• SMM promotion. Comprehensive promotion in social media networks

    Development social networks gave birth to a new huge business industry - SMM marketing. This is when we come with our product to some social network, find our target audience there, and offer our product to them in different ways.

    Sounds easy. But in SMM (Social Media Marketing - Social Network Marketing (English)) there are a number of pitfalls. They are the ones that often prevent “traditional” sales gurus from seizing new opportunities.

    And let's first look at how this " new marketing» from old ways of promotion.

    3 differences between SMM and other types of marketing

    #1 - Communication and fun

    SMM primarily means “social”. That is, all marketing through SMM is built on communication. Social networks are generally a very interesting environment. People come to social networks for only two purposes:

    • Communicate
    • Have fun

    If you give them some content that is not aimed at communication or entertainment, they will “scroll through” you and not notice you. That is, all your actions related to attracting target audience must somehow engage in communication or entertain.

    I can give you a simple example. VKontakte shows you various advertisements on the left. It's called "targeted advertising." Do you know which targeted advertising works best? The one where the picture contains some funny or interesting image. Which ad would you most like to click on?

    #2 - The role of personality in SMM marketing

    Another feature of social networks is that all of your “ins and outs” are exposed for everyone to see. Previously, of course, they also tried to create a business “with a human face,” realizing that people prefer to buy from people rather than from faceless companies.

    For these purposes they hired special people, which most closely matched what the target audience liked. Then a special image was created for these people, and they were placed as “puppets” at the head of the company. But the true owners and leaders have never appeared anywhere.

    But only social networks made it possible to develop a personal brand so quickly and in this way. Again, we’ll talk about this a little later, but one of the main goals of promotion through SMM is to get people to recognize you by sight. This is trust. And where there is trust, there are sales.

    And if you are promoting your face, make sure it is at least visible. And even better - to make it clear that you are a real person, and not a mannequin. Which of two ads based on an idea personal brand, gives you more confidence?

    #3 — A virus is a form of life

    The main engine of SMM is a virus. New people come to your groups, and then even non-selling pages, after they see a repost of your post on their friend’s wall. They come and also make some kind of repost or leave a comment.

    And his friends already see this in their news feed, and they also come to you. On regular sites free traffic was (and is) supplied through search engines. This is the so called SEO promotion. And here is the virus.

    However, SEO “always works”, and a new virus must be constantly launched. That is, if you wrote one good article, and she reached the TOP search engines, then most likely it will remain there for a very long time, and will bring you traffic every day.

    But on social networks everything is more complicated. If you did a great one once viral post, then he will work for you for 2-3 days maximum, and then everyone will forget about him. Because during this time another hundred thousand cool new posts will appear. By the way, this is one of the main reasons why I don’t like doing SMM. I love it when the results “accumulate.” But, of course, I have my own VKontakte group. Join us.

    In the meantime, let's look at the stages of promotion through social networks and SMM.

    4 stages of promotion through SMM

    #1 - Choosing a social network

    It would seem - why do people need so many different social networks? This includes VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram, Odnoklassniki, Twitter, and much more. Why shouldn't everyone be on the same network? And the whole point is that they are different. And the people who are there are also different.

    For example, it is believed that Facebook audience- more intellectually developed and serious than VKontakte (Russian-language Facebook, of course). And this is how it really is. People there prefer to discuss complex issues of world politics and economics and all that jazz. It is these people, by the way, who often use Google as a search engine rather than Yandex.

    VKontakte audience- lighter and more fun. She prefers to like cats and funny pictures, without deep social connotations. This does not mean that “there are only schoolchildren on VKontakte.” You just need to approach them the same way - easily and cheerfully.

    Instagram audience- these are mostly girls who post their photos and discuss the photos of other girls. And if your product is for a female audience, you will find it in abundance on Instagram. Sellers of courses and trainings on women's topics feel especially at ease there.

    Audience of classmates- this is what is usually called the “average resident of Russia” - with an average salary, pension and life expectancy.

    For some reason, residents of urban settlements and factory outskirts of large cities prefer to communicate there. And this whole network emanates a very simple folk humor in the spirit of Petrosyan. I would come there with “new products” (which have long been known on the Internet to everyone except the inhabitants of my classmates).

