessions and so did LinkedIn.
What are the Best Social Media Platforms for Your Business?
Most leading social media marketing companies would agree that there is no standard best social media platform and each business identifies differently with their preferred social media channel. As discussed earlier, some social platforms are more biased towards B2B brands and some towards B2C. Your business profile will help you meet your audience through the platform where your audience is clustered.
Conclusion
Determining a sound social media strategy may seem like an ominous task but if you have the support of a social media marketing agency, more than half of your worries are taken care of. Do complete research and regard the success of the company that curates social media campaigns. If the results are promising, you know you are with the right brand that will help you to increase the number of followers, create scopes for wider engagement and opportunities for conversion. Always remember that social media strategies are fast-changing, so choose a company that is ready to take on the challenges of this dynamic marketing engine. In digital marketing, nothing is based on instincts but on plain analysis. If your business vision is farsighted choose a social media marketing agency in Kolkata that can pilot your dreams in the right direction.