If you’re not investing in social media marketing then you might want to think twice. A recent study showed that 97% of Fortune 500 companies use social media marketing campaigns to connect with their audience and promote their products and services online.

It’s no secret that social media is a powerful tool for marketing your business. But what many people don’t realize is that social media can also be used to engage with your customers on a personal level. 

By creating engaging social media campaigns, you can connect with your customers and create loyalty that will lead to increased sales and profits. So how do you create an engaging social media campaign? 

In this quick guide, we’ll help you understand the different types of social media marketing campaigns. Then, we’ll provide you with some tips on how to get started.

Marketing On Social Media: What to Expect

Before talking about using social media to market, it’s helpful to provide you with a bit of an understanding of what to expect with this type of digital marketing tactic. 

Because, when it comes down to it, marketing on social media is not as simple as publishing a photo to your company’s Instagram account each week. It’s also not as simple as updating your LinkedIn followers about what’s been going on in your business.

Namely, it’s important to understand that social media marketing is a marathon, not a sprint. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your social media following. It takes time and effort to grow a loyal following. Be patient and consistent in your marketing efforts.

Additionally, quality trumps quantity. It’s better to have 100 engaged followers who will see and interact with your content than 10,000 disinterested followers who will never see your content. Focus on creating quality content that will appeal to your target audience.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to experiment. Social media is constantly changing, so it’s important to experiment with different marketing strategies on different platforms. It’s all about finding what works best for your business.

Paid vs. Organic Social Media Marketing

Now, when it comes to social media marketing, you mainly have two routes you can take: organic or paid. What’s the difference between the two?

Paid social media marketing is when you pay to have your content featured on a social media platform. Organic social media marketing is when you create content that is seen and shared on social media, without paying for placement. 

Aside from the obvious, there are also differences between the benefits and outcomes of each type of social media marketing.

Paid social media, for example, generally has a quicker turnaround time for seeing results. It’s also a lot more targeted than organic social media. 

Organic social media requires more time and effort to create high-quality content. However, it can be more rewarding in the long run. This is because it can help you build trust and credibility with your audience.

Both of these forms of social media marketing have their pros and cons. This is why it’s important to choose the right strategy for your business goals. Let’s explore those pros and cons more in-depth to help you figure out where to direct your attention and marketing budget.

The Pros & Cons of Paid Social Media Marketing

As mentioned above, paid social media marketing is a form of marketing that involves paying for advertising on social media sites. This makes it an effective way of reaching targeted potential customers on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. 

However, if you’re not careful about how you craft your campaigns then paid social media marketing can be expensive. There is also no guarantee that your ads will reach the right people. 

In addition, there is a lot of time and effort that goes into a successful paid social campaign. You have to create your audiences. Then, you have to create the ads themselves and the copy that goes with them. In most cases, it’s best to entrust the creation and management of your campaigns to a qualified agency as they can monitor and optimize for you.

However, on the plus side, paid social media marketing is a great way to reach highly-targeted audiences. You can customize your campaigns to target specific demographics, interests, and locations. 

When you’re able to do it right, paid social media marketing can be an effective way to help generate immediate interest and highly-qualified leads as part of long-term brand growth.

The Pros & Cons of Organic Social Media Marketing

Organic social media marketing is the process of building a presence on social media platforms without paying for advertising. To do this, you’ll typically focus on creating compelling content and engaging with potential customers regularly.

While organic social media marketing can be effective, it does have some significant drawbacks. 

First, organic reach on social media platforms these days is notoriously low. This means that it can be difficult to connect with potential customers without paying for ads (but not impossible).

Additionally, opting to pursue a more organic social strategy requires a lot of time and dedication. Creating high-quality content and maintaining a consistent presence on social media can be very time-consuming. You’ll need to have an established brand visual guide. Usually, you’ll need a graphic designer to help you with the posts, too.

However, organic social media can still be an effective way to connect with potential customers and build brand awareness. Paid social media marketing may have a higher ROI, but it can also be more expensive and less authentic than organic social media marketing. 

The Best Types of Social Media Marketing Campaigns for Service-Based Businesses

There’s no denying that social media marketing can be tricky to master. This is especially true for service-based businesses. 

Aside from figuring out whether or not you want to focus on organic campaigns or paid campaigns, you need to decide what type of campaign within those two categories is going to work best for your business.

