If you are looking to market your business then you will have considered using social media. It can be hard to predict exactly what to expect from a social media campaign, and therefore hard to justify any budget.
However, social media can be a great way to market your business, provided that you choose the correct campaign. There are several different ways of using social media and therefore your expectations must change depending on how you choose to engage with the different platforms.
Although when social media marketing first gained popularity it was said to be a \’free\’ platform, that has proven to be wrong. You will need to invest time, effort and money to run a worthwhile social media campaign.
Facebook in particular is only worth using if you run an ad campaign with them. The good thing is that you don\’t have to spend a lot to get some results. You can either attract people to your Facebook page, meaning that you can build your brand and communicate with your audience, or you can direct people straight to your website.
A Facebook ad campaign does not have to cost a lot of money. You can run one for £30 a day and achieve results. However, as with anything, the more you put in the more you get out. You can also use Facebook advertising for research purposes, as you can target very specific segments with different messages, making it perfect for A/B testing that you can then use for other marketing activities.
Once you have your Facebook page up and running and you have built a good following you will not need to advertise as much, as your users will share your content and your messages will spread virally. However, achieving this takes a lot of effort to create the original content and link it to your overall brand message. Campaigns need to be long term and well-planned to be effective.
A \’sponsored post\’ is another good way to communicate a message to your followers, or to a specific audience. This is a good way to promote a certain offer or new product.
Facebook has a set of complex algorithms to decide who can see your posts. The more engaged your audience is, the more people will see your posts. This keeps the pressure on to create those interesting posts and keep your audience interacting with you.
How effective your campaign is will depend on the type of campaign you run, but also on your brand. Some brands are more suited to Facebook than others. If you are likely to receive a lot of complaints then it is better to avoid social media until you have reorganised your business. Some niche B2B businesses will also struggle to build an audience on Facebook, as potential customers are all in a business environment and a different strategy should be used.
However, Facebook can lead to good sales and is a good brand building strategy for most businesses that are willing to invest in it. At South Wales Web Solutions we can manage your social media strategy for you to free up your time and to deliver the results that you need for your business.