Marketing research

Marketing research

What Is Market Research?

Market research is the process of determining the viability of a new service or product through research conducted directly with potential customers. Market research allows a company to discover the target market and get opinions and other feedback from consumers about their interest in the product or service.

This type of research can be conducted in-house, by the company itself, or by a third-party company that specializes in market research. It can be done through surveys, product testing, and focus groups. Test subjects are usually compensated with product samples and/or paid a small stipend for their time. Market research is a critical component in the research and development (R&D) of a new product or service.

Understanding Market Research

The purpose of market research is to look at the market associated with a particular good or service to ascertain how the audience will receive it. This can include information gathering for the purpose of market segmentation and product differentiation, which can be used to tailor advertising efforts or determine which features are seen as a priority to the consumer.

A business must engage in a variety of tasks to complete the market research process. It needs to gather information based on the market sector being examined. The business needs to analyze and interpret the resulting data to determine the presence of any patterns or relevant data points that it can use in the decision-making process.

 Market research is a critical tool in helping companies understand what consumers want, develop products that those consumers will use, and maintain a competitive advantage over other companies in their industry.

How Market Research Gathers Information

Market research consists of a combination of primary information, or what has been gathered by the company or by a person hired by the company, and secondary information, or what has been gathered by an outside source.

Primary Information

Primary information is the data that the company has collected directly or that has been collected by a person or business hired to conduct the research. This type of information generally falls into two categories: exploratory and specific research.

Exploratory research is a less structured option and functions via more open-ended questions, and it results in questions or issues being presented that the company may need to address. Specific research finds answers to previously identified issues that are often brought to attention through exploratory research.

Secondary Information

Secondary information is data that an outside entity has already gathered. This can include population information from government census data, trade association research reports, or presented research from another business operating within the same market sector.

Example of Market Research

Many companies use market research to test out new products or to get information from consumers about what kinds of products or services they need and don't currently have.

For example, a company that was considering going into business might conduct market research to test the viability of its product or service. If the market research confirms consumer interest, the business can proceed confidently with the business plan. If not, the company should use the results of the market research to make adjustments to the product to bring it in line with customer desires.

The Development of Market Research

Formal market research began in Germany during the 1920s.1 Around the same time, market research in the United States took off during the advertising boom of the Golden Age of Radio. Companies that advertised on the radio began to understand the demographics that were revealed by how different radio shows were sponsored.

Face-to-Face Interviews

From there, companies were developed that would interview people on the street about publications that they read and whether they recognized any of the ads or brands within the ads that were published in the magazines or newspapers the interviewer showed them. Data collected from these interviews were compared to the circulation of the publication in order to see how effective those ads were. Market research and surveys were adapted from these early techniques.

Phone Research

Data collection then shifted to the telephone, making face-to-face contact unnecessary. A telephone operator could collect information or organize focus groups—and do so quickly and in a more organized and orderly fashion. This method improved the market research model greatly. 

Online Market Research

With people spending more time online, many market research activities have shifted online as well. While the platform may have changed, data collection is still mainly done in a survey-style form. But instead of companies actively seeking participants by finding them on the street or by cold calling them on the phone, people can choose to sign up and take surveys and offer opinions when they have time. This makes the process far less intrusive and less rushed since people can do so on their own time and by their own volition.

ARTICLE SOURCES

Related Terms

Target Markets: What Everyone Should Know

A target market refers to a group of potential customers to whom a company wants to sell its products and services. more

Demographics Definition

Demographic analysis is the study of a population based on factors such as age, race, sex, education, income, and employment. more

Advertising Appropriation

The advertising appropriation or advertising budget is the portion of the total marketing budget a company spends on advertising over a specific time. more

Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy is a business's general scheme for developing a customer base for the product or service the business provides. more

Understanding Market Orientation

Market orientation is a business approach that prioritizes identifying the needs and desires of consumers and creating products that satisfy them. more

How to Perform Due Diligence on a Company

Performing due diligence means thoroughly checking the financials of a potential financial decision. Here's how to do due diligence for individual stocks. more

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Video marketing

video marketing

Brands need a video marketing strategy — this idea isn't new. What has changed is how important video has become on every platform and channel.