    All other social networks are not very widespread in our country, so they are in this review can be omitted. Your task is to choose the social network where your target audience lives. Even if you yourself prefer to communicate with other people, nothing can be done. Magomed must come to the mountain.

    And after choosing a network, we need to create a “gathering point” for our audience.

    #2 — Creating a platform for communication

    On VKontakte, for example, it is prohibited to conduct any commercial activities through your personal page. But I know people who are not at all embarrassed by this ban. They post content on their account and make sales there.

    Another important point— don’t be scattered between several social networks. You need to choose only one site and pay all your attention to it. This way you will have more chances of success.

    #3 - Creating Viral Content

    At the first stage you need to do a lot interesting posts so that people share them and attract new audiences. I identify 4 types of viral content that people share most willingly:

    • Content is a provocation
    • Content - instructions
    • Content - medal
    • Content - laugh

    You can read more about all these types of content and how they work in the article.

    You will also most likely have to invest money if you want your community to develop faster. Almost all social networks have built-in advertising mechanisms. If you prefer “slowly but surely,” then you don’t have to pay. The main thing is that the content is truly viral.

    #4 - Monetization

    Here it is immediately very important to understand that attracting an audience and making money from this audience are completely different things that are in no way related to each other. You can have a group of 100 thousand people, and you will earn pennies.

    And vice versa, a group of 2 - 3 thousand active participants will give you huge profits. It all depends on what monetization methods you use. There are only three main options for making money on the Internet on your content platforms:

    • Advertising (the most common and least profitable activity)
    • Affiliate programs (depending on your luck)
    • Selling your goods and services (a bonanza, but you have to work hard).

    Figure out in advance how you are going to make money on your site, and based on this, prescribe a strategy. This will help you a lot free templates content plan for social networks.

    Resume

    • SMM marketing is the promotion of goods and services through social networks.
    • SMM differs from other types of marketing in three ways: the emphasis in content is on entertainment and communication, the personal brand plays a huge role, and promotion is based on the virality of the content.
    • All social networks are different, and you need to find the one where your target audience lives.
    • In your chosen social network, you need to create a platform where your audience will come for new content every day. This could be a group, community or your personal page.
    • To promote, try to make each of your posts as viral as possible. You can read more about this in the book “Contactless Selling”.
    • If funds allow, pay for advertising on social media to promote faster.
    • Think in advance about how you are going to make money from your audience. Otherwise, you risk sharing the fate of those who spent two years collecting a huge group, and then were unable to earn anything from it.

    Hope. the article was useful to you. Don't forget to download my book. There I show you the most fast way from zero to the first million on the Internet (extract from personal experience in 10 years =)

    See you soon!

    Yours Dmitry Novoselov

    From this article you will learn what SMM is. Understand the principle of social media marketing and how it is useful for business. Detailed analysis concepts with examples and useful videos from experts in social media marketing.

    What is SMM

    SMM (Social Media Marketing) is social media marketing that helps attract clients, customers or partners to a business. With its help, you can receive traffic to groups, communities within social networks and to external sites.

    SMM includes:

    • Targeted advertising
    • Retargeting
    • Content Marketing
    • Video Marketing

    These tools help companies attract the attention of their target audience and bring them to the first contact. With the help of SMM you can increase loyalty and trust from potential customers.

    This kind of marketing works in all popular social networks: VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Odnoklassniki, etc. It allows you to communicate with your target audience, respond to their comments, reviews, conduct surveys, quickly convey to them information about goods, services, discounts or promotions.

    From the above, a single definition can be proposed.

    « SMM is a set of marketing actions on social networks aimed at attracting the attention of the target audience to a brand, company or person. TargetSMM, like any other type of marketing - sales."

    What kind of business is SMM suitable for?

    SMM is not suitable for every business. Especially one where the potential client needs time to think or part with a large sum of money. For example, the sale of new cars, apartments, construction services for country houses. The target audience for such offers on social networks is small, and it is difficult to set up an advertising campaign so that it is seen the right person. Accordingly, there is a high risk that advertising costs will not pay off.