One of the best ways to use social media for service-based businesses is to focus on creating helpful content that solves problems for your target audience. This could be in the form of blog posts, infographics, video tutorials, or even just helpful social media posts. 

By providing valuable information that helps your audience, you can build trust and credibility. You can also position yourself as an expert in your field. This can lead to more sales down the line.

Another great social media marketing strategy for service-based businesses is to run promotional campaigns. No, we’re not talking about the paid campaigns mentioned above. We’re talking about offering discounts or giveaways. 

Overall, promotional campaigns are a great way to boost leads and conversions, and they can also help to spread the word about your business. Offer something of value in exchange for user engagement. Make it a win-win for you and your audience.

By focusing on creating helpful content and running promotional campaigns, you can reach your goals and grow your business, all while building trust and credibility with your target audience. 

If you’re looking for specific, actionable ideas, though, here are a few great campaign options that don’t involve paying for ads.

Influencer Marketing

Influencers are people with a large following on social media. They can help to raise awareness of your business and drive traffic to your website. 

Service-based businesses can benefit from influencer marketing in several ways. Namely, they’re a great way to promote the helpful content we mentioned creating above. Creating the content is just the first step; you also need to promote it effectively.

This is where influencers come in. They can help you reach a larger audience than you could on your own. Additionally, because they have a loyal following, they can help to build trust and credibility for your brand. All of these factors can help to drive sales and leads for your business. 

If you’re interested in using influencer marketing for your service-based business, there are a few things you need to keep in mind, though.

First, you need to identify the right influencers for your brand. Find an influencer who mirrors your own brand’s mission and voice as much as possible. Be sure that their following is similar to your target audience.

Before launching your influencer marketing campaign, you also need to develop a clear strategy. Think about what you want to achieve with influencer marketing.

Done correctly, influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for service-based businesses. By partnering with the right influencers and developing a clear plan, you can reach new customers, build trust for your brand, and drive sales and leads for your business.

Brand Collaborations

Another great way to grow your service-based business via social media is to collaborate with other brands. Brand collaborations can help you reach a new audience similar to your own. By combining forces, it’s a lot easier to market on social media.

As is the case with influencer marketing, there are a few things to keep in mind when you’re collaborating with other brands. 

First, make sure that your values align. You want to make sure that you’re working with brands that share your vision and that you’re comfortable representing. Oftentimes, you’ll be cross-promoting content, so make sure that it fits your brand style as well.

Second, be clear about what you’re offering. You want to make sure that both brands know what they’re getting out of the collaboration. Avoid confusion and ruined relationships by clearly laying out the benefits for each of you.

Finally, don’t be afraid to get creative. Collaborations are a great opportunity to try new things and experiment. Be open to learning from the other brand regarding what has worked for them in the past. Take those learnings and implement them in your social strategies.

If you’re looking for brand collaboration opportunities, social media is a great place to start. Look for brands that you think would be a good match. Then, reach out to them directly. You can also browse LinkedIn to find others in your niche with similar interests and audiences.

User-Generated Campaigns

Finally, if you’re interested in a budget-friendly social media marketing tactic, user-generated social campaigns are a great way for service-based businesses to connect with their customers organically.

By encouraging customers to share photos and videos of themselves using your product or service, you can create a sense of community and loyalty among your user base. This not only encourages user engagement but allows you to benefit from essentially free testimonials.

Overall, user-generated content is often more authentic and relatable than traditional advertising. In the end, this makes it more effective at driving engagement and sales. 

Furthermore, user-generated social campaigns are relatively low-cost and easy to implement. This makes them an ideal marketing strategy for startups without a large marketing budget.

Not sure how to get started with this type of marketing on social media? 

To create a user-generated social media campaign, you’ll need to first decide what type of content you would like to see from users. You can do this by creating a specific hashtag for the campaign. You can also give users guidelines on what kind of content to share. 

Then, you’ll need to promote the campaign across your social media channels. Encourage users to participate. If you need to, offer prizes or discounts for those who share user-generated content related to the campaign. 

Finally, be sure to monitor the user-generated content that is shared and moderate it if necessary. By doing this, you can ensure that only high-quality content is associated with your brand.

Get Help With Your Social Media Campaigns

There are numerous ways that startups and service-based businesses can create effective, high-converting social media marketing campaigns on their own. However, we know just how challenging it can be to go at it alone.

At Brandhouse, we’re passionate about building meaningful brands. Get in touch today to see how we can help you achieve success through branding and social media marketing.