In this section you will find:
Facebook provides a platform where we can enhance our brand presence, build a user community and convert these users into paying customers. That is unique and powerful.
Herman Cheng CEO, FunShare - Dalla pagina facebook business
In an e-commerce marketing plan, social networks represent a relevant element; approaching this type of channel, however, it is necessary to carefully evaluate its operating methods, opportunities and risks.
We can say the following:
Using social media marketing, a company can tell its story, communicate its values, people, policies, long-term vision, its attention to CSR policies (Corporate Social Responsibility: environment, conciliation, gender equality, etc.) in an engaging way. For further information, refer to the Illuminating Stories section where, among others, we suggest a visit to the Volvo Facebook page where you can find videos of the latest models of the Swedish car manufacturer but also, for example, videos about the company’s commitment to comparison of the environment.
Using the model of the Business model Canvas (see Module 3) it is possible to work on the definition of the social media marketing strategy starting from the analysis of the data collected in the definition of the model
On the Facebook business site you will find useful information on how to create a company FB page and how to manage it: the suggestion is to create a place where people can meet your business (Create a place for people to meet your business). The site gives indications on how to create and manage a page and indications on how to monitor activities.
Among the services that Facebook offers its users is the Facebook blueprint that offers a series of lessons on the following topics:
Facebook can also be used as a tool for social media marketing through Facebook ads. As with any marketing tool, even for Facebook ads, it is crucial to define the objectives and the target, the budget and the monitoring and measurement activities. The Facebook ads power editor offers a number of tools to do all of this. For more information visit the page, open it and try to do some simulation. This is the link where you can find a series of success stories.
Twitter dedicates on the pages of its official website a specific section to companies: Twitter for business.
Through this space, Twitter outlines the services offered to companies, guides the user in discovering the functioning of the social network and presents the Twitter ads function. From a technical point of view, using the services offered by Twitter is quite simple, the difficulty is in creating valuable content, in line with the company objectives and planned over time.
Youtube is the most used social video sharing social media in the world with over a billion users in more than 88 countries; It is available in 76 languages and has enormous potential as an online marketing tool for companies.
Creating an effective, usable, engaging and focused video is not easy, but if you have interesting materials, opening a Youtube channel is a “possible mission”. Again, the Google guide is a great help.
With more than 500 million users, LinkedIn is the most used professional social network in the world. “LinkedIn’s mission is simple: connect professionals from around the world to help them be more productive and achieve their professional goals.”
For more information visit the platform. This is the link for registration.
LinkedIn also offers an e-learning platform called inLEARNING.
WhatsApp Business is an application designed for small business owners. With WhatsApp Business, activities can interact with their customers thanks to tools to automate, organize and respond quickly to messages. Italy is one of the countries where the new version came first, along with the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico and Indonesia. The application opens up to companies by offering them some tailored functions, which differ from the standard version. The application maintains the same graphic appearance, but allows companies to show customers and potential customers information about their business: from the address to the website, to e-mail. The most relevant news are quick responses with welcome messages, those of absence to warn when you are not available to chat and the creation of short messages that automatically arrive to the user interested in specific details such as the working hours or the availability of some objects or materials. For company owners – and only for them or for the employee or consultant responsible for managing the business profile, by virtue of the unique identifiable number that cannot be shared – there is also the possibility to check statistical data such as the number of messages read in order to identify more effective strategies than others. The company account is recognizable by users because it is marked by a distinctive feature, as already happens with the blue check next to the names on Facebook and, as stated in the note published on the company blog, “the current WhatsApp users will continue to use the application without needing to download a new one and will continue to have full control over the messages they receive, including the ability to block any number (including activity numbers), and to report spam.”
The application also offers analytic functions and allows you to evaluate the number of messages sent, delivered and read.
The analytic tools for evaluating social media marketing are many and the analysis is sometimes very complex. In this section we have illustrated some monitoring tools provided by the various social networks. In addition we offer you the Google toolkit dedicated to digital marketing strategies. The kit offers different analytic tools useful for exploring consumer trends and behaviour.
To monitor and manage multiple social channels simultaneously, you can experiment with the following tools:
Hootsuite and Buffer: tools that simplify the research, programming, management and reports of social content; on the Hootsuite platform there are also some free courses on the use of social media as a marketing tool.
Tweetdeck a platform for the management and planning of “Tweet”.
