Thankfully living in the 21st century, people are enabled by so many innovative apps, programs and technology as a whole. In this step take some time to set up your business goals and strategies for your social media marketing; an example of this can be increased brand awareness and customer engagement. Next, decide which social media platforms you should use. To do this, you would need to find out what platforms your target demographic predominantly uses. Once you’ve established the business goals for your social media marketing, and have a clearer understanding of who you want to target, on which platforms, move onto the second pillar: publishing consistency.

Once you know who you want to target and where they are primarily based (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.) you can start generating content which will be published onto those various social media platforms. It’s that simple.

You can also utilise built-in features such as Facebook and Instagram advertising which will boost your online presence for a price. Doing a bit of market research can help with a few things, one of which is when your target audience is online and using their chosen social media platform; knowing this can help with when you publish your content as it can ultimately lead to more business!

Check out some tools like Buffer or Later which can help schedule when your content gets posted, hassle free and on time, everytime.

As your business grows and more business comes rushing through your doors, you’ll need to become more cognisant and aware of what people are saying about your business. Are your customers’ issues and problems being resolved? Are they bad mouthing your service delivery or are they praising how incredible your team’s work ethic and responsiveness is? This can be managed through monitoring tools such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Agorapulse. These tools and other online apps like them help with your business’ social listening ability. They make it easier to see what people like and dislike about you and what you and your competitors have in common, what separates you and in some cases why your business is a cut above the rest.

Following this information can ultimately help with how your published content reaches your audience members and how they engage with it - do they just give it a like, or do they share it with friends and family who share it multiple times, slowly extending your online reach?

Listening to what your customers have to say is possibly the most important thing about social media marketing.

This is the cherry on top of the social media ice cream sundae. The previous four pillars will ultimately guide you to a successful social media marketing goal. What you learn about your customers in your data collection from the analytics and reports will help you learn what kind of content people are looking for. You’ll also know how to connect with potential and current customers based on your levels of engagement with people in previous social media marketing endeavours.

Advertising takes what you provide to your immediate circle of influence, so your 10,000 followers on Instagram, and expands on that tenfold. Now your content will reach 100,000 people, not just in your locale, but across the world. So people can see Tech Warrior offers web based security products to small business owners in Moscow, Russia while being based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As mentioned earlier, you can target specific audience members using data you’ve collated from the onset of your social media marketing campaigns. This way, if you offer a range of products, you can set up various adverts targeting specific individuals on different platforms and different times throughout the days, weeks and even months.

Social media marketing is a powerful tool which successful businesses use regularly and specifically to stay current and connected to their customers. It’s like being the tip of the spear or the edge of a knife so as to solidify their presence in the online arena.