Video is no longer just one piece of your overall marketing plan. It's central to your outreach and campaign efforts … especially your social strategy.

Video has absolutely dominated social. HubSpot Research shows that four of the top six channels on which global consumers watch video are social channels.

Why is this important? 

If you aren't creating video, you're likely falling behind. But don't fret. For most videos, the more simple and raw it is, the more authentic the content seems … and that's what really matters to your audience.

Better yet, video production is more cost-effective than ever — you can shoot in high-quality, 4K video with your smartphone.

Regardless, between camera equipment to lighting to editing software, the topic of video marketing can still seem pretty complicated. That's why we compiled this guide.

Continue reading learn everything you need to know about video marketing strategy, or use the links below to jump to a specific section.

Video Marketing

Video marketing is using videos to promote and market your product or service, increase engagement on your digital and social channels, educate your consumers and customers, and reach your audience with a new medium.

Why should you focus on video marketing today?

The last handful of years saw a surge in the popularity of video as a content marketing format.

Specifically, in 2017, video rise to the top of your marketing tactic list. Video as a tactic was likely streamlined by your creative team as a one-to-many awareness play, with lots of focus on expensive production and little analysis to show for it.

2018 and 2019 transformed video from a singular marketing tactic to an entire business strategy.

Today, video is a holistic business approach, meaning video content should be produced by all teams in a conversational, actionable, and measurable way.

Learn how personalized video is shaping the future of marketing, sales, and customer service.

According to a report from HubSpot Research, more than 50% of consumers want to see videos from brands … more than any other type of content.

video marketing video content is preferred

Video is useful for more than entertainment, too. Video on landing pages is capable of increasing conversion rates by over 80%, and the mere mention of the word “video” in your email subject line increases open rates by 19%. 90% of customers also say videos help them make buying decisions.

But video hasn't only transformed how businesses market and consumers shop; it's also revolutionized how salespeople connect with and convert prospects and how service teams support and delight customers. In short, video is incredibly useful throughout the entire flywheel — not just to heighten brand awareness.

Video can be a versatile tool for salespeople throughout the entire customer buying journey, and it can do much more than increase engagement. Backend analytics also help salespeople qualify and prioritize cold or unresponsive leads.

According to Gary Stevens, head of research at HostingCanada.org, "retargeting our website visitors on social media has led to a 47% increase in visitor value site-wide." The granularity of video analytics on platforms like Facebook is one reason why, in 2018, 93% of businesses reported getting a new customer on social media thanks to video.

The options are also endless for service teams — onboarding videos, knowledge-based videos, meet the team videos, support video calls, and customer stories are just a few ways that video can create a more thorough, personalized customer support experience.

Lastly, according to HubSpot Research, consumers and customers actually prefer lower quality, “authentic” video over high-quality video that seems artificial and inauthentic.

Video is within reach for businesses of virtually any size — team and budget alike. 45% of marketers plan to add YouTube to their content strategy in the next year. Will you join them?

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The 12 Types of Marketing Videos

Before you begin filming, you first need to determine the type of video(s) you want to create. Check out this list to better understand your options.

1. Demo Videos

Demo videos showcase how your product works — whether that's taking viewers on a tour of your software and how it can be used or unboxing and putting a physical product to the test.

Learn how to use video in each stage of the buyer's journey.

2. Brand Videos

Brand videos are typically created as a part of a larger advertising campaign, showcasing the company's high-level vision, mission, or products and services.

The goal of brand videos is to build awareness around your company and to intrigue and attract your target audience.

3. Event Videos

Is your business hosting a conference, round table discussion, fundraiser, or another type of event?

Produce a highlight reel or release interesting interviews and presentations from the gathering.

4. Expert Interviews

Capturing interviews with internal experts or thought leaders in your industry is a great way to build trust and authority with your target audience. Find the influencers in your industry — whether they share your point-of-view or not — get these discussions in front of your audience.

