How Can Beginners Enter The Social Media Marketing Industry?

Businesses everywhere, no matter how competitive their industry is, agree on one thing; a business should have some kind of social media presence. This is because a vast majority of people (who happen to be the target audience) access their information and entertainment through social media. The power of social media is evident every day. When selling a product or marketing a business, social media may be your next best thing. But, how do you tap into this world? In this piece, we will explore how social media marketing can help businesses grow and flourish and how to kickstart social media marketing. What’s more, we’ll explore tools needed to familiarise yourself with this new career and business opportunity to better your product or service delivery. 

What’s With The Socials? 

Even before the pandemic dawned a new normal on us, social media was already playing an important part in people’s lives. From connecting them with loved ones from far to affording customers a faster and convenient way to communicate with the brands and businesses, social media has been the perfect way to get the message across. Now with the digital revolution, it has been recorded that the number of social media users went from 3.4 billion in 2019 to 3.78 billion in 2021, just two years since the introduction of the new normal and the great digital shift in most corporations. So it is clear that a social media marketing course may be the thing you need to brush up on your customer service and delivery skills. 

Is There A How To? 

Social media marketing is exciting in that it explores a career in what many people, more so youth, enjoy the most. As opposed to presenting itself as a new tool to remove the youth from their current digital obsession, this career allows most people to make a living while creating, curating and distributing content for their products and services. A well-rounded brand that utilises all the features each social media app offers tends to do better than a brand that focuses on just one aspect of its marketing. A pro-tip for social media marketing is to assess when users are most active on which app in order for you to know when and how to deliver your business or brand’s advertising. All these and more skills and education on social media marketing can be obtained through a social media marketing course that you can invest in if you are on the path to a career in the field. And much like most, if not all careers, there is mentorship available for you. The nice thing about social media marketing mentorship is that it can also happen online, which gives you an opportunity to receive tips and tricks from anyone anywhere. 

Tools To Stand Out Above The Rest 

As mentioned and evident, the social media world is pretty competitive and demanding. This means you need to equip yourself with the right tools for your product, service or business to stand out. These tools will help you analyse what works and what doesn’t, check which posts are getting traffic, schedule when to post, and so much more. Most tools are free and may require a paid subscription if you need to unlock other advanced options. Here are some analytics and scheduling tools to familiarise yourself with: 

• Google Analytics: a free web analytics tool that tracks traffic on your website and compiles its findings into reports. Google also offers free training videos on how to use the program.
• Mixpanel: a web analytics tool similar to Google Analytics. The company offers a free plan, a monthly plan starting at about R254,59 and a personalised plan with varying rates.
• Hootsuite: a social media and web analytics tool with pricing plans. Hootsuite can be good for beginners and those who manage multiple platforms.  
• TweetDeck is a browser-based program that allows users to tweet from and manage multiple Twitter accounts in one place. It is free and only for Twitter. Its management abilities can be advantageous for beginners.

If you’re familiar with these platforms and tools, your social media marketing stands a better chance of standing out. 

A social media marketing upskill is not just great for your business, but you individually too. You can use your newly acquired skills to help other businesses with their social media presence and community management on a freelance basis while also helping your own business. So, consider this the same as taking up a new (insert your favourite social media platform) challenge, and watch yourself give brands and businesses the boost they need and deserve.