The term social media marketing (SMM) refers to the use of social media and social networks  to market a company’s products and services. Social media marketing provides companies with a way to engage with existing customers and reach new ones while allowing them to promote their desired culture, mission, or tone.  Social media marketing has purpose-built data analytics tools that allow marketers to track the success of their efforts.

How Social Media Marketing (SMM) Works

Social media has changed the way we function as a society, including the way we connect with one another. As platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram took off, businesses also took notice.2  They began to use these sites to further their interests through social media marketing. That's because these sites are able to change consumer behavior.

Social media websites allow marketers to employ a broad range of tactics and strategies to promote content and have people engage with it. Many social networks allow users to provide detailed geographical, demographic, and personal information, which enables marketers to tailor their messages to what is most likely to resonate with users.

There are five key pillars of social media marketing:

1. Strategy: This step involves determining goals, the social media channels to be used, and the type of content that will be shared.
2. Planning and Publishing: Businesses should draft plans of what their content will look like (i.e. will there be videos?  Photos? How much script?) and decide when it will be put out on the platform.
3. Listening and Engagement: Monitoring what users, customers,      and others are saying about the posts, brands, and any other business  assets. This may require the adoption of a social media engagement tool.
4. Analytics and Reporting: Part of being on social media is   knowing how far posts are going, so reports of engagement and reach are  very important
5. Advertising: Purchasing ads on social media is  a great way to promote and further develop a brand. 

Because audiences can be better segmented than more traditional marketing channels, companies can ensure they focus their resources on the audience that they want to target using social media marketing. Some of the metrics used to measure the success of social media marketing (which is also known as digital marketing and e-marketing) include:

• Website reports, such as Google Analytics
• Return on investment (ROI)
• Customer response rates or the  number of times customers post about a company
• A campaign's reach and/or virality or how much customers share content