Social media strategy in the marketing mix: Tips for business success

From TikTok to Instagram to Pinterest, modern businesses can take advantage of several social media opportunities to connect with their audiences.

What is a marketing mix?

A sound social media strategy starts with the proper foundation.

The marketing mix — often known as the five Ps of marketing — is a foundational business concept that includes product, place, price, promotion, and people. Sometimes, you’ll see only four Ps listed, or as many as seven. But overall, the goal of a marketing mix is to provide the right framework so you can ensure a balanced focus with your marketing approach.¹

Let’s take a deep dive into why each of these five Ps of marketing are so important and what each one means for the social media strategy.

Product

At the heart of a small business is a product. This is what you're selling, whether it's physical goods, services, or digital offerings. It’s the basis for a marketing plan and social media strategy.

It goes deeper than the tangible or intangible item, though. It's also about understanding what makes your product unique — like the branding, features, or benefits — and how it fits into the market. A business may need to answer any customer’s questions or concerns about the product, too, such as how, when, and where it’s used and what makes the product stand apart from its competitors.

Place

Where do you sell and distribute your products? This could be anything from a physical store to an online platform or wholesale distribution model. If your product isn’t easily accessible, then you’ll likely struggle with its maximum sales potential.

Understanding your potential customers’ preferences for availability, such as online, a mobile app, or on certain social media platforms, are among the key considerations for placement. Whatever distribution channels you use for the product, you want to make it as easy as possible for people to purchase it, which is why pinpointing the optimal place (or places) is important for a marketing strategy.

Price

Price is not only how much the product costs, but also encompasses the pricing strategies that factor into market demand, profit margins, and competitor pricing.

Price is also the perceived value of the product from a customer’s viewpoint and why they’re willing to pay X amount of dollars for a particular item. A marketing campaign guided by the five Ps of marketing should be able to use price as part of the brand storytelling, such as if it’s a premium product or is more affordable for greater accessibility.

Promotion

How do you communicate about your product to your audience? Promotion applies to several key categories, such as advertising, sales, personal selling, digital marketing, and PR, and is how you persuade those to purchase your product. A business can use promotions for relaying its core message and reaching current and potential customers.

Promotion comes in both paid and non-paid forms. It can be paid advertising targeting specific audience members or user-generated content, such as product use photos, customer testimonials, or unboxing video.

People

People refers to both the staff involved in your business (including distributors, suppliers, and employees) and your target customers. In other words, it’s not only those who create and sell your product, but also those who experience it.

Knowing who “your people” are plays an important role in developing a company mission, values, and even a brand voice. Additionally, understanding your target customers and audience guides product positioning, product placement, pricing, and promotional strategies.

Where does social media come into play?

Here’s how an effective social media strategy can amplify the five Ps:

• Product: Features like polls in Instagram Stories polls let you gather customer insights to drive product refinement and innovation. Additionally, social media platforms provide another tool for demonstrating a product, such as a TikTok video where user-generated content shows realistic product use or provides in-depth product reviews.

• Place: Social media offers a direct connection to your potential customers, which is why the availability is such an integral part of the overall social media strategy. This happens not only through stories and posts, but also through platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, all of which allow shoppers to discover, browse, and purchase without leaving their apps. Social media platforms offer new places for selling products by opening even more distribution channels, versus only selling products in a physical store.

• Price: You can use social media to observe your competitors’ pricing strategies and promotional cadence, which in turn can guide your own pricing. While you set your own pricing strategy, social media can also help explain the value of your product’s price to its audience and why your product has its price positioning.

• Promotion: Whether you want to share discounts, run targeted ads, or host live events, social media offers plenty of promotional opportunities. Social media is a key element for broadcasting promotions, product launches, or special pricing and gives you direct access to an audience who are likely most interested in the latest product offerings. Keep in mind a promotion doesn’t necessarily mean discounting the product price — you can use social media as a way of persuading someone to purchase the product and tell the brand’s story.

• People: A direct line to your social media user base means more personalized interaction and community building. Social media makes two-way communication with customers and the general audience possible and provides a space for genuine connection. It also allows for greater insights into who is behind the product, including your company mission and values.

The keys to implementing a social media marketing mix

While your social media marketing journey will differ based on what you sell and who you’re selling to, there are some universal best practices.

Set goals and objectives

Without a proper plan, social media content can feel disorganized, sporadic, and full of random and unplanned posts. To keep this from happening, take the time to define your social media goals. Use your objectives to narrow down the types of content you create and which platforms are most useful for executing these goals.

While not an exhaustive list, a few of the most common goals for the overall social media strategy can include:²

• Increase brand awareness

• Raise customer engagement

• Attain lead generation

• Boost sales

• Launch or promote a product

• Improve customer service and response wait times

• Promote job openings and attract talent

Your goals will also determine your key performance indicators (KPIs). Social media content engagement rates, follower growth, conversion rates, and social media content reach are all great starting points.

While there are plenty of external tools, social media platforms typically offer their own analytics tools to uncover how your content is performing, who engages with it, and the overall impact on your business objectives.