    • clothing, shoes and accessories;
    • unique products (handmade) and souvenirs;
    • B2C services;
    • training courses;
    • event tickets;
    • highly specialized services and goods from the B2C segment.

    SMM promotion tools

    Targeted advertising

    This tool is paid, but is one of the cheapest advertising options on the Internet.

    Retargeting

    A man wants to buy a laptop bag. Through Yandex, he finds an online store with the desired product. Browses through the catalogue, gets distracted and leaves the site.

    After a short time, a person logs into a social network and sees an advertisement for an online store that he recently visited. Thus, he remembers that he was going to order a bag. If he has not already done so, he will go to the catalog and continue selecting.

    This happens thanks to a special social network code embedded in the external site.

    Content Marketing

    It is not enough to simply create a group, run advertising and receive applications from clients. We must constantly share useful and selling information. At the same time useful materials there should be 80%, and selling - 20%.

    Publishing articles, posts, videos, and polls will enliven group members and encourage them to discuss in the comments. This helps increase target audience loyalty and brand awareness.

    Content marketing includes publishing:

    • posts;
    • articles in the editor;
    • video;
    • infographics;
    • surveys;
    • audio podcasts.

    Video Marketing

    Everything is simple here: videos are published in the group. These could be reviews of new products, recordings of webinars or master classes.

    Communication with target audience

    Communication in SMM is an important component of the entire social media marketing strategy. Because people come to them for communication and it must be given to them. This will increase loyalty to the brand or company.

    Newsletter

    Since 2018, VKontakte has added the function of sending messages on behalf of the group to participants who have subscribed to this mailing list. Now all information about promotions, new products and offers can be delivered directly to users’ personal messages.

    The rule of content marketing applies here: 80% of messages - useful information, 20% - selling.

    Advertising in communities

    You just need to understand that the more participants in the group where the advertising post will be placed, the higher the price.

    Website optimization

    SMM does not bypass external sites either.

    To attract people's attention to the community using the site, you need to add to it:

    • buttons for reposting articles or pages;
    • community widget;
    • comments from social networks.

    SMM effectiveness indicators

    When using SMM promotion, you should always look and analyze existing indicators.

    • Number of likes;
    • Number of reposts;
    • Coverage of every record;
    • Joining and unsubscribing from a group;
    • Complaints about recordings;
    • Advertising reach;
    • In the advertising account: transitions, impressions, CTR and costs.

    Experienced SMM specialists and marketers, thanks to these indicators, can draw conclusions about the effectiveness of marketing in social networks. In the future, depending on the collected data, you can think through subsequent actions to attract more participants, increasing coverage, increasing CTR and sales.

    Advantages and disadvantages of SMM

    Now it’s worth considering all the pros and cons of SMM promotion on social networks.

    Advantages

    Flaws

    Wide coverage of audiences that meet certain criteria: geography, gender, age, hobbies, marital status, education, etc.

    Not suitable for companies offering complex services expensive goods in the field of B2B and B2C.

    There are risks of ruining your reputation with just one thoughtless comment or entry.

    Constant feedback with the target audience: communication in comments, discussions or personal messages.

    It takes a lot of time to create useful content, communicate with the audience and process applications. Requires the involvement of specialists: SMM specialists, copywriters, marketers.

    Does not require serious SEO optimization, since marketing works within the social network and does not depend on constantly changing search engine algorithms. However, posts, articles and wiki pages often end up in search results. That's why keywords worth using: especially in a group name.

    It takes time to get the desired result. To improve efficiency advertising campaigns they need to be constantly tested: change headings, images, content formats, and advertising settings.

    Users themselves promote the community by liking, reposting and commenting on posts: all these actions are seen by the participants’ friends in their news feed.

    Users rarely use internal search on social networks. They usually search for products through search engines.

    Is it worth using SMM to promote your business?

    In May 2018, Internet marketing agency Texterra conducted a survey of where Internet users prefer to consume content. The survey results showed that the main share of content consumption occurs on social networks.

