The actual origins of humanity’s most-widespread technology are a lot more humble. Sixdegrees.com, a website referencing the ‘six degrees of separation’ that exist between all humans, took off in 1997 as the first true social media platform. It chugged along for a short three years, making founder Andrew Weinrich a slick $125 million from earlybird tech investors who were, perhaps, a bit too early.
It’s certainly plausible that Weinrich, Zuckerberg, and dozens of other innovators dreamed of and even expected to create a global network linking together billions. What they likely did not expect was that their technologies would, in turn, give birth to an entirely new line of work – one that would come to redefine marketing as the world knew it and become an absolute necessity for any modern business.
This is our beginners’ guide to diving into the world of social media marketing or SMM. We’ll be going through the ins-and-outs of brand identity, content scheduling, and more – so buckle up, we’re in for a long ride.
Why Is Social Media Marketing So Successful?
You might wonder how exactly did this industry become quite so successful, and more specifically, how independent marketers managed to draw brands and clients from all over.
The guiding factor, it seems, is closely linked to the biggest tech revolution of the last decade – mobile computing. Take a look at the hard numbers:
● Yearly smartphone sales have quintupled since 2010, with over 1,500 million sold in the peak year of 2018.
● In tandem, the number of mobile network users has doubled ever since, to a staggering 5.22 billion – that’s over half the world’s population.
The effects of 24/7 connectivity on social media usage cannot be understated. In 2010, data firm Nielsen reported that users spent an average of 6.2 hours per month on social media – that number has now morphed into a titanic 2.5 hours… per day.
The result? Companies are now willing to invest heavily in building a robust online presence through social media channels – in 2020 approximately $40 billion was spent on social media marketing in the U.S. alone.
While it’s easy to get lost in a sea of massive numbers, the simple truth driving this industry is that when it comes to building businesses online, SMM simply works.
Content written, designed, and managed by talented individuals has proven to engage and attract more customers. It has also given both businesses and individuals the right angle to engage their audiences.
How to ensure success in your campaign
Learning the Ropes
Like everything else, social media management requires some familiarity with the tools and platforms you’ll be working with. While the sheer volume of information might be overwhelming for newcomers, a good place to start would be to explore the environment you’ll be in the most when it comes to SMM – the social media platforms themselves.
Create test accounts and feel free to explore all the user interfaces – you may notice that different social media platforms emphasise different kinds of content based on their general designs.
Pick Your Platforms
Generally speaking, the first thing to do is determine which social media platforms you should focus on. Nowadays, the holy trinity of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are touched upon by nearly every brand with a social media presence – although the amount and types of content a brand posts on each of these varies greatly.
● Is your brand influencer-friendly? Maybe TikTok is a good direction to look towards.
● Is the brand aiming to attract millennials? Statistically, Instagram is the first choice.
● Does your brand need to highlight customer service queries? Twitter is the answer.
● Do you want to engage with professionals and disseminate industry experience through your content? LinkedIn is the way to go.
Making these choices early on will help you determine how to divide your attention and time as a manager.
Make Your Social Media Strategy Tick
Once you’re thorough with all your data and information, then comes the bread and butter of social media marketing; your core strategies.
The best brand accounts on social media are relevant, self-aware, and maintain a balance between chasing trends and showcasing their content. Netflix US on Instagram is a great example of said balance; the brand regularly uses recently launched content in tandem with global issues – such as completing a year under quarantine or even creating secondary accounts to support social causes in a way strongly linked to their brand content.
Developing Your Own Brand
You wouldn’t hire a mechanic with a broken-down jalopy, would you?
The same logic applies to social media management – perhaps even more so as dropping follower counts and content droughts make it even easier to spot shoddy work.
While this is less important as a beginner, your aim is to eventually turn your SMM business into an entity of its own. You can use your own social media pages to highlight successes with your clients, share key insights with followers, and even showcase fun projects in the making.
There’s no rulebook on how to handle your own SMM agency’s work – although you will certainly want to reflect your personal interests and portfolio in your content. If you like working with and enjoy representing say, sports brands – let your social presence shine in that niche and you will attract more of the work that you’re looking for.
Conclusion
Being a social media manager in 2021 is harder in some ways, and easier in others compared to a few years ago.
On the bright side, great educational and analysis tools help us make more informed decisions as marketers than ever before while rising competition in the field makes it harder to stand out as each year goes by.
What’s set in stone, however, is that the rapid growth of social media has nowhere to go but up. With more people joining the ranks of Instagram and Facebook, independent social media managers have ever-widening sets of clients to choose from – with several companies choosing to drop mainline advertising budgets in favour of social-media driven strategies.