Learn Social Media Marketing: The Ultimate 2024 Playbook for Driving Leads Online

Social media marketing has become an essential component of digital marketing strategy today. With over 4.2 billion social media users worldwide, platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter offer immense opportunities for businesses to reach, engage with and sell to their target audience.

This complete guide will teach you everything you need to know about learning social media marketing in 2023.

There is no doubt that digital marketing has been taking the world by storm. One major channel for Internet marketing is social media platforms. Based on numbers and statistics, the profit of using social media for marketing is undeniable. Some argue that social media “magic” is a temporary trend that will soon fade away; however, social media is proving that wrong up to this very moment.

Why is it important to learn social media marketing? According to a study, eighty-eight per cent of US companies use social media for marketing. This proves that for any business owner, it has become a necessity to learn social media marketing. Besides, for social media specialists or those working for digital marketing agencies, it is the most important part of your job to learn social media marketing.

Learn Social Media Marketing (SMM): Definition and Platforms

Definition:

According to TechTarget, social media marketing is “a form of Internet marketing that utilizes social networking websites as a marketing tool. The goal of SMM is to produce content that users will share with their social network to help a company increase brand exposure and broaden customer reach.”

Platforms and Statistics

Several popular social media platforms can help you bring your business to light. According to DreamGrow, these are some valuable numbers and facts about the most popular platforms. Furthermore, these numbers will give you an insight into which platform is the best for your business.

Facebook

Facebook is a social network that allows people to create personal profiles for free. They can upload photos and videos, send messages, publish long private or public posts, and comment on them. Users can create pages, events, and groups and share content. There are currently two billion accounts on Facebook; this is a gigantic market! In 2015, Facebook influenced 52 per cent of consumers’ online and offline purchases, up from 36 per cent in 2014. Facebook is a great option for start-up companies to advertise, whether through paid or unpaid advertising.

• Monthly active users: 2.96 billion as of Q4 2022
• Demographics: Most popular among 18-29 year olds
• Key Features: News feed, stories, reels, groups, events, pages, advertising
• Marketing Uses: Organic engagement through posts, stories and live video; ads in news feed and instream; pixel tracking; lead generation
• Ideal Content: Visual content like images and videos; Short entertaining clips for Reels
• Analytics: Page likes, post reach and engagement, traffic sources, audience demographics
• Ad Formats: Image, carousel, video, Stories, Messenger
• Examples: Coca-Cola’s fun video ads for engagement and Spotify promoting new playlists.

Twitter

Twitter is also a social network that allows people to create accounts. Unlike Facebook, Twitter does not differentiate between “pages” and “accounts.” Users can send short 140-character posts called tweets. They can also upload images, gifs, and videos and send short 140-character mentions and

long private DMs (direct messages. Link clicks account for 92% of all user interaction with tweets. This is significant

to gain traffic to your website or blog. If viewers are clicking on your articles’ links through tweets, voila, you reached your goal.

• Monthly active users: 237.8 million as of Q4 2022
• Demographics: 22% between 18-29 years old; 20% 30-49 years old
• Key Features: Tweets, threads, live videos, chats, Moments
• Marketing Uses: Newsjacking, brand awareness, customer service, lead gen
• Ideal Content: Current, conversational, engaging tweets; live video
• Analytics: Impressions, engagements, profile visits, mentions
• Ad Formats: Promoted Tweets, Promoted Accounts, Promoted Trends
• Examples: Wendy’s viral humorous tweets; Nike launching new products first

Instagram

Everyone knows that a photo is worth a thousand words. Sixty million photos are posted on Instagram daily. Can you do the math? Instagram is a social network that revolves around visuals. Users can upload photos, videos, and live stories and use hashtags in captions. If your business is about photography, art, fashion or revolves around “visuals,” then Instagram is the right platform. Moreover, 90% of Instagram users are younger than 35. If you target this age group, you should go for Instagram.

• Monthly active users: 2 billion as of Q4 2022
• Demographics: 32% between 18-24 years old; 59% under 34
• Key Features: Photo and video feed, stories, reels, IGTV, shoppable posts
• Marketing Uses: Brand awareness and engagement through visual content, influencer marketing, Instagram shopping
• Ideal Content: Visually appealing photos, reels, User-generated content
• Analytics: Followers, impressions, reach, engagement, discovery
• Ad Formats: Photo, carousel, video, collection, Stories
• Examples: Colourpop’s UGC and product teasers; Starbucks’ seasonal aesthetic posts

YouTube

The famous video platform. YouTube Users can create channels and upload videos. Viewers can subscribe to the channels they like. In 2015, YouTube posted 40 billion all-time views for branded content. This shows that video marketing is growing. If your product has the potential to be marketed through videos, YouTube is the right place for you.