    From this we can conclude that social networks provide an opportunity for any company or entrepreneur to promote their business and make their brand recognizable. Therefore, SMM is worth using. But only if the services and products are of interest to users of popular social networks.

    We are often pestered with requests to write step by step guide according to SMM, as if “for dummies”. People often associate such complaints with the fact that we seem to have so many articles on our blog, and people want “well, what exactly?”

    Ok, we give up and decided to write a simple (seemingly) guide to SMM in which we will tell you step by step what to do and how. One caveat: we have already written an article on each point, and even more than one, we will provide links to them, but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to read them.

    If you need to learn right here and now how to properly engage in SMM, then go ahead!

    Step 1 - Understand/Introduce Your Audience

    You will need the so-called .

    You may not do some of the following steps, or you may do something “crooked”. But without a consumer portrait - just nowhere.

    If you haven’t really thought through who your consumer is, who you work for, then this will derail all your other work in SMM.

    You don’t have to do it in as much detail as described in the article, BUT be sure to work through issues such as - what does a person want to get— its desired end result, and what a person is afraid of/what annoys him.

    Step 2 - create

    Start by simply jotting down in a file all the ideas you have for what search queries people in your customer persona would make.

    Starting from the banal “buy wallpaper in Moscow”, ending with “what to do if the linoleum goes in waves.”

    Then, based on your ideas, create a semantic core (as described). This tool is perfect for creating a semantic core.

    Step 3 - website

    If you have it, go for it. If it doesn't exist, it needs to be made.

    Making a simple website “with your own hands” now costs about 0 to 10,000 rubles; if you entrust it to some contractor, the price will be up to 20,000 rubles.

    No, there are any contractors, it happens that they will ask you for 100,000 or more than a million. But the price is right. A simple online store - up to 50,000 rubles.

    Step 4 - fill the site with content

    You have created a semantic core - now you just need to write articles on each cluster. It is not necessary to first create ALL the content for the site, and then start SMM.

    No, do it a dozen or two useful articles that answer the wishes or fears of your clients, and correspond semantic core, and you can already start SMM.

    For posting, you will naturally need pictures. Here is the most affordable paid photo bank.

    (But at the same time you should keep creating new articles! You won’t “get away” by writing 20 articles and that’s it!)

    If you don’t have the strength to create content yourself, of course we can help + there are plenty of other agencies.

    Step 5 - start managing your communities on social networks

    At a minimum, you need to create a VKontakte group, a Facebook page, and a group on Odnoklassniki. .

    Post your articles there from the previous step at a rate of at least 2 articles per week. That's enough! Send away those who say that you need to post 6 times a day.

    Read more about managing communities.

    For posting, you can use a scheduler that allows you to do “delayed posting” - for example, this one, but in general there are many different ones.

    Step 6 - recruit at least 200 people into the community

    Step 7 - Start Promoting the Community

    It has been written about this in great detail. In short, you should try the following:

    • Regular advertising (targeting) in your social networks - naturally, using targeting those people you need, competitor communities or an active audience from thematic communities (which can be selected using Cerebro and similar services).
    • Paid posts in popular communities in your topic (via sociate.ru)
    • If you are unable to get new members from your target audience in this way for less than 20 rubles per person, you should try paid invitations and competitions.
    • As a result, you choose the most economical way to recruit subscribers from your target audience, and focus on it as tightly as your budget allows.

    If you don’t have at least 10,000 rubles a month to promote the community, you don’t even have to start any SMM. Nothing will grow on its own.

    Step 8 - Periodically make offers to buy

    Introduce offers into your group to buy or order something from you. SOMETIMES (not all the time! - more precisely, not more often than non-commercial materials). In any form - promotions, prizes, discounts, or at least just links to product cards in an online store.

    Step 9 - promote community activity

    That's it!

    If you have gathered at least more than 5,000 people (normal, honest, not bots) into a group and still can’t sell your products/services, it means you were doing something fundamentally wrong: either no one needs your product/service in principle , either there is something wrong with your price, or there is some other problem in business.

    Either the product is too expensive, or you did not correctly identify the pains of your consumers, were unable to convincingly answer them, or convince them that you are the one who will get rid of it.