The video above is more than just a surface-level interview, it's a deep-dive with an industry expert offering concrete takeaways for viewers interested in creating viral content. Don't be afraid to get tactical with your interviews — your audience will grow from your hard work. 

5. Educational or How-To Videos

Instructional videos can be used to teach your audience something new or build the foundational knowledge they'll need to better understand your business and solutions. These videos can also be used by your sales and service teams as they work with customers.

6. Explainer Videos

This type of video is used to help your audience better understand why they need your product or service. Many explainer videos focus on a fictional journey of the company's core buyer persona who is struggling with a problem. This person overcomes the issue by adopting or buying the business's solution.

7. Animated Videos

HubSpot created the following video to promote a key (intangible) theme from the 2017 State of Inbound report.

Marketing strategy

marketing strategy

What Is a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy refers to a business's overall game plan for reaching prospective consumers and turning them into customers of their products or services. A marketing strategy contains the company’s value proposition, key brand messaging, data on target customer demographics, and other high-level elements.

A thorough marketing strategy covers "the four Ps" of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.

Understanding Marketing Strategies

A clear marketing strategy should revolve around the company's value proposition, which communicates to consumers what the company stands for, how it operates, and why it deserves their business. This provides marketing teams with a template that should inform their initiatives across all of the company's products and services. For example, Walmart (WMT: NYSE) is widely known as a discount retailer with “everyday low prices,” whose business operations and marketing efforts are rooted in that idea.

Marketing Strategies vs. Marketing Plans

The marketing strategy informs the marketing plan, which is a document that details the specific types of marketing activities a company conducts and contains timetables for rolling out various marketing initiatives.

Marketing strategies should ideally have longer lifespans than individual marketing plans because they contain value propositions and other key elements of a company’s brand, which generally hold constant over the long haul. In other words, marketing strategies cover big-picture messaging, while marketing plans delineate the logistical details of specific campaigns.

Academics continue to debate the precise meaning of marketing strategy, and so multiple definitions exist. The following quotes from industry experts help crystallize the nuances of (modern) marketing strategy:

"The sole purpose of marketing is to sell more to more people, more often and at higher prices." (Sergio Zyman, marketing executive and former Coca-Cola and JC Penney marketer)

"Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories you tell." (Seth Godin, former business executive, and entrepreneur)

"The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself." (Peter Drucker, credited as the founder of modern management)

“Marketing’s job is never done. It’s about perpetual motion. We must continue to innovate every day.” (Beth Comstock, former vice chair and chief marketing officer, GE)

"Take two ideas and put them together to make one new idea. After all, what is a Snuggie but the mutation of a blanket and a robe?" (Jim Kukral, speaker and author of Attention!)

The Creation of Marketing Strategy

The ultimate goal of a marketing strategy is to achieve and communicate a sustainable competitive advantage over rival companies by understanding the needs and wants of its consumers. Whether it's a print ad design, mass customization, or a social media campaign, a marketing asset can be judged based on how effectively it communicates a company's core value proposition.

Market research can help chart the efficacy of a given campaign and can help identify untapped audiences to achieve bottom-line goals and increase sales.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my company need a marketing strategy?

A marketing plan helps a company direct its advertising dollars to where it will have the most impact. A 2019 study conducted by CoSchedule, a provider of marketing software solutions, found that firms with a documented marketing strategy were 313% more likely to report success in their marketing campaigns. The company surveyed 3,599 marketers from more than 100 countries.

What does a marketing strategy look like?

A marketing strategy will detail the advertising, outreach, and PR campaigns to be carried out by a firm, including how the company will measure the effect of these initiatives. They will typically follow the "four P's". The functions and components of a marketing plan include the following:

Market research to support pricing decisions and new market entries

Tailored messaging that targets certain demographics and geographic areas

Platform selection for product and service promotion—digital, radio, Internet, trade magazines, and the mix of those platforms for each campaign

Metrics that measure the results of marketing efforts and their reporting timelines

What do the 4 Ps mean in a marketing strategy?

