This is a question many small to medium sized business owners ask and I thoroughly understand considering all the money and time spent on marketing and advertising techniques that don't always yield as effectively as you'd thought.
Whilst using these applications can certainly increase your businesses overall visibility, it isn't a quick fix and whilst it's cheaper to apply than traditional advertising methods, it isn't totally free either.
One of the main mistakes I see businesses making when starting to use social media (s.m.) in their marketing strategy is when they don't co-ordinate the message on each application. i.e. Remember all that talk about SEO content on your business website? Well, it applies here too.
This is why it's so important to get it right at the start and use a professional to develop your social media strategy. If you are still thinking about it, here are some of the reasons why social media is well worth the effort.
1. It can take a lot of time and money to identify your target audience via traditional marketing methods such as research and surveys but we all need to know where our most likely customers are lurking. A well thought out s.m. strategy can identify where you are most likely to find potential customers using applications like Facebook's Fan pages and social bookmarking sites as well as looking to see who is linking to your own site.
2. Social media lets you find out what consumers are saying about your company, your brand, your way of doing business. You can log in and listen and when necessary, turn the comments around to ensure positive feedback. You can't do that with traditional marketing techniques. You can also keep a finger on the pulse of trends and then use them in your own strategy. You can create dialogue through understanding what your public want from your business.
3. You can increase your brand visibility by introducing it to consumers online via Facebook, Twitter and other s.m. applications.
4. Applying the older technique of member get member campaigns, social media allows you to encourage your readers to invite their friends to your pages, articles, posts, comments and offers. You can easily reward such loyalty through your social media applications and website to encourage your 'community' to grow.
5. The whole concept of s.m. marketing is the one to one sell. The days of the encyclopaedia salesman are long gone but the concept is that if you are talking to one person and you constantly revisit them and strike up a 'friendship' of sorts they will ultimately come to trust you. Social media allow you to have continued one to one conversations with many people at the same time in different locations. It allows your business to have a 'real' face and personality that enables your audience to really connect with your business.
6. Social Media allows your potential and existing customers to have access to you easily and directly so your business is immediately perceived as being approachable which, in an age of call screening, voice recordings, spam bins and mobiles