There are other social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest. Each has its features, pros, and cons. It is crucial to determine your target audience first and the nature of your product, then select the best channel accordingly.

• Monthly active users: 2.56 billion as of Q4 2022
• Demographics: 73% of US adults use YouTube
• Key Features: Video feed, YouTube Shorts, YouTube Live, Community
• Marketing Uses: Pre-roll and instream video ads; sponsorships; branded channels
• Ideal Content: High-quality, entertaining, informative or helpful videos
• Analytics: Views, traffic sources, audience retention, demographics
• Ad Formats: Skippable, non-skippable, bumper, TrueView
• Examples: Nike’s inspirational athlete ads, Dove’s viral Real Beauty Sketches ad

TikTok:

• Short-form video app with over 1 billion monthly active users globally
• Popular among Gen Z, with about 60% of users between ages 16-24
• Key features include the For You feed, creators, hashtag challenges, duets, reactions
• Marketing uses: Viral challenges, branded lenses/filters, influencer partnerships
• Ideal content is short, entertaining, musical and humorous videos
• Key analytics: Likes, shares, comments, video views, profile visits, follower growth
• Ad formats: TopView, Brand Takeover, In-Feed Video, Branded Effects
• Brand examples: Chipotle’s food challenges led to store traffic, MAC Cosmetics leveraged makeup tutorials

In summary, TikTok is a fast-growing platform for marketers to engage younger audiences with branded short video campaigns, influencer partnerships, and viral challenges using popular music and effects.

LinkedIn:

• Professional social networking platform with over 875 million users, mainly working professionals
• Enables companies and individuals to create professional profiles, network, share content and find jobs
• Most effective B2B social media platform for lead generation thought leadership, and recruitment.
• Ideal for promoting whitepapers, ebooks, and case studies to generate leads
• Provides highly targeted advertising by job title, company, industry, skills, and more
• Valuable for building thought leadership through publishing long-form posts and articles
• Allows users to create or join relevant groups and discussions to establish subject matter expertise
• Users actively looking for business connections and career opportunities are receptive to engagement

In summary, LinkedIn is the go-to social platform for B2B marketers, given its professional, career-oriented user base open to connecting with brands and expanding their networks. Key marketing objectives are lead generation, recruitment, and thought leadership.

Learn Social Media Marketing: Benefits

Social media provides a two-way communication of marketing. Before social media and Internet marketing, clients and customers were only recipients. Marketing is a one-way communication where brands and business owners send messages to their audience. Social media changed that game. Through social media, your customers and potential leads are closer to you than ever. As a business owner, you can get immediate feedback and complaints from your customers on social media.

You can easily observe the influence of your content and the effectiveness of your customer service. Monitoring what is said about your business through reviews and mentions is also a huge plus. Also, you can promote your brand and get wider exposure. Social media marketing is fast, accurate, and straightforward. SEO, creating content, and basic marketing strategy are topics that you will understand when you learn social media marketing.

Benefits of social media ads:

• Increased brand awareness – Reach massive new audiences with platforms’ targeting capabilities
• Low cost per impression/click compared to other digital ad formats
• Get in front of engaged users when they’re active on social media
• Lead generation – Capture new potential customer contacts directly from ads
• Drive website traffic – Send users directly to important pages
• Engagement – Start conversations and interact with followers through comments
• Remarketing – Target visitors who have already engaged with your site/ads

Facebook Ads:

• Ad types: Image/video feed ads, Carousel, Canvas, Dynamic, Instagram ads
• Placements: News Feed, Stories, Marketplace, Right Column
• Targeting: Location, age, gender, interests, behaviours, custom audiences
• Optimization: Test ad variations, placements, bids, audiences, timing
• Metrics: Reach, frequency, CTR, CPM, CPC, conversions

YouTube Ads:

• Ad types: Pre-roll, mid-roll, display, overlay, bumper
• Targeting: Age, gender, interests, remarketing lists, similar audiences
• Optimization: A/B test creatives, bidding strategies, channels/placements
• Metrics: Views, click-through rate, audience retention, impressions
• Best practices: Make ads relevant to video content; optimize first 30 seconds

LinkedIn Ads:

• Ad Types: Sponsored Content, Text Ads, Dynamic Ads, Message Ads
• Targeting Options: Job title, company, industry, skills, age, location
• Optimization Tips: A/B test ad copy, calls to action, and imagery. Target by job title and industry for best results.
• Metrics to Track: Impressions, clicks, click-through-rate, cost-per-click, conversions
• Best Practices: Highlight the value proposition. Use video ads to increase engagement—Retarget visitors who engage with your posts.