The 4 P's" are product, price, promotion, and place. These are the key factors that are involved in the marketing of a good or service. The 4 P's can be used when planning a new business venture, evaluating an existing offer, or trying to optimize sales with a target audience. It can also be used to test a current marketing strategy on a new audience.

Is a marketing strategy the same as a marketing plan?

The terms marketing plan and marketing strategy are often used interchangeably because a marketing plan is developed based on an overarching strategic framework. In some cases, the strategy and the plan may be incorporated into one document, particularly for smaller companies that may only run one or two major campaigns in a year. The plan outlines marketing activities on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis while the marketing strategy outlines the overall value proposition.

Related Terms

Macromarketing

Macromarketing is the study of the effect that marketing policies and strategies have on the economy and society as a whole. more

How Marketing Plans Work

A marketing plan is an operational document that demonstrates how an organization is planning to use advertising and outreach to target a specific market. more

The 4 Ps of Marketing

The 4 Ps of marketing are the key categories involved in the marketing of a good or service. The 4 Ps refers to product, price, place, and promotion. more

Target Markets: What Everyone Should Know

A target market refers to a group of potential customers to whom a company wants to sell its products and services. more

Mobile Marketing

Mobile marketing utilizes multiple distribution channels to promote products and services via mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones. more

Understanding Product Differentiation

Product differentiation is the process of identifying and communicating the unique qualities of a brand compared to its competitors. more

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Online marketing

online marketing

What Is Online Marketing?

Online marketing is the practice of leveraging web-based channels to spread a message about a company’s brand, products, or services to its potential customers. The methods and techniques used for online marketing include email, social media, display advertising, search engine optimization, Google AdWords and more. The objective of marketing is to reach potential customers through the channels where they spend their time reading, searching, shopping, and socializing online.

Widespread adoption of the internet for business and personal use has generated new channels for advertising and marketing engagement, including those mentioned above. There are also many benefits and challenges inherent to online marketing, which uses primarily digital mediums to attract, engage, and convert virtual visitors to customers.

Online marketing differs from traditional marketing, which has historically included mediums like print, billboard, television and radio advertisements.

Before online marketing channels emerged, the cost to market products or services was often prohibitively expensive, and traditionally difficult to measure. Think of national TV ad campaigns, which are measured through consumer focus groups to determine levels of brand awareness. These methods are traditionally lso not well-suited to controlled experimentation. Today, anyone with an online business (as well as most offline businesses) can participate in online marketing by creating a website and building customer acquisition campaigns at little to no cost. Those marketing products and services also have the ability to experiment with optimization to fine-tune their campaigns’ efficiency and ROI.

Benefits Of Online Marketing

A key benefit of using online channels for marketing a business or product is the ability to measure the impact of any given channel, as well as how visitors acquired through different channels interact with a website or landing page experience. Of the visitors that convert into paying customers, further analysis can be done to determine which channels are most effective at acquiring valuable customers.

Analytics for web or mobile app experiences can help determine the following:

Which online marketing channels are the most cost-effective at acquiring customers, based on the conversion rate of visitors to customers, and the cost of those visitors.

Which channels are effective at acquiring and driving higher lifetime value for customers — such as email marketing, which drives repeat purchases to prior customers.

Which cohorts of customers exhibit strong engagement behavior and high potential for upsells — such as software or mobile apps, which expect to sell more products to customers with high engagement.

Online Marketing Tools

There are a number of tools that can be used to build and maintain a robust online marketing program:

Email Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Display Advertising

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Virtual Events & Webinars

A/B Testing & Website Optimization

Content Marketing

Video Marketing

Marketing Analytics

Marketing Automation

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Content Management System (CMS)

Pay-per-click (PPC) Advertising

LinkedIn Ads

Affiliate Marketing

Examples Of Online Marketing

Some examples of online marketing campaigns include:

Canon advertises for search keywords related to "photography" on Google, Yahoo, and Bing search engines to market their cameras to a relevant audience to drive traffic to a specific webpage.

Whole Foods collects email addresses on their website to create email lists that can be used to advertise new products, sales, and events in their stores.

