English for Beginners: Social Media Marketing
Dialogue
Alice: Bob, I need your help!
Bob: Alice, what’s up?
Alice: My boss wants me to do social media marketing. I don’t even know what that means!
Bob: Oh, it’s easy! It’s just… posting silly pictures online.
Alice: Silly pictures? For our new super-serious accounting software?
Bob: Well, maybe not *super* silly. More like ‘engaging’ silly. Like a cat doing taxes!
Alice: A cat doing taxes… You’re kidding, right?
Bob: Nope! Think ‘viral content.’ People love cute animals. Or dancing avocados!
Alice: Dancing avocados? Bob, this is for a B2B audience!
Bob: Even B2B people scroll TikTok, Alice! We need to ‘reach our audience’.
Alice: So, I need to ‘create content’ that goes ‘viral’?
Bob: Exactly! And don’t forget ‘hashtags’! #TaxCat #AvocadoAccounting.
Alice: This sounds more like a comedy show than marketing.
Bob: Welcome to the internet, my friend! It’s all about getting ‘likes and shares’.
Alice: Okay, fine. But if my boss asks for dancing avocados, I’m blaming you.
Bob: Deal! Just make sure they’re happy avocados!
Current Situation
Social media marketing is when businesses use platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn, and TikTok to promote their products, services, or ideas. It’s a very popular way to connect with customers, build a brand’s reputation, and increase sales.
Many people spend a lot of time on social media every day, so companies try to create interesting and fun “content” – like pictures, videos, and text – to catch people’s attention. The goal is to “engage” with their “audience” and encourage them to “share” the content with friends, sometimes making it “viral” (very popular very quickly).
Key Phrases
- Social media marketing: Using social media platforms (like Facebook, Instagram) to promote something.
- Example: My company wants to start social media marketing to find new customers.
- Post online: To put text, pictures, or videos on the internet (e.g., on a social media platform).
- Example: I often post online about my travels.
- Engaging content: Pictures, videos, or text that people find very interesting and want to interact with.
- Example: The brand’s new video is very engaging content; everyone is talking about it.
- Viral content: Content (a picture, video, or story) that becomes extremely popular very quickly because many people share it.
- Example: That funny dog video went viral content last week!
- Reach our audience: To connect with or communicate with the specific group of people you want to target.
- Example: We need new strategies to reach our audience more effectively.
- Create content: To make new pictures, videos, or text for social media or other platforms.
- Example: My job is to create content for the company’s Instagram page.
- Hashtags: Words or phrases preceded by ‘#’ (e.g., #travel, #foodie) used to categorize content and make it searchable on social media.
- Example: Don’t forget to use popular hashtags like #Travel and #Adventure.
- Likes and shares: Reactions on social media. “Likes” show approval, and “shares” mean sending content to others.
- Example: Our goal is to get more likes and shares on our posts.
Grammar Points
1. Present Simple
We use the Present Simple to talk about habits, routines, facts, and general truths.
- Structure: Subject + Verb (base form or -s/-es for third person singular)
- Examples from dialogue:
- “People love cute animals.” (General truth)
- “It is all about getting likes and shares.” (Fact)
2. “Need to” (Expressing necessity or obligation)
“Need to” means something is necessary or important to do.
- Structure: Subject + need to + base form of verb.
- Examples from dialogue:
- “I need to do social media marketing.”
- “We need to reach our audience.”
3. Imperatives (Giving commands or suggestions)
Imperatives use the base form of the verb, often without a subject. To make it negative, use “Don’t” + base form of verb.
- Examples from dialogue:
- “Think ‘viral content’.” (Suggestion)
- “Don’t forget ‘hashtags’!” (Command/Suggestion)
4. Basic Question Formation
- Yes/No Questions: Start with “Be” verb (is/are) or an auxiliary verb (do/does) + Subject + Verb.
- Example from dialogue: “You are kidding, right?”
- Wh- Questions: Start with a Wh-word (What, Where, When, Why, Who, How) + auxiliary verb + Subject + Verb.
- Example from dialogue: “Alice, what’s up?” (What is up?)
- “I don’t even know what that means!”
Practice Exercises
1. Fill in the Blanks:
Complete the sentences using words from the box.
(post online, engaging, hashtags, reach, viral, create, social media marketing, likes and shares)
- My boss wants me to start _________ for our new product.
- We need to _________ new videos every week.
- The goal is to _________ our target audience.
- I love to _________ pictures of my cat on Instagram.
- Using good _________ helps more people see your posts.
- That funny video went _________ and got millions of views.
- We want to get many _________ on our new campaign.
- This article is very _________ and interesting to read.
2. True or False:
Read the sentences and decide if they are True (T) or False (F) based on the dialogue.
- Alice knows a lot about social media marketing. (T/F)
- Bob thinks social media marketing is difficult. (T/F)
- Bob suggests using cats and avocados for marketing. (T/F)
- Alice’s company sells dancing avocados. (T/F)
- Getting ‘likes and shares’ is important for online content. (T/F)
3. Choose the Correct Grammar Option:
Choose the correct word or phrase to complete each sentence.
- She (need to / needs to) create more content.
- (Don’t forget / Not forget) to add hashtags.
- Where (do / does) he work?
- They (love / loves) to watch funny videos.
- (Think / Thinks) about your audience first.
Answers
1. Fill in the Blanks:
- social media marketing
- create
- reach
- post online
- hashtags
- viral
- likes and shares
- engaging
2. True or False:
- F
- F
- T
- F
- T
3. Choose the Correct Grammar Option:
- needs to
- Don’t forget
- does
- love
- Think
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