A New Chapter in your Marketing Guide: Social Media Marketing

As a result of the rapid change and evolution of the technological world we find ourselves in an age where everything from paying bills, shopping online, chatting with friends, sharing photos and videos, booking travel and so on can be done with a simple hand held device from nearly anywhere in the world.

With these advances in these everyday activities its no wonder Social Media Marketing (SMM) now plays such a crucial role in the everyday function of businesses as well. Whether it be the big companies such as Woolworths, Commonwealth Bank and Medibank to the small and medium enterprises (SME's) in your local area, whether they have a bricks and mortar stores or are operating purely online, social media is now an integral part of a companies success factors.

Social media platforms allow people to share content such as text, image, videos, music etc. with people within their network, who can then share it on to their own network of friends. Social media marketing is where companies utilise these tools as apart of their overall marketing strategy.

Companies who engage in social media marketing effectively and connectedly via multiple vehicles may find that they have a  far greater reach of customers, that they are selling more, raising more brand awareness and therefore in a stronger position than perhaps competitors who do not engage in social media marketing effectively or at all.

Some may be thinking, platforms? Content? what does this all mean? 

Well according to the textbook by Tuten and Soloman 'Social Media Marketing' the world of social media can be divided into a framework of 'four zones' as illustrated in figure 1 below.

                               Figure 1: 4 zones of social media

These four zones then have 'vehicles' which these activities can be conducted through; some examples of these vehicles are illustrated in figure 2 below. 

                                      Figure 2: 4 zones of social media with examples of vehicles

Many companies will utilize multiple vehicle platforms in order to get an effective spread of social media coverage. It doesn't have to be every vehicle everyday but it should be consistent and it should all be tied in and connected.

Understanding the basics such as using multiple platforms, publishing content with your audience in mind,  listening  feedback, delivering value through participate and that it ties in which your overall brand marketing among other things is crucial to educate yourself on.