Social media marketing = management of social channels, aimed to help companies, public figures, professionals, associations to be appreciated by their target audience. 

Each social network has specific features and has to be managed properly. 

Social media management may be helped by digital PR: influencers boost the visibility of products, services, experiences, …

Facebook, founded by Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, was originally a university network where students could organize parties and activities. It has then become world’s leading social network. 

It hosts users’ profiles and companies/public figures pages. 

On a markeitng point of view, it can be a B2C but also eventually a B2B channel.

It is anyway essentials for any company to be on Facebook, because of its traffic volume. 

Local shops can count on maps and users’ reviews: Facebook is becoming more and more important in the field of Local SEO/Local Web Marketing. 

In 2008, Facebook introduced Facebook Ads, its advertising product. Since 2015, they allow companies to target Instagram as well. 

Both on Instagram and Facebook, the targeting is based on the users’ interests, socio-demographic data and geolocalization.

Instagram is a free app enabling users to share images, albums, videos and Stories (originally, only square pics with retro filters, in an Eighties Polaroid fashion!). Launched in 2010, Instagram was bought by Facebook in 2012.

On a marketing point of view, this channel fits better B2C than B2B industries: lifestyle, luxury, fashion, travel, sports, … are the same topics loved by Instagram, top users, influencers with whom companies can negotiate profitable collaborations.

Pinterest is since 2010 the place where people collect Boards of images of “stuff they love” (pin + interest). 

This social media is loved in particular by women based in anglosaxon Countries. 

Pinerest has its most important categories are Food, Bricolage and DIY, Womens fashion, Home decoration and Travel, and offers of course advertising spaces.

YouTube, founded in in San José (California) and acquired by Google in 2006, is world’s leading video sharing platform. Its search engine is the second most used, after Google.

On a marketing point of view, it fits either B2C and B2B, requiring investments for

• realizing high quality videos

• SEO optimization

• SEM campaigns through the Google Ads platform.

LinkedIn is a freemium social media, mainly used for professional networking. It has been acquired by Microsoft in 2016 and had previously bought the slide sharing platform Slideshare.

Around 80% of Companies in the world uses Linkedin for hiring purposes.

Employer branding through Linkedin has become a specific field, a mix of marketing and HR!

Linkedin is also more and more used for B2B marketing and sales.

Linkedin is also fundamental for personal branding, therefore a good visibility is very important for any Professional nowadays, needing to become a “social selling” champion!

Linkedin offers to companies Linkedin Ads, that are meant to promote products and services but also job offers: their targeting is based on the information that people include in their profile, such as current position, languages, past experiences, interests, age, …

Moreover, recruiters can count on “Hiring Solutions” and Sales Managers on the possibility to integrate Linkedin with their company CRM.

Twitter, released in 2006 in San Francisco, is a microblogging platform meant for sharing messages up to 140 letters – now 280.

On a marketing point of view, it fits B2C and B2B. It is heavily used by public figures, journalists and companies, that can also promote themselves through Twitter Ads.