What is SMM Promotion

SMM, Social Media Marketing, is promotion in social media. Social networks and messengers are currently among the main channels of internet marketing. If you like a popular channel or account and think it is run spontaneously and sincerely, it is most likely that there is actually a well-thought-out content plan and skilled specialists behind it. The purpose of SMM includes:

1. Attracting attention to the brand,

2. Increasing brand recognition,

3. Engaging the audience in the brand's life and interacting with it,

4. Building the company's image,

5. Increasing sales and attracting new customers as a result.

An important idea in marketing is to make loyal audiences bring in new customers themselves. The more often this happens, the higher the brand's recognition. SMM promotion also works towards this goal but on a smaller scale. The success of local brands is directly dependent on promotion on social media. By subscribing to a company profile that maintains an attractive page, you become a potential buyer. When you need a product, you will go to the producers you remember.

Key elements include attractive design, valuable content, and the style of communication with clients. Many companies manage their social media from an expert perspective, sharing useful information with customers. Some choose to publish information and respond in private messages, while others develop a specific persona to guide the brand's behavior and how it addresses the audience. All of this helps the company grow and attract new customer traffic.

Who benefits from SMM marketing

Social media promotion is particularly beneficial for B2C businesses, those that provide services and goods to individuals and consumers—from tailoring lingerie, food services, and photography to clothing and jewelry brands. B2B companies find clients on social media much less frequently. SMM promotion is a universal tool, primarily useful for companies that are not widely known, such as:

• Small businesses

• Online stores

• Startups

• Personal brands

• Non-profit organizations.

Types and tools for SMM promotion

Content. This is the main method of promotion and the reason people subscribe to a page or a Telegram channel. It can include useful text posts, beautiful photos and videos showcasing the brand's products, stories, and more. Content should be published regularly to retain the audience's attention and increase the likelihood of the page appearing in searches. What to publish and how is determined when creating a content plan.

Targeted Advertising. These are advertisements shown to a target audience: for example, car parts are purchased by middle-aged men, while children's toys are bought by mothers and homemakers; other categories may not be as interested in the product. To launch targeted advertising, the brand's target audience (TA) must be analyzed to understand who the potential customers are. Then, an advertising campaign is formed, an advertisement is created, and targeting is set up.

Interaction with Subscribers. This includes comments, responses to reviews, contests, emotional posts, and expressions of care. Imagine an account of a small coffee shop that announces on social media in bad weather that it invites everyone for hot drinks at a discount. Or a local clothing brand that launches a campaign to donate part of its profits to charity. Or a store that has adopted a cat. These are not only good deeds but also ways to attract more positive emotions from subscribers and become a brand that people talk about with each other.

The audience can keenly sense when a brand speaks to them in their language and engages in topics close to their hearts. Discussions involving the company or direct questions from the brand to its subscribers will also generate more reactions. It is equally important to address customer issues: a quick and appropriate response to negative messages shows that the company values its clients.

Collaboration with Influencers. Influencers, such as well-known bloggers, are opinion leaders in their field. For local brands, local opinion leaders are an excellent choice, as advertising with them costs less, and their recognition in their city may be high. Suitable methods for this type of promotion include joint posts, campaigns, videos, discount promo codes from bloggers, or direct advertising. Companies also collaborate with artists, musicians, or brands from other industries for social media. Both options will attract a new audience.

Mentions in External Communities. This usually involves paid advertising in thematic chats, channels, or groups. While not as effective as targeted advertising, it also helps find new clients. This method is popular on Telegram when launching new channels: for a fee or mutual promotion, administrators of large channels repost a publication.

Mascot. This is a character that becomes the brand's trademark and is associated with it. For example, the M&M’s advertising characters named Red and Yellow are known even to those who do not like sweets.

Advantages and disadvantages of SMM

Advantages

✅ Trust. In many ways, SMM promotion looks like friendly communication between a brand and its subscribers. Loyal customers trust the information the company publishes and forward these messages to friends and family—making the posts appear as recommendations from a reliable source. Loyal readers of the posts may not yet be customers of the brand, but they are likely to become ones eventually.

✅ Speed of Information Dissemination. Messages on social media are forwarded instantly, and this feature has two sides. On one hand, a regular reader will forward a notification about a promotion or a beautifully crafted post to others, and they will quickly spread across the network. On the other hand, the same is true for negative messages, from reviews of services that make their way to social media and the media to major scandals.

✅ Reaching the Target Audience. Social media makes it faster and easier to find new customers. Thanks to targeted advertising, information about the brand will reach consumers interested in the product immediately. Users provide data for targeting themselves by leaving it on their accounts.

✅ Communication. Social networks are designed for communication, and marketers have turned this feature to their advantage. This includes quick responses to comments, jokes that become popular memes, user surveys, and contests.

Disadvantages

❌ Investment. Results do not appear immediately; it usually takes from three months to six months. Additionally, it is difficult to estimate how much SMM promotion will cost, as expenses depend on many factors.

❌ Ongoing Effort. A brand's social media needs to constantly feature new content, and creating videos or organizing contests requires a lot of time, as does regular posting.

❌ High Cost of Mistakes. This ranges from typos in the text to poor choice of topics or reactions that provoke numerous discussions. Due to the speed at which information spreads, everyone—including the target audience—becomes aware of serious mistakes.

Features of Social Media Promotion

SMM promotion includes five stages:

1. Defining the Promotion Goal. For example, increasing brand awareness, boosting sales, analyzing the target audience (TA) for future marketing work, or creating a brand community. It is also important to set measurable business metrics to achieve, such as increasing the number of subscribers by 500 people per month.

2. Market and Brand Concept Analysis. This involves studying the company's positioning, logo, brand colors, brand phrases, and how the company interacts with clients on its website. Analyzing the market and competitor data on social media is crucial: understanding the techniques they use and how the audience reacts. Market analysis provides insight into which metrics to focus on for your promotion efforts and which competitor practices are effective. It is also helpful to find mentions of the brand on social media, in the media, and on review forums to understand how the brand was previously perceived.

3. Studying the Audience. To manage social media effectively, it is essential to know who you will be communicating with and in what language. This depends entirely on the product's target audience. These insights are also necessary for subsequent advertising setup and campaign planning—content that addresses people's significant concerns and issues works best.

4. Content Creation. Based on the target audience analysis, select the social networks where the brand will operate and determine which tools will be used for promotion. The target audience may not be present on all platforms, so it is unnecessary to invest time and money in engaging with them.

   At this stage, the brand's idea and core values, and tone of voice are detailed. If a person identifies with a company's values, they will prefer that company when making a purchase. Develop a visual concept and principles for designing materials across different social networks. Create a content rubricator and agree on a list of topics. There is a rule called the "golden content formula," which is the ratio of the most popular types of content on social media: 40% entertainment, 30% brand-related, 25% educational and useful, and 5% advertising.

   • Entertainment content—games, jokes, and memes—keeps the audience engaged, while educational content adds expertise.

   • Brand-related materials include company news, feedback management, behind-the-scenes stories, and employee-generated content.

   • Advertising publications are announcements of promotions and contests, as well as product and delivery information.

5. Choosing Promotion Methods. Develop several hypotheses for brand promotion to test and identify the most effective methods. Plan targeted advertising settings, decide which social networks and formats to use, determine how the brand will manage negativity on social media, and plan collaborations and influencer interactions. Create a media plan with budget allocation.

A well-formed strategy will help avoid mistakes and save the budget. Chaotic social media management indicates a poorly developed strategy or the lack of one altogether.