Social Media Marketing

Strategic Marketing Using Social Media

Most companies now realise that a Social Media Strategy should form part of their overall Marketing Strategy, specifically to handle online marketing. While most digital media cost little to use, they do require an investment of time, something many small-business owners are short on. That’s why small businesses are turning to experts for help keeping up with blog entries, Facebook announcements and Twitter tweets.

Which Social Media Platform

Deciding which online opportunities to embrace comes down to understanding your audience, experts say.  Go where your customers already are.  If you don’t know what social media your customers are using, check it out by searching for your company name on Facebook or others.

Presenting honest information without directly trying to make a sale is an effective marketing approach using social media. Businesses should avoid using the hard sell, because participating in social media is like participating in a casual conversation.  But customers sometimes sell your product for you by talking it up among their Facebook or Twitter followers. There’s no better reference than your friends telling you about something. It’s the kind of interaction that happens on Facebook.

Best Practice

A good practice could be for a company to announce one deal a day on Facebook with a quick, informational approach.  Because of the viral nature of social media, companies that take the time to communicate are likely to see their goodwill spread. One simple technique for building relationships involves responding to positive mentions by saying “thank you” and following up on negative mentions with an apology and a solution to the problem.

Nielsen Report

In a Nielsen Report, Social Networking’s New Global Footprint, dated March 2009, it was reported that the use of social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, Digg, YouTube and others has passed the use of email to become the 4th most popular activity online, growing at double the rate of the other four activities ranking in the top five. It discusses some very important points, namely: 

• The growth of Social Networks
• How the audience to Social Networks are changing
• The challenges faced by advertisers on Social Networks
• What traditional publishers can do with the Social Network phenomenon

Report Highlights

1)  Social network and blogging sites are now the fourth most popular activity on the Internet, surpassing email in 2008.  They now trail only 1) search, 2) portals and 3) online software, and sport a growth rate more than twice that of any of the other four largest sectors.

2)  Time spent on social network and blogging sites is growing at over 3x the rate of overall Internet growth.

3) People under 18 years old are making up less of the social network and blogging audience, whereas the 50+ age group are accounting for more of the audience.

4) Growth in mobile social networking is exploding, with increases of 249% in the UK and 156% in the US in 2008.

To read more about the Social Network phenomenon and the business impact, click on the following link.

Download the Nielsen report Global Faces and Networked Places

Knowing All This Can You Afford Not Using Social Media Marketing In Your Business?

To start your own Social Media Marketing Project today, click here.