The world of social media can be extremely hard to navigate. To attract the attention of social media users, an effective social media marketing strategy is essential.
But when we talk about social media marketing, what types of marketing are included and what are the right choices for your brand or business? This guide will explain everything you need to know about the different types of social media marketing.
What Is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to promote products or services. Social media includes a wide variety of platforms, such as Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Youtube.
Utilising these social media platforms allows businesses and brands to reach new audiences and build an online presence and community. In early 2024 it was reported that over 56 million people were active on social media in the UK alone.
Types of Social Media Marketing
There is no one singular kind of social media marketing. There are a number of methods you can use (often in tandem) which include:
Content Marketing
Content marketing focuses on the creation and distribution of valuable, relevant and consistent content to attract and engage a targeted online audience.
This content includes images, videos, graphics, emails and blogs, which can then be shared across social media platforms or other digital marketing channels.
The more people engage with the content your brand produces, the more likely they are to establish trust. In the saturated world of social media marketing, building trust is incredibly important.
This trust results in an increased likelihood to purchase your product or utilise your services.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing involves collaborating with social media users who have a following to promote brands’ products or services. This following size can be vary widely, and depending on what a brand wants to achieve through the collaboration will dictate the influencers they chose to work with.
The types of influencers you choose to partner with will determine the reach, engagement and relative return on investment. Ideally these influencers have an engaged and organic audience, establishing a sense of trust.
This trust and credibility means the influencer has the power to impact the actions of those who follow them.
Working with influencers is something that brands across the globe are getting involved in. In 2016 the Influencer Marketing Industry was valued at $1.7 billion USD and in 2023 it was valued at $21.1 billion USD.
Therefore if you aren’t using Influencers as one of your types of social media marketing, it’s time to start thinking about how you can incorporate this into your future strategy.
Paid Ads
Paid advertising is a marketing strategy in which businesses and brands pay to display their content to a targeted audience. In social media marketing, these paid ads are run on social media channels such as Instagram and TikTok.
These paid ads can appear in several formats including photos, videos or carousels. Running paid social ads can help businesses of all sizes increase brand awareness, reach new customers and ultimately drive conversions.
Not only does running paid ads on social media impact brand awareness and conversions, but it also provides you with direct access to higher quality audience demographics and campaign data. This will tell you who is seeing your content, engaging with it and clicking through on your ad.
Information like this provides invaluable insights to inform future ad strategy, as well as influencing broader marketing decisions.
User Generated Content
User Generated Content commonly known as UGC is original, brand focused content created by customers, typically at no cost. This content is then posted on social media platforms and is usually in photo or video format.
User Generated Content has become an increasingly popular type of social media marketing. As users are not paid for this content, it is commonly seen as more ‘authentic’ than other types of content, and often establishes a sense of trust and credibility between brands and their audiences.
If a brand elects to implement UGC into their social media strategy, there are many ways they can incentivise their audiences to generate this content. Giveaways are frequently being used by brands where they will reward the ‘best’ UGC content with prizes, encouraging uptake.
Customers are a brand’s best friend, so if you are not currently incorporating UGC into your social media strategy, it is time to do so.
Contest And Giveaways
Contests or giveaways are typically run on brands or influencers social media accounts. Contests and giveaways involve audiences completing a task giving them the chance to win a prize.
For giveaways these tasks usually include tagging friends in posts, following accounts and liking, commenting or sharing posts. Contests usually involve audiences submitting their best versions of an assigned task, like their best photo or answer to a specific question.
Contests and giveaways are an amazing way to rapidly promote brand awareness and encourage a sense of desire amongst the community.
This type of social media marketing is an engaging and relatively low cost way to grow organic followers and reach new customers and audiences through those who are already loyal to your brand.
How To Know Which Is Best For Your Business?
Social media marketing is an extremely powerful way to grow your business or brand. An effective social media marketing strategy will often include various types of social media marketing.
These will vary for each brand or business, depending on a range of factors including target demographic, product and or service offerings and budgets.
Summary
When choosing the types of social media marketing best for your business, you must create valuable content, connect with your target audience and keep up to date with the latest trends, whilst remaining true to your brand values.
This will ensure you stand out from the crowd in this highly saturated and competitive space.
If you want to learn how CEEK Marketing can transform your business through social media marketing, get in touch today.