Setting goals and objectives is an ongoing process. Once your social media marketing program is up and running, use this data to continually refine your content strategy. Experiment with different posting schedules, content types, and promotional tactics to discover what resonates best with your audience and creates the most social media engagement.

Understand your audience

The power of social media platforms revolves around their targeting capabilities. Rather than blasting messages to everyone, you can reach specific groups most likely to be interested in your business.

Using data from existing customer feedback and website analytics, review who your audience is. Consider demographic factors like age, gender, location, and income level, as well as interests, values, and online habits — what platforms they use, when they're most active, and the kind of content they engage with.

Once you understand who your audience is, social media offers the opportunity to target these potential customers through paid or organic means. Targeting an audience through paid means typically involves purchasing ads on a social media platform. These ads allow you to select your target audience, an ad goal (typically conversion, increased website visits, awareness, or engagement), and track the results.

Understanding and reaching an audience through organic means using non-paid tactics. This includes working with the platform’s algorithm to ensure your content gets seen by the target audience. You can use stories, posts, visually appealing content, consistent posting, and direct interaction with audience members to increase your organic reach.³

Choose the right platforms for your business

With so many social media platforms available, and social media marketplaces, it’s important to consider each one’s unique strengths, how they cater to different demographics, and how each one can support your businesses social media strategy.

For example:

• Facebook: Great for both broad reach and detailed targeting thanks to numerous tools available for businesses. Dedicated business pages, Facebook Groups, targeted Facebook ads, and Facebook Marketplace are a few examples of how a business can lean into Facebook’s massive platform to create engagement, build a community, and potentially drive revenue.

• Instagram: Suitable for visually driven content and engagement. Use Instagram marketing to create captivating posts, cultivate brand storytelling, and showcase a product’s features or service. The platform also offers Instagram Shopping, which allows in-app sales and also helps create a low-friction purchase experience for the user.

• TikTok: A must-have for those targeting younger audiences. TikTok’s videos work well for trendy, fast-paced storytelling in a more casual environment. Though the videos are shorter compared to some other platforms, they still allow for product reviews, demos, customer testimonials, and a wide range of other topics that can increase awareness and conversions. Features such as TikTok Shop let users discover and purchase a wide variety of products directly through the platform.

• Pinterest: As part of an effective social media strategy for businesses in fashion, home decor, and DIY industries, Pinterest allows users to connect with brands and products through visual inspiration. When a user clicks on a pin, it takes them to the connected website address, which can be anything from your company’s how-to blog post to a product promotion. Using visually appealing assets, such as a quality photo, concise text, or video can quickly capture the target audience’s attention and lead to engagement.

TikTok and Pinterest can help boost brand visibility through feeding users personalized, visual content, making it easier for people to discover and connect with new businesses.⁴

Conduct market and competitive research

Before you dive into the challenge of creating content for your social media strategy, take the time to complete thorough market research by conducting social media competitor analysis. This type of analysis focuses on the current practices of your competitors to see what’s working well in your industry.

A competitive analysis starts with identifying your direct competitors. Then, look at their profiles and activity across multiple social media platforms. As you take a deep dive into their information, ask key questions that can lead to a greater understanding of your competitor’s social media strategy.

Focus on questions like:

• What are the latest trends?

• What are your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses?

• How can you carve out a unique niche for your business?

Understanding the answers to these questions has several benefits for your social media strategy. It helps mold and shape content, exposes your own strengths and opportunities within social media, and helps refine your target audience.⁵

Best practices for social media marketing

Ready to bring your social media strategy to life? Keep these tips in mind:

• Consistency is key: Regularly post content to maintain engagement with your audience – it’ll help you build a loyal following. Consistent posting signals to your audience and the platform’s algorithm that your business is active and relevant. In turn, this can create greater awareness and engagement for your page. Using a tool like a content calendar can make consistent post management even easier.

• Boost audience engagement: Respond to comments, messages, and mentions to increase your visibility and strengthen your relationship with your audience. Responding also lets your followers know that you see and hear them, which can create greater loyalty to your business and/or product.

• Use visuals: Images and videos tend to perform better on social media. While each platform has its own parameters around pictures and videos, including high-quality visuals can grab a user’s attention as they’re scrolling. The more the visual captures their attention, the greater the likelihood of engagement.

• Diversify your content: Mix different types of content (educational, promotional, entertaining) to keep your feed dynamic. This is also critical for reaching different segments of your audience. Each type of content can appeal to audience members on their own buying journeys.

• Compare ad prices: Ad prices are constantly changing. Each major platform has options for targeted ads, which can make it overwhelming when you’re deciphering which platform is most effective. Instead, use metrics such as cost-per-click (CPC), cost per impression (CPM or CPI), and conversion rates to factually guide you on which ads are most effective for your overall marketing plan.

Learn more about social media marketing and how it can support your overall social media strategy.

Getting ready to mix it up

When you create a marketing strategy and build an engaging social media presence, it can ultimately drive sales.

Use the five Ps of marketing as your north star for your social media strategy and focus on building a foundation rooted in goals, your target audience, and any relevant platforms. Experimentation is key, so mix it up to see what resonates with your audience most.