Why Outsourcing your Social Media Marketing is the Best Thing to do in 2018

With most social networking platforms reaching their all-time high figures, in terms of the number of users, Social Media Marketing has undoubtedly become one of the most popular ways of reaching out to your target audience. If done properly, it can provide very high ROI and help shape your brand’s image.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)is very important for your brand and it needs to be done in a proper manner. Many people have this notion that it is an easy task, and the basics of Facebook and Twitter will help them sail through. In reality, it is much more complicated and requires the knowledge of a professional.

SMM is more than just advertising across social channels. It requires the knowledge of various software and apps for managing your marketing campaign. It also demands an ability to create quality content which will be a hit with your target audience. You need a continuous campaign, across various social channels, curated specifically for your target audience.

All this is seldom possible with a small in-house marketing team. They may not be as well equipped with the intricacies of social media marketing. Also, social media is time-consuming and it may not always be possible for them to look into this. As a company which is just starting up, you have numerous other tasks to look after. In such a case, outsourcing your social media marketing will be your best bet. The past year was a huge year for social media, with the number of Facebook users reaching 2 billion, and these figures will continue to grow in 2018. Outsourcing your social media will have the following benefits.

Save Money

If you don’t outsource, you will need to hire a professional. This will probably be more expensive as apart from the salary you will have to look into other benefits and overheads. Working directly with a b2b agency will provide you more value for money. Also, you won’t have to spend on any software, tools or training as they will already be equipped with the same


Expertise

Social media doesn’t just involve sharing posts. It also involves analysing huge amounts of data and figuring out a proper strategy based on the results. Marketing agencies catering to social media will have many experienced members who actually enjoy doing all this.Moreover, tools and technology are developing at a very steep rate and it will be difficult for you to keep up with all this. The coming year might also see newer forms of social media emerging or new advertising formats across channels. All this should be left to the professionals. As stated before, social marketing is not as easy as it appears.

Response Management

If you are busy, there are chances that the queries on social media platforms, by your customers go unattended. This will be better handled by a separate agency. So if you have a product launch or a team outing, you need not worry about your social media presence fading out. Marketing agencies like ours provide continuous solutions and ensure your presence across social channels at all times.

Targeting your audience

If you cannot answer questions like who you are targeting specifically, and where is there presence likely to be found, it is best that a third party handle your social media handles. They will research your target audience, find out how and where to target them and generate leads for your company.

If you are not convinced enough, just have a look at your social media marketing outcomes. Is your in-house marketing team or the underpaid intern able to generate enough leads? If the answer is not satisfactory, you are probably not doing it right and should look towards outsourcing your social media marketing, in the coming year.

How Startups Can Benefit From Video Marketing & How To Do It

Videos easier to grasp and create a long-lasting impression on the viewer. Memories of television ads back from the 90s are still fresh in our minds. No wonder, many startups are opting for video marketing strategies for their brands. If you haven’t opted for any form of video marketing, go through this article, and you’ll get a fair idea why it would be a good option.

Video marketing simply means using videos to market your product. These may not necessarily be video ads, but also take other forms, like product videos, tutorials, product unboxing videos, customer review videos etc. There are many advantages which a video marketing campaign has over other forms of content marketing :

Draws more attention: A 3-4 minute video, containing the same information as a 300-400 word blog post, will definitely create a better impact on the audience. Watching a video is a passive activity, requiring much less effort and concentration than say reading. Internet users today have a very short attention span and will go for a video more readily than opening up a long post.

More Effective: A video allows you to be more creative, and target your audience in a better way. Chances are that you have seen the Samsung India 4 minute Ad film, which revolves around visually challenged persons. This emotional, unconventional and has over 150 million views on Youtube. Video advertisements can be made emotional, educational or entertaining, and directly appeal to the viewer.

Improving SEO rankings: As per statistics, adding a video to your website can increase the chance of a front-page Google result by 53 times. It helps you rank significantly higher than what textual or image content can.

Now, what are the marketing platforms and how to start with video marketing?

Step 1: Creating the Video

You do not need to spend a bomb on creating your video content. Today, you can get many freelancers from Fiverr or similar sites,  who will curate your video content. You can also look for content creators on YouTube and VIne, who will take care of the entire process of scripting, casting and storytelling. If feasible, you can make your videos from your own place and use your own tools.

Step 2: Platforms

There are numerous video sharing and distribution sites, where you can publish your content. These also offer paid promotions to boost your content. You can also directly go for a video ad on these platforms. YouTube is undoubtedly leading the lot. It has over a billion users, which is almost one-third of total internet users.
Other than that, you can opt for micro-video sharing websites like Vine, Snapchat, Instagram and Dubsmash as well. If your target population is the youth, you can definitely go to these sites. However, they might have different formats and it might be challenging to limit your video within these time limits. Other than that, you can always opt for Facebook, for sharing your video content or posting it as an ad.

Step 3: Marketing

Uploading your video, and hoping for it to become viral will never work. Being a Startup, you may not be able to partner with big brand partnerships, but you could always approach bloggers, friends and other young entrepreneurs like you, who would be willing to promote your content.

These are the basics of Video marketing. Of course, there needs to be a lot of thought to be put into what actually goes into your video. Your content needs to be creative, entertaining and the right length. It need not always be promotional content but can be something related to your brand.

Having said that, launching a video marketing strategy for the first time is not an easy task, but provided you have packed in a bunch of entertainment or information, you will surely attract viewers, and direct traffic to your site.