• Understand what social media marketing is and its benefits and challenges
• Understand how businesses develop their brand identity using social media
• Recognize how businesses engage with customers through social media
• Understand how companies promote their products on social media

Social Media and Business Communication

While the content of business communications should be the central item of concern, there is no question that the type of media used to express the message is important. Social media presents society with many opportunities and challenges. Some consider social media one of the greatest developments of the modern age, and people can be seen every day using their phones to connect with people across the world. Others believe that social media undermines real social connections and harms our ability to communicate more meaningfully.

Social Media Marketing

social media marketing

Social media marketing refers to using social media platforms to deliver content that drives engagement with your brand.

Businesses use social media not just for advertising but for other aspects of marketing as well, taking advantage of opportunities to engage with consumers directly. An important aspect of marketing is increasing awareness: have you helped your customers make meaningful decisions? 

Opportunities

The major opportunities of social media marketing include reaching global customers, increasing brand awareness, engaging with targeted customers, and increasing website traffic.

Global reach: Social media connects companies to billions of users across the globe. Because of this reach, companies can connect with new and existing customers in profitable ways.

Increasing brand awareness: Because of the billions of active users on social media, brands can increase awareness of their existence with targeted consumers.

A five-year-old swimsuit and beachwear company, Cupshe, had little to no brand recognition among US consumers until it launched campaigns on Facebook and Instagram. In 2020, the company boasted $150 million in sales without a single storefront.^[1] Consumers were exposed to the brand via social media ads, which then drove them to the company’s website to browse styles and make purchases.

Customer engagement: Social platforms help brands engage directly with consumers. Mass forms of promotion such as advertising only offer one-way communication from the company to the customer. Social media platforms allow for multidirectional communication between the company, users, and brand communities.

Driving website traffic: Social media drives traffic to company websites. Users see a sponsored advertisement in their news feed that is highly relevant to their interests and click on the content to learn more, browse inventory, and, ultimately, make a purchase.

Challenges

Distrust: The major challenge facing marketers who use social media to reach target audiences is that there is a growing distrust of social media platforms in terms of what they do with our private information.

Dedicated resources: Social media marketing requires dedicated campaign managers who can post fresh content frequently, monitor engagement, and respond to comments.

Lack of control: While multidirectional dialogue between consumers and the company is an advantage, the comments cannot be controlled. Users can tarnish the company’s brand name if they share negative experiences or opinions about the brand.

What Goes Viral?

Why do some things go viral and others don’t? Learn from BuzzFeed’s publisher Dao Nguyen and her TED Talk on the tactics her team uses to make things go viral.

You can view the transcript for “What Makes Something Go Viral?” here (opens in a new window).

Targeting

targeting

Targeting in marketing refers to the process of identifying and focusing on specific groups of consumers who are most likely to benefit from and be interested in a company’s products or services.

Targeting involves dividing the market based on criteria such as demographics, interests, behaviors, and needs, and then selecting one or more of these segments as the focus of marketing efforts. Targeting is closely related to audience analysis. Audience analysis involves gathering and interpreting data about potential customers’ demographics, interests, needs, and behaviors. This comprehensive understanding is crucial because it informs the targeting process, enabling businesses to identify and categorize different segments of the market that are most likely to benefit from and engage with their products or services. 

Targeting is important in selecting the best social media platform to use because the demographics of the users of each social media platform are not the same. For example, if your company sells a smartwatch that includes features such as detecting falls and giving medication reminders, you might be targeting older adults and seniors. On the other hand, if you were marketing a subscription-based fitness app that uses games to encourage daily workouts, you might be targeting teens and young adults.

Social Media Platform Use by Age^[2]

18-29 years: Snapchat (41%), TikTok (35%), Instagram (32%)

30-39 years: LinkedIn (34%), X/Twitter (34%), Snapchat (33%) Instagram (32%)

40-49 years: LinkedIn (25%), Facebook (22%), X/Twitter (21%)

50-59 years: Facebook (29%), LinkedIn (24%), Pinterest (24%)

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