Eric Butow - Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing

Entrepreneur Press, Publisher

Cover Design: Andrew Welyczko

Production and Composition: Eliot House Productions

2020 by Entrepreneur Media, Inc.

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ISBN 978-1-61308-432-8

Contents

Foreword

by Andrew & Pete, founders of andrewandpete.com

G uess what. Social media isnt the new way to market your business. Nope, its not.

In fact, calling social media the new way to market your business is like saying Amazon is the new way to buy your Christmas presents, or even better, that Maroon 5 is this new up-and-coming band that is going to be huge.

Want to feel old?

Did you know Maroon 5 won the Grammy for Best New Artist the same year Facebook launched? Bonus points if you know the year.

Social media isnt new; marketing your business on social media isnt new. This isnt a fadits here to stay.

In 2019 we walked onto a stage in front of 5,000 of our peers.

The stage was at Social Media Marketing World 2019 in San Diego, the worlds largest social media marketing conference. We were the closing keynote on day one. Before a backdrop of palm trees and surfboards, we told the audience all about social media marketing success stories and how businesses and brands are thriving online, like fitness guru Joe Wicks, who now has more than 100,000 customers, thanks to the power of social media.

Or what about the UK TV show Love Island, which went from a failed concept to the countrys most watched digital TV program in 2018, thanks to the shows savvy use of social media marketing.

Every day we see brands like Burger King, Spotify, Wendys, and Charmin, to name a few, connect with their customers in new and inventive ways that get them trending, while other brands like JD Wetherspoon and Lush get roasted for failing to talk to their customers on social platforms.

So whether youre a big brand, a small business, a TV show, or a blogger, social media cant be ignored.

But social media can be a few other things, too:

It can be like your last relationship complicated.

It can be like your in-laws a little hard to bear sometimes.

It can be like the Kardashians hard to keep up with and remember whos who.

It can be like your favorite TV show that got canceled on a cliffhanger Really. Blooming. Annoying.

Because heres the thing: Social media isnt new, but in a lot of ways it is. Social media is a little Maroon 5 mixed with a little Billie Eilish. Its old and its newall at the same time.

Because although a lot of the social media platforms have been around for what seems like forever, the features, capabilities, and what you can achieve with social media change on a daily basis.

So thats why its good that you have this book, because as the title suggests, this is the Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing (its best if you say that in your head in a really epic voice, with an emphasis on the ULTIMATE).

If you want to know how to grow your business, using the not-so-new-but-still-ever-changing social media landscape, then this book is for you.

If you dont like writing in the margins of a fresh-smelling book, we recommend grabbing a new notebook, buckling yourself in, and getting ready.

EPIC VOICE TIME: This is the ULTIMATE Guide to Social Media Marketing.

Enjoy.

P.S. It was 2004. Theres no prize, but fist-bump if you got it right.

Preface

T rying to keep up with all the changes in every social network within a printed book is as futile as going to the ocean and keeping the waves back with a broom. To float on with this metaphor, it may seem as if the number of social media marketing services is so vast that if you use all of them, theyll wash over you and drown your business.

Ultimate Guide to Social Media Marketing takes a different approach by showing you how to decide which social media platforms are right for you and use them strategically to drive more customers to your business.

Youre not the only one who thinks social media is vital to the success of your business. Buffers State of Social 2019 survey reported that 89 percent of company marketers say social media is very or somewhat important to them. Seventy-three percent of respondents also said that social media marketing is somewhat or very effective for their business.

Whats more, a March 21, 2019, study by business website The Manifest, How Small Businesses Use Digital Marketing Channels in 2019, showed that 73 percent of small businesses invest in social media marketing, which is tied with websites as the top digital marketing channels for small businesses.

According to the Buffer survey, only 49.1 percent of companies have a documented social media strategy. If your company is part of this 49.1 percent, this book will help you refine your strategy so you can get even more business. If your company is part of the 50.9 percent that dont have a social media marketing strategy, well help you put one together.

WHAT TO EXPECT IN THIS BOOK

Heres a high-level overview of what well cover in this book:

Why businesses need to embrace social media marketing. To the casual user, social networks are about connecting with friends and keeping up with todays latest trends and trending topics. In business, however, you need a strong sense of how social media marketing fits into your overall marketing strategy, especially the roles of content and email.

Understanding todays social networks, from big ones like Facebook and YouTube to emerging platforms. You need to know the nature of each social network, including the types of content that can be shared, how audiences are grown, and what the typical demographic is. Once you know the nature of different social networks, youll know which ones your business should be on.

Learning how to craft your businesss social media strategy using todays formats. Well not only tell you how to craft your social media strategy, but well answer some important questions as well. Do you know the difference between a link post and an uploaded video? Do you know the requirements and restrictions for posting on different social networks? Well answer these and other questions so youre not caught off-guard.