Social media marketing (SMM) is a form of internet marketing that uses social media apps (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin, Twitter, and more) as a marketing tool.

These social media platforms enable brands to connect with their audience to:

·        Create a brand;

·        Increase converstions;

·        Increase traffic to a website;

·        increase revenue

·        grow audience

·        Establish a community of followers to share and engage with content.

Social media helps spread those messages to the right people at the right time, through both free and paid means. Social media also enables brands to learn more about their audience's personal, geographic and demographic information. This enables organizations to customize their messaging and content for the best engagement.

Advantages of social media marketing

Reach a wider audience. There are more than 3.6 billion users across all social media channels. A single post share can exponentially increase brand exposure.

Improved customer satisfaction. Organizations don't just market to customers on social media, they also interact with them. This can improve customer service and create one-to-one relationships.

Cost-effective tool. When executed correctly, the cost of managing a social media program can be low. Once the knowledge, team and program strategy are in place, marketing teams find it easy to use with very little overhead.

Increase website traffic. Social posts are a great way to drive traffic back to a brand website. Promoting blog content, landing page offers and more can entice users to click through and engage further with a brand.

Gain better insights. Using the analytics and reporting features from each social media platform gives insight into who page followers are, what content they are interested in and how they like to engage with a brand.



Disadvantages of social media marketing

Time-consuming process. A lot of time can be spent on social media campaigns to ensure they are effective. Marketing teams also need to constantly fill the calendar with new content and respond to inquiries. This can make it difficult for small marketing teams to tap into the full capabilities of SMM.

Need qualified resources. It takes the right person or team to run a social media marketing program. Social media marketing programs don't benefit from entry-level employees. Instead, skilled and seasoned social media marketers are key.

Have to wait to see ROI. SMM is a long-term investment. Social media platforms yield a high ROI, but not in the form of immediate results. The success of an SMM program isn't determined by one piece of content, but rather several over long periods of time.

Competitor's market research. Posting to social media is a public forum and everyone can see the content, including the competition. There is no workaround for this.

Brand reputation is vulnerable. SMM can open a brand for public embarrassment and bad press. Negative reviews can be plentiful as customers take to social media to vent frustrations. And because of the public nature of the platforms, anything a company says or does will be seen and reacted to. Brands should expedite response times to mitigate this risk.