Dove creates video advertisements and shares them with their audience on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms to promote favorable conversation about their brand and products.

Bite Beauty partners with influencers to promote a new lipstick to their target audience of high-quality, beauty enthusiasts.

Although online marketing creates many opportunities for businesses to grow their presence via the internet and build their audiences, there are also inherent challenges with these methods of marketing. First, the marketing can become impersonal, due to the virtual nature of message and content delivery to a desired audience. Marketers must inform their strategy for online marketing with a strong understanding of their customer’s needs and preferences. Techniques like surveys, user testing, and in-person conversations can be used to understand the overall user experience.

Online marketing can also be crowded and competitive. Although the opportunities to provide goods and services in both local and far-reaching markets is empowering, the competition can be significant. Companies investing in online marketing may find visitors’ attention is difficult to capture due to the number of business also marketing their products and services online. Marketers must develop a balance of building a unique value proposition (UVP) and brand voice as they test and build marketing campaigns on various channels.

Internet marketing

internet marketing

What is Internet Marketing?

 Your Guide to Today’s Online Marketing

Here's everything you need to know about internet marketing, also known as online marketing, to help your business or brand drive traffic, leads, and sales.

Internet marketing is the most inexpensive way to reach your target market, regardless of the size of your business.

But what is internet marketing, really?

Defining Internet Marketing

Also called online marketing, internet marketing is the process of promoting a business or brand and its products or services over the internet using tools that help drive traffic, leads, and sales.

Internet marketing a pretty broad term that encompasses a range of marketing tactics and strategies – including content, email, search, paid media, and more.

These days, though, internet marketing is often used interchangeably with “content marketing.”

Why?

Because content marketing is the internet marketing of the present and future.

Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as:

Think of it like this: content marketing (or inbound marketing) is in direct opposition to traditional advertising (outbound marketing), and in direct integration with the patterns and habits of today’s generation.

We don’t like to be sold to, we have our ad-blockers on, and we barely watch cable anymore.

Content marketing serves up content that addresses our pain points, and is there when we want it.

Here’s a great illustration of that from Voltier Digital:

What is Internet Marketing? Your Guide to Today’s Online Marketing

Content Marketing vs. Traditional Advertising

Here’s the evolutional pathway behind the modernized form of marketing that is most successful today.

Selling no longer works (a.k.a., traditional advertising).

Why?

Traditional advertising focuses on pushing messages at the consumer to get them to buy.

It’s interruptive, obstructive, and intrusive.

It shouts, “Hey, look at me!” while waving its arms.

You may try to avoid eye contact, but traditional ads are persistent.

You know what traditional ads look like because you’re bombarded with them every single day.

Think TV commercials, billboards, magazine ads, radio ads, and web banner ads.

What is Internet Marketing? Your Guide to Today’s Online Marketing

Ads have been around for a long time, as evidenced by this traditional ad for “honest-to-goodness” coffee from the 1950s.

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Ads may still work in some strategic places.

But Internet users can just click away from ads if they don’t want to see them.

Which is exactly what happens.

According to a PageFair report, 615 million devices in use today employ ad blockers. Additionally, ad blocker use increased by 30 percent in 2016 alone.

You know it, I know it, everybody knows it.

Ads are annoying.

And, they aren’t the way consumers prefer to learn about new products anymore.

Instead of businesses shoving themselves in consumers’ faces, they need to take a different, gentler approach.

Content marketing is exactly that.

Brands and marketers who use it publish content that teaches, inspires, guides, or solves a problem for their target audience.

With some handy tricks, the targets can find that content on the web without it being pushed at them.

If the prospects gain something useful from the content, they’ll keep coming back for more.

Finally, consumers can interact with the brand organically and share their content on social media.

Trust is forged.

Authority is established.

Connections happen.

These loyal followers can then be converted into leads and sales – naturally.

All of the above happens with a focus on giving value to the user.

Help users – offer them value and they’ll reward you in return.

That is what internet marketing/content marketing is all about at its core.

Why Internet Marketing?

Now that you know what internet marketing is, you still may be wondering why there’s so much hype around it.

