What’s the difference between social media marketing and social media management? Are businesses really benefiting from social media advertising? How do you even create Facebook Ads? These are some of the top questions we hear about growing a business with social media—and we’re going to answer them all.
Before we get into it, we should explain social media management and social media marketing are two separate things. Because of how different they are and the tactics you use behind them, we’ve split this article up to cover the definition, benefits and cost of both. With that said, let’s get into it.
Social Media Management
What is social media management?
Social media management is the strategy, creation and monitoring of organic (unpaid) posts on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. It’s often broken down into three disciplines—listening, analytics and engagement.
Social listening is observing what is being put on social media about your businesses, brands you sell or services you provide. Being active in social listening will help you gauge your business’s reputation, where you need to improve or social platforms you need to make yourself more known. Even if nothing is being said, it’s an issue you need to fix.
Social analytics help you understand your audience; who they are and what they like. While analytics may seem like a bunch of numbers insignificant to your business, it could reveal the secret to better business. For example, say your number one product is used most by teenage girls, so that’s who you target your social media strategy to, but you’re not building much of an audience. When you look at your analytics, it seems like women over the age of 40 (mum’s of teenagers) are your main audience. You could tailor your strategy to target parents shopping for teens, rather than directly at them.
Social engagement is what you do to be an active member of Facebook, Instagram or whatever social platform you’re on. This can be text or image posts, responding to comments or recommendations (reviews), engaging with other users’ posts, replying to private messages, etc.
Can social media management really help businesses?
When you look at the three disciplines of social media above, it becomes clear how social media can influence your business’s power. It’s not just about making sales then and there—it’s about creating influence, trust and a connection.
However, in the last couple of years, businesses have reported seeing a drop in engagement on organic posts on social media, even those who once had massive followings. But is there anything for the average business to worry about? Does it mean social media management isn’t worth it?
In January, 2018, Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook) made this announcement:
“You’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard—it should encourage meaningful interactions between businesses.”
He outright admitted Facebook would be showing less organic posts. But, it doesn’t mean organic posts won’t be shown at all. All you need to do is work smarter, not harder, with your social media posts. Facebook wants to give people content they want to engage with. So, find out what it is your followers (and customers) want to see, encourage likes and reactions, comments and shares, and you should see an increase in organic traffic.
How much does social media management cost?
If you’re doing your own social media management, the only thing you’ll be spending is your time. Some businesses will utilise a professional photographer, videographer or copywriter for organic content, however many do without too.
Through research, the average spend on social management in Australia ranges from $400 to $22,000+ a month. This will most likely be people who are using branding, scheduling or management services. All of these methods can be a great idea if you’re time poor and have the money to invest, however, you’ll need to weigh up how many people see these posts to see if it’s worth it for your business. This is where social media marketing comes into the picture.
Social Media Marketing
What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing refers to paid advertising on social platforms such as Facebook or Instagram. As platforms tend to restrict how many people see organic business posts, social media advertising is a way to bridge the gap and put your posts in front of more eyes.
There are numerous ways you can create Facebook ads. A common misconception is that boosting posts is the same as Facebook or Instagram ads. While boosting does help you get an organic post in front of more people, ads allow you to do so much more.
An ad allows you to get down to the specifics, targeting by location, age, gender, interests and more. You can create a simple image and text ad, or experiment with promoting your page or using different call to actions, such as the form feature. These ads can all be created in the Facebook Ads Manager and work on a bidding system.
The Facebook ads bidding system can get a little confusing, but if you don’t bid correctly, you may end up paying too much for your ads or not getting the performance they could achieve with a more experienced hand. We’ll talk a bit more about how the Facebook bidding system works when we discuss the cost of social media marketing.
Why is social media marketing important for small businesses?
Social media marketing bridges the gap between what you want people to see and what Facebook wants people to see. Facebook ads are a way to ensure a large audience are seeing your business across social media.
The other benefits of social media ads are being able to do more than with a normal post. Social media may be all about developing an authentic connection with people, but it’s also a way for people to connect with you too. With posts, you can advertise specific products and services, linking straight to the website pages they can by from. You can add contact forms straight into your ads or have people direct message you with just one click. It’s like an extension of a good website.
How much does social media marketing cost?
There are two types of cost we’re going to discuss—the cost of ads and the cost of social media marketing management. Responding to, “How much does a Facebook ad cost?” is a bit complicated. Every ad created on Facebook and Instagram goes through the Facebook Ads Manager and the bidding system.
The bidding system will take into account the industry you’re in, the audience you want to target, your goals and the quality of your ad. All of these things will impact the price of your bid. However, you can set your budget, so if your cost per impression (view) is $1 and you set your budget as $1,000 for 3 days, you’ll receive roughly 1,000 views. You’ll also need your ad to pass the minimum requirements, such as the quality check, not having inappropriate content, refraining from using before and after photos in some industries and having the right text to imagery ratio.
Now, there’s the price of social media marketing management. This is investing in someone to lower your cost per impression so you get more views for your budget. During our research on the cost of a manager, we found the average cost seems to be around the $800 to $9,000 a month, with some services or agencies not providing transparent prices at all. At Localsearch, our social media marketing packages start at $499 a month to allow any sized business to experience the benefits of social media ads.
Learn more about Localsearch social media marketing.
Do I need social marketing or social media management?
It’s not really a question of whether you use social media marketing or social media management; more how to use them together for the greater cause. Your social media management should cover the three key principles, while social media marketing should be used to get your key messages to more people.
The Takeaway
Social media is important for growing your business. It’s a way to connect with people on a human level, showing your true brand personality—who you are, not just what you do. If you have any questions about leveraging your social media strategy with Facebook and Instagram ads, why not organise a free, no-obligation chat with our team today.
Feature image source: Prateek Katyal on Unsplash.
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