    Does all this seem too complicated to you? Are you ready to say “to hell with all this, just do it for me”? - Ok, - we will help you develop a client profile, fill your communities with interesting thematic content, promote them and promote them to be active

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    Not so long ago, the Internet was a collection of dull pages of information. Students came here for essays and term papers, and older people looked for work. However, on February 4, 2004, a site was registered that revolutionized the industry as a whole. This site became Facebook.

    Following Facebook, an analogue appeared on the territory of the Russian-speaking population - the VKontakte website. Sites called social networks have become incredibly popular. They accumulated huge financial investments and more than repaid their investors. People literally flocked to social networks in droves and today it is difficult to meet a person who would not be registered in at least one of the major social networks.

    As networks developed, business opportunities began to emerge. Using social networks for these purposes has become very profitable, because no matter how many millions of people are gathered here. Social networks know everything about a person, so an advertiser can easily set up a target audience by specifying parameters for advertising, right down to your friend’s pregnancy.

    So what is itSMM without delving into terms?

    By definition, SMM is the promotion of services, goods, ideas through social networks. In scientific terms, SMM promotion is marketing in social networks, starting from content to advertising. Such social networks include any Internet site where you fill out a form, share photos and video content, and also post information on interests.

    There are thousands of social networks, but most likely you know only a dozen: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, VKontakte, Odnoklassniki and others. But in concept of SMM includes not only these sites, but also those that are highly targeted. For example, today there is a social network for parents, for girls, and even for finding a job.

    It turns out, in theory, SMM is a list social media networks that are capable of generating traffic to websites, blogs, online stores given parameters. This is a young direction in promotion, especially if you take SEO promotion. Currently there are few SMM specialists, and good specialists practically none.

    SMM promotion is...

    SMM in practice. What is it and how is it used?

    Usually, everything SMM promotion comes down to promoting groups on social networks. But this is not the only thing this term is responsible for. The package of SMM services usually includes targeted advertising, advertising in communities, PR, promotion of public pages, SERM (reputation management) and much more.

    If you decide to hire a specialist for such work, clarify what exactly he means by SMM. It is quite possible that they will simply try to bring bots into your community, which will not give you anything other than a ban.

    SMM specialist is a marketer high level, a person who perfectly knows the pains and needs of the client, sometimes better than himself.

    What are the main areas of SMM promotion?

    As with any activity, SMM has a set of tasks that this area solves. For example, in construction there are plumbers and putty workers - these are different areas of one common thing. The same applies to promotion using social networks.

    SMM promotion includes:

    1. Working with content in different formats;
    2. Interaction with the audience (responses to comments, removal of spam, resolving issues in messages, etc.);
    3. Creating creatives or materials that will be of interest to users (this is a little different from content, because every post cannot be creative);
    4. Working with advertising in different formats (usually advertising is carried out by a targetologist who knows how to work with the audience);
    5. Working with opinion leaders or public pages. This is advertising on pages famous people or publics;
    6. Mass following, commenting. This applies to . But it is important to note that this is not the most best way promotions;
    7. Creation of materials for the purpose of user activity - surveys, quizzes, games, competitions;
    8. Development of a promotion strategy for a week, month, etc.
    9. Dealing with negativity on social networks. Prompt response to eliminate the unpleasant effect of viral complaints.
    10. Creation of a general style (in interaction with the company’s designer, if there is one);
    11. Making edits and recommendations for SMM promotion. It is important to monitor changes in the market in order to immediately use new tools.

    What projects can be implemented usingSMM?

    In short - everything. Based on social networks, you can promote or create blogs or pages of famous people. You can manage your reputation by increasing the loyalty of your customers. Any field of activity can easily be adapted to social media networks.

    This sounds sad, because what has been done to communicate with people on the contrary divides us. But that’s not about that now. The point of SMM is to bring your brand, services, products or offers to the minds of millions of people. This is a billion-dollar business and it is the future.

    That's all, if the material was useful, please like it. In the next issue we'll talk about how to choose SMM specialist to realize your goals.

