Third Team MediaLearn Social Media Marketing from the Experts (Part 4)
Emma Bautista, Social Media Manager
In our previous installment of “Learn Social Media Marketing from the Experts”, our social media manager and travel/food blogger Kareen shared with us her thoughts and experiences in the world of marketing.
One of the most notable things she said is the “customer-centric marketing” as the future of social media marketing. She opined that since customers now do have the convenience and accessibility to speak out what they want and how they feel, marketers who are handling corporate accounts should make sure they are using social media to maximize its benefits and not the other way around.
But we’re not done yet! Today, we are going to feature one of our awesome social media managers Emma Bautista, who holds quite a bit of experience in this field of work. We asked Emma the same questions that we did the others and had her share her views on social media marketing and the intricacies of it with us.
Let’s begin!
1. So Emma, what for you is social media marketing?
Emma: Social media marketing is the process of gaining traffic or attention through managing different social media sites.
2. How does it differ from traditional marketing?
Emma: For social media marketing, you are limited to the boundaries of the internet. With traditional marketing, you try to reach people in the offline world as well.
3. How effective it is compared to other mediums?
Emma: In today’s digital age, it is essential to incorporate social media marketing in your business. You gain customers and potential clients creating a good social media marketing strategy. Also, the conversion rate that social media creates for your business is evidence enough that it aids in your business growth.
4. What edge does social marketing have?
Emma: Technology adoption and automation.
5. What is the biggest challenge social media marketers face?
Emma: There’s always an update, a new trick everyday! You have to keep up.
6. For one to be a social media marketer, is it really necessary to have a marketing degree in college?
Emma: It is not necessary but I believe it will help big time.
7. What are the skills required to be a social media marketer?
Emma: Reliable, Loves to share, Is updated with the current events, Knows how to write
8. With tons of information available in the internet and some of them popping out in a user’s screen at any time of the day, how does a social marketer make his product/service stand out?
Emma: By creating content that is unique and attractive to the world wide peeps.
9. But let’s say I own a business and want to adopt social media marketing in my operations, do I really need to hire an expert social media marketer to do the job for me? Or I can just simply learn the techniques on my own and apply it to my business?
Emma: You can learn the techniques but the time for you to learn will be a lost time for you to actually manage your business. Hire an expert social media marketer. They know what to do.
10. What is in store for social media marketing? How do you foresee its future?
Emma: It’ll be more fun and challenging! Also, competition will be stiff in future for social media.
So, there you go! We got to know what social media marketing is and the ins and outs of it in some very short yet precise answers from our social media manager Emma.
Like our other social media managers, Emma shared with us that doing marketing in social media is not an easy task. It needs constant monitoring, creativity, and a whole lot of great ideas to succeed in the field.
But one important thing that Emma stressed on about social media marketing is the concept of “conversion rate” which can be used as an evidence in asserting that marketing in social media is in fact crucial in operating business nowadays.
Conversion rate, as defined by Jakob Nielsen, is the percentage of users who take a desired action. One archetypal example of it is the percentage of website visitors who buy something on the site.
One specific example he cited is a website that is visited by 100,000 people during the month of April. During that month, 2,000 users are said to purchase something from the site. Thus, the site’s conversion rate is 2,000/100,000 = 2%.
So, that’s basically how we calculate the conversion rate in our marketing efforts online.
On the other hand, Emma also gave businesses owners an advice about doing social media marketing by themselves. To quote, “you can learn the techniques but the time for you to learn will be a lost time for you to actually manage your business.” Ending it with a very bold statement from her, “Hire an expert social media marketer. THEY KNOW WHAT TO DO”.
This only shows that while anyone can learn how to do social media marketing, a business owner who functions both for the management and the marketing arm of the company seems like a risky idea because the businessman’s attention is now being divided on two jobs which are held very vital for his business to succeed. A social media manager, whose forte is in promoting your business online and attracting users anywhere in the world, is deemed the most fit individual who can help you sustain your business in the long run.
We’ll share more insights from our social media managers in the coming weeks to help you understand the importance of it. So stay tuned!