By Saif Alam siddiqui, for Maeeshat

To begin with the topic let us understand the term “Social media is computer-mediated apparatus which allow people to create and exchange, information, ideas in the form of pictures/videos or text within virtual domain”. Social Networking allow individuals to interact with one another beyond the boundaries. When business join these social channels, consumers can interact with them directly which can be more personal to users than traditional methods of outbound marketing &advertising.

Social Media Marketing is the process of boosting website traffic through social media sites most common are Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram.It focus on the creation of contents which fascinate and encourage the target audience to share across their social Network however this contents are organic in reach and it reaches by the frequency of clicks, likes or share through this phenomena a vast amount of data can be captured by analysing the fan base, content they like share or comment the current market trend and segment can be analysed bycertain analytical tools marketers can detect buying signals, such as content shared by people and questions posted online understanding of this signals can help sales people target relevant prospects and marketers to run targeted campaigns.

As social media is emerging day by day, and those not running with it have found it increasingly difficult to survive in this digital era it is being used by an estimated more than 76% of businesses today. Until now Business have spent years in the traditional social media marketing approach by organic engagement but the recent trend is charged and it’s not enough to create Instagram Facebook or LinkedIn Pages and get some likes or retweet. Now a days Social Media sites have initiated paid services to boost up the contents with paid Ads and sponsored contents business can reach beyond organic loyal or traditional social media fan which organically boost up the bottom line it can check the appropriate target audience reach for a proper market penetration.

Now let us see the types of social Media which serve distinct purpose:

1. Owned/Organic – Brand controls the channel e.g.: Web/mobile site- Blog-Twitter.
2. Paid– Brand pays to leverage a channel e.g.: Twitter ads (promoted tweets, promoted accounts) – Facebook page promotion (boosted posts, Facebook offers) – LinkedIn sponsored updates.
3. Earned – Customer becomes the channel e.g.: Brand buzz – “Viral” content- Organic shares.
   

   Source: http://blog.hootsuite.com/paid-earned-strategy

Paid social media (often referred to as “integrated social advertising”), is just that: A brand pays to social media channel to promote its message, service or product. By controlling the content, targeting and placement.After this your social media channel suddenly looks like the avenue for prospective customers andcontent can be directed to people who are more likely to engage.

The first question hunt social media marketer is that how far the investment is going to be profitable?

Let me explain the cost of Social media marketing by graphical presentation.

From the graph it is crystal clear that howaffordable social media isin deciding marketing strategy as compared to other source with same impact.

Source:(www.socialmediatoday.com)

For sure Business are using free social media but when analysed executed effectively, paid social media can give you a huge return on marketing expenditure. The sponsored content is targeted to the right market segment and it’s effective and profitable.

Main effective key points to love about social Media in its paid form:

Business can:

• Improve lead generation
• Control brand message and its delivery
• Increase validity of content
• Reach a broad, targeted audience
• Boost organic engagement

For sure Social media moves fast and need to analysed properly to make maximum of it now a days an ever-increasing cacophony of social media channels, it’s become difficult to get message out to the right people, let you alone decide by yourself about its impact on your business and choosing Social Media Marketing Campaign strategy.

The writer is Founder of www.tizarat.com he can be reached  saifalam89@gmail.com