    According to marketing firm Forrester Research, your customers complete 66 to 90 percent of the consumer journey themselves. By according to Google, before purchasing, users study an average of 10.4 publications. And according to the Global Web Index, the average consumer has 5.8 social media accounts and actively uses 2.8 accounts. This means that you need to offer your audience quality social media content to help potential customers make smart consumer decisions. In this article you will find step by step description SMM strategy that will help you effectively promote your business on social networks.

    Step 1: Define a Social Media Strategy

    To develop a strategy, answer the following questions:

    • What do you want to achieve with SMM? Write down the goals you want to achieve. Determine the tasks that will help you achieve your goals. Of course, you know that goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, related to your business, and urgent. For example, a goal might look like this: within three months, an SMM campaign should increase the number of transitions to the site from social networks to 100 per day.
    • Who is your target audience? You must understand who you are working for and who you want to see on the website or in front of the cash register in the store. Create marketing personas that match each segment of your audience.
    • What information does a consumer need when planning to buy your product? Try to model the consumer journey of your customers. The answer to this question will help you plan information campaigns.
    • What social networks are popular among your target audience? You must determine the platforms that you will use for promotion.
    • At what time are your target audience active on social media? The answer to this question will help you plan when to post.

    Be sure to write down the answers to the questions.

    Step 2: Choose a Communication Tactic

    After answering strategic questions, you must solve an important tactical problem. Choose the tone and style of communication with your audience on social networks. You need to determine who will post notes and respond to comments, and how you will communicate with clients and colleagues. Use the following recommendations:

    Use your chosen tactics consistently to get your audience accustomed to your style.

    Step 3: Create Content

    This is the most important step in building an SMM strategy, since content is the foundation effective promotion business on social networks. An article on content planning will help you at the preparation stage. The following tips will make your content campaign effective:

    • Announce your own content. Also curate and republish your most popular content.
    • Combine different types content. Pay attention to the visual appeal of posts. This will help your posts attract the attention of users. Offer users infographics, photos, presentations, e-books, video infographics.
    • Encourage users to create content. To do this, support discussions, hold competitions and sweepstakes, and ask for customer opinions.

    To increase your audience reach, ask your employees and friends to repost.


    Step 4: Optimize Your Content

    Even if you create really cool content, it won't be able to compete with cats, celebrities, and nudity if you don't optimize it. Use the following guidelines:

    Make sure the content you publish is accessible to your target audience.


    Step 5: Think About Social Media User Conversion

    “Likes,” shares, and comments alone do not bring you deals or profits. To convert social media users into customers, you need to take additional steps. Consider these measures:

    • Indicate contact information in your social network profiles: phone number, email address, Skype nickname. This is especially true if you use networks as a virtual storefront.
    • Encourage users to leave contact information. For example, exchange for phone numbers or email addresses discounts or valuable content.
    • Direct users who are interested in the product to a conversion landing page site. For example, this could be a page for a current promotion.
    • Direct all users to the information section of your site. It should become a source of information necessary to make a purchasing decision.

    Find a way to continue interacting with your subscriber outside of Facebook or Google+.

    Step 6: Communicate

    • Actively attract subscribers. To do this, publish relevant content and promote it in all available ways.
    • Invite existing and potential clients to follow your page. Motivate them with discounts, access to exclusive information, and the opportunity to exchange opinions.
    • Participate in discussions in other groups. You need to gain authority.
    • Ask renowned experts in your industry to review your content. This can get you hundreds of subscriptions.
    • Reply to comments, encourage users to continue the discussion. The more active your audience is, the more subscribers you will have.
    • Provoke your audience. Think about how you can do this.

    Try at all costs to revive the group or public. The success of an SMM campaign depends on this.


    Step 7: Measure Promotion Results

    Track the ROI of SMM campaigns. Use UTM tags, monitor key metrics on the site. Follow these guidelines:

    • Monitor social media metrics. Pay attention to the number of subscribers, the number of reposts, comments and likes on posts. These figures should increase.
    • Monitor traffic from social networks. You are interested in quantitative and qualitative indicators: the number of transitions, behavior on the site, conversion rate.
    • Monitor business indicators: number of transactions, average bill, income and profit. How does SMM strategy affect sales? Do the funds invested in promotion pay off?