Steps to create a strategy:

• Set goals – What do you want to accomplish with social media marketing? Increase brand awareness? Generate leads? Drive sales? Defining clear, measurable goals is key.
• Identify target audience – Analyze your existing customer demographics and buyer personas. Who are you creating content and campaigns for? Detail their age, location, gender, interests etc.
• Choose platforms – Based on your goals and audience, determine which social platforms make the most sense to focus on. Start with 1-3.
• Analyze competitors – See what your competitors are doing across their social channels. This can inform your strategy.
• Plan content – Develop a content calendar for social media. Determine the types of content you will create.
• Allocate resources – Assign team members to manage social channels and create content. Consider hiring a social media manager.
• Track performance – Establish key metrics and KPIs to measure success towards your goals, like engagement rate, conversions, and ROI.

Tips for creating engaging content:

• Leverage user-generated content like re-sharing customer posts. This helps drive engagement.
• Run contests and giveaways to increase likes, comments and shares. Require users to tag friends or follow your brand to enter.
• Curate and share content from influencers and industry experts to build relationships.
• Post videos and live broadcasts – video has high engagement on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
• Respond to commenters and engage in conversations to humanize your brand.
• Analyze performance data to double down on what works.

Where Can You Learn Social Media Marketing?

• Online Social Media Courses

Online courses are a great way to learn about social media marketing. They are easy to reach, and many are free of charge. You can easily fit them into your busy schedule. There are different levels of social media courses, so you do not need to worry if you are starting from scratch. Some of those social media classes also offer you a certificate by the end of the course; that’s a plus. You will learn about website design and development, digital language, how to build a social media strategy for your business, and how to raise brand awareness for your product.

• E-books

If you are looking for a more flexible source yet just as informative, e-books are the right choice to learn social media marketing. There are thousands of free e-books that you can download and read anywhere. All you need to do is search for them online. They contain valuable information presented in a reader-friendly manner. Some include checklists, infographics, and summaries to memorize information and get back to it later.

• Articles

What if e-books are too long, and you cannot fit them into your hectic schedule? There are articles. Choose reliable websites or articles extracted from credible sources. It will require some searching on your behalf surely, but it is a considerable way to learn social media marketing.

• Video Tutorials

Are you more of a visual learner, or are you not that into reading? Video tutorials are a good alternative to learning social media marketing. Marketing tutorials are short, comprehensive, and entertaining, and you can learn a lot from them. There are a lot of social media experts offering their tips through videos that you can benefit from.

• Following Social Media Gurus

Do not forget to follow social media experts. There are many of those on Facebook, Twitter, etc. A good example to follow, or even a page that inspires good content, is a good source for learning the tricks of the trade. Experts love to share fresh advice; it makes them gain more followers, and it teaches you something, so it’s a win-win situation.

Back to Basics

Internet marketing is a huge opportunity that no company would want to miss on. Social media is a big part of that market where billions of people are active daily; therefore, it has become substantial for any business owner to learn social media marketing. In brief, defining your audience, planning a strategy, branding your product, and creating content are all essential steps for succeeding at social media. Consequently, Learning how to do so will surely put your business a step forward.

Social Media Marketing Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: What skills do I need to learn social media marketing?

A: Key skills include copywriting, content creation, analytics, advertising, community management, and basic design. Understanding each major platform is also important.

Q: How much does it cost to hire a social media manager?

A: Salaries range from $30,000 for entry-level to $60,000+ for experienced managers. Cost depends on your geographic location and the manager’s expertise.

Q: When should I post on social media for best results?

A: Post when your audience is most active. For most B2C brands, that tends to be mornings and evenings on weekdays and afternoons on weekends. Test different times and days to find what works best.

Q: How often should I post?

A: 1-2 times daily is optimal for Facebook and Twitter. 1 post per day works for LinkedIn. Instagram can benefit from 2 or more posts daily. Test different frequencies and see what drives the most engagement.

Q: What should my social media budget be?

A: Most brands allocate 5-15% of their marketing budget to social media. As a rule of thumb, dedicate 10% of ad spend per platform on content creation.

Social Media Marketing Conclusion:

By developing a strategic approach leveraging the major social platforms and tactics covered in this guide, any brand can effectively reach, engage with, and convert its target audience online. Start by setting goals, analyzing competitors, and testing content to discover what resonates. The world of social media moves fast, but investing the time to build an impactful presence will pay dividends for your business.