Well, the hype is totally founded.

Internet marketing has shown proven success over and over again.

Here are some stats gathered from around the web to help give you an idea of why internet/content marketing stands tall:

By 2019, content marketing is set to be an industry worth $313 billion.

91 percent of businesses already are convinced of its power and have already adopted it as an essential marketing tactic.

Content marketing costs 62 percent less than traditional, outbound marketing, but pulls in 3x as many leads.

If you’re a small business with a blog, you’ll rake in 126 percent more lead growth than your competitors without a blog

If you have a blog and publish content, you’re likely to get 434 percent more indexed pages on Google, on average

And there’s more.

From my own content marketing endeavors, I have seen my small business take off.

With 99 percent of our focus on content marketing, we managed to grow our worth to millions of dollars.

Bottom line: This stuff works.

Social media marketing

Social media marketing

Social Media Marketing for Businesses

Social media marketing is a powerful way for businesses of all sizes to reach prospects and customers. Your customers are already interacting with brands through social media, and if you're not speaking directly to your audience through social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest, you're missing out! Great marketing on social media can bring remarkable success to your business, creating devoted brand advocates and even driving leads and sales.

social media marketing

Social Media Marketing 101: What Is Social Media Marketing?

Social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of internet marketing that involves creating and sharing content on social media networks in order to achieve your marketing and branding goals. Social media marketing includes activities like posting text and image updates, videos, and and other content that drives audience engagement, as well as paid social media advertising.

We’ve created this guide to provide you with an introduction to social media marketing and some starter social media marketing tips and training to improve your business's social presence.

With these tips, you can begin developing your own social media marketing expert plan.

Social Media and Marketing: Start With a Plan

Before you begin creating social media marketing campaigns, consider your business’s goals. Starting a social media marketing campaign without a social strategy in mind is like wandering around a forest without a map—you might have fun, but you'll probably get lost.

Here are some questions to ask when defining your social media marketing goals:

What are you hoping to achieve through social media marketing?

Who is your target audience?

Where would your target audience hang out and how would they use social media?

What message do you want to send to your audience with social media marketing?

Your business type should inform and drive your social media marketing strategy.

social media marketing instagram post

Example of a drone company doing social media marketing on Instagram

For example, an e-commerce or travel business, being highly visual, can get a lot of value from a strong presence on Instagram or Pinterest. A business-to-business or marketing company might find more leverage in Twitter or Linkedin.

How Social Media Marketing Can Help You Meet Your Marketing Goals

Social media marketing can help with a number of goals, such as:

Increasing website traffic

Building conversions

Raising brand awareness

Creating a brand identity and positive brand association

Improving communication and interaction with key audiences

The bigger and more engaged your audience is on social media networks, the easier it will be for you to achieve every other marketing goal on your list!

Check out our BEST Social Media Marketing Tips EVER! Download for Free Here. 

Best Social Media Marketing Tips

Ready to get started with marketing on social media? Here are a few social media marketing tips to kick off your social media campaigns.

Social Media Content Planning — As discussed previously, building a social media marketing plan is essential. Consider keyword research and competitive research to help brainstorm content ideas that will interest your target audience. What are other businesses in your industry doing to drive engagement on social media?

Great Social Content — Consistent with other areas of online marketing, content reigns supreme when it comes to social media marketing. Make sure you post regularly and offer truly valuable information that your ideal customers will find helpful and interesting. The content that you share on your social networks can include social media images, videos, infographics, how-to guides and more.

facebook advertising examples

A great Facebook ad should be consistent with your whole brand image

A Consistent Brand Image — Using social media for marketing enables your business to project your brand image across a variety of different social media platforms. While each platform has its own unique environment and voice, your business’s core identity, whether it's friendly, fun, or trustworthy, should stay consistent.

Social Media for Content Promotion — Social media marketing is a perfect channel for sharing your best site and blog content with readers. Once you build a loyal following on social media, you'll be able to post all your new content and make sure your readers can find new stuff right away. Plus, great blog content will help you build more followers. It's a surprising way that content marketing and social media marketing benefit each other.

