Social Media Marketing 101

Written By Felicia "the Creative" Sherrod

Social media marketing is a form of digital marketing where businesses pay to promote their products, services, or content on social media platforms. It leverages the high user base and advanced targeting abilities of platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and others to reach specific audiences effectively.

Benefits of Social Media Advertising

  • Targeting: The ability to reach specific segments of the audience based on detailed criteria.

  • Cost-Effectiveness: You have options to set budgets and bid strategies, making it accessible for both small and large businesses.

  • Real-Time Analytics: Marketers have access to detailed performance metrics and analytics, allowing for ongoing optimization.

  • Increased Engagement: The interactive nature of social media encourages user engagement and interaction.

  • Scalability: It's easy to scale campaigns up or down based on performance and budget; but it takes skill to know when, why, and how.

I appreciate the fact that you can have a $50 per week budget or a $500 per week budget. It's not just about how much money you spend; it's about how specific your targeting and content is.

Popular Platforms for Social Media Advertising

  • Facebook: Extensive targeting options and a variety of ad formats, ideal for both B2C and B2B.

  • Instagram: Visually driven platform perfect for lifestyle, fashion, and consumer goods.

  • LinkedIn: Best for B2B advertising, targeting professionals based on job title, industry, and company size.

Key Components of Social Media Marketing

Choose your ad type

  • Sponsored Posts: Paid promotions in users’ feeds.

  • Display Ads: Banner or sidebar ads that appear on the social media platform.

  • Video Ads: Short videos that play within users’ feeds or stories.

  • Carousel Ads: Ads that allow users to swipe through multiple images or videos in a single ad unit.

  • Stories Ads: Full-screen ads that appear within users' stories feed, available on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and X.

  • Messenger Ads: Ads that appear within messaging apps like Facebook Messenger.

Select your audience

  • Demographic Targeting: Targeting based on age, gender, location, language, and more.

  • Interest Targeting: Reaching users based on their interests and hobbies.

  • Behavioral Targeting: Targeting users based on their past behavior, such as purchase history and online activity.

  • Custom Audiences: Uploading a list of contacts to target them specifically.

  • Lookalike Audiences: Targeting users similar to an existing audience base.

Choose your Ad Goals

  • Automatic

  • Get more messages

  • Get more video views

  • Get more leads

  • Get more calls

  • Get more website visits

Essentially, social media advertising combines the extensive reach and sophisticated targeting capabilities of social media platforms to help businesses effectively promote their offerings and achieve their marketing goals.

So, the question is: Where will you launch your next social media ad campaign?

Felicia "the Creative" Sherrod

Fractional Chief Marketing Officer for brands that need digital direction, structure, and results — not more noise.

https://www.feliciasherrod.com/
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