Sharing Curated Links — While using social media for marketing is a great way to leverage your own unique, original content to gain followers, fans, and devotees, it’s also an opportunity to link to outside articles as well. If other sources provide great, valuable information you think your target audience will enjoy, don’t be shy about linking to them. Curating and linking to outside sources improves trust and reliability, and you may even get some links in return.

Tracking Competitors — It’s always important to keep an eye on competitors—they can provide valuable data for keyword research and other social media marketing insight. If your competitors are using a certain social media marketing channel or technique that seems to be working for them, considering doing the same thing, but do it better!

social media marketing promoted tweets

Measuring social media performance through Twitter Analytics

Measuring Success with Analytics — You can’t determine the success of your social media marketing strategies without tracking data. Google Analytics can be used as a great social media marketing tool that will help you measure your most triumphant social media marketing techniques, as well as determine which strategies are better off abandoned. Attach tracking tags to your social media marketing campaigns so that you can properly monitor them. And be sure to use the analytics within each social platform for even more insight into which of your social content is performing best with your audience.

Social Media Crisis Management — Things don't always go swimmingly for brands on social media. It's best to have a playbook in place so your employees know how to handle a snafu. Check out our guide to social media crisis management to see examples of the worst social media disasters, plus tips on how they should have been handled.

How to Choose the Best Social Media Platforms for Marketing

Here's a brief overview about how to use social media for marketing according to each platform’s unique user base and environment. Different social media marketing sites require different approaches, so develop a unique strategy tailored for each platform.

Using Facebook for Social Media Marketing

marketing social media

Facebook’s casual, friendly environment requires an active social media marketing strategy. Start by creating a Facebook Business Fan Page.  You will want to pay careful attention to layout, as the visual component is a key aspect of the Facebook experience. 

Facebook is a place people go to relax and chat with friends, so keep your tone light and friendly. And remember, organic reach on Facebook can be extremely limited, so consider a cost-effective Facebook ad strategy, which can have a big impact on your organic Facebook presence as well!

Using Google+ for Social Media Marketing

Google+ entered the scene as a Facebook competitor, but it now serves a more niche audience. It won't work for everybody, but some communities are very active on Google+.

On Google+ you can upload and share photos, videos, links, and view all your +1s. Also take advantage of Google+ circles, which allow you to segment your followers into smaller groups, enabling you to share information with some followers while barring others. For example, you might try creating a “super-fan” circle, and share special discounts and exclusive offers only with that group.

Note that Google has announced plans to retire Google+, so plan accordingly!

Using Pinterest for Social Media Marketing

Pinterest is one of the fastest growing social media marketing trends. Pinterest’s image-centered platform is ideal for retail, but anyone can benefit from using Pinterest for social media purposes or sales-driving ads.

Pinterest allows businesses to showcase their product offerings while also developing brand personality with eye-catching, unique pinboards. When developing your Pinterest strategy, remember that the social network's primary audience is female. If that's your demographic, you need a presence on Pinterest!

Using Twitter for Social Media Marketing

social media marketing for dummies

Twitter is the social media marketing tool that lets you broadcast your updates across the web. Follow tweeters in your industry or related fields, and you should gain a steady stream of followers in return.

Mix up your official tweets about specials, discounts, and news with fun, brand-building tweets. Be sure to retweet when a customer has something nice to say about you, and don’t forget to answer people’s questions when possible. Using Twitter as a social media marketing tool revolves around dialog and communication, so be sure to interact as much as possible to nurture and build your following.

Using LinkedIn for Social Media Marketing

LinkedIn is one of the more professional social media marketing sites. LinkedIn Groups is a great venue for entering into a professional dialog with people in similar industries and provides a place to share content with like-minded individuals. It's also great for posting jobs and general employee networking.

Encourage customers or clients to give your business a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile. Recommendations makes your business appear more credible and reliable for new customers. Also browse the Questions section of LinkedIn; providing answers helps you get established as a thought leader and earns trust.

Using YouTube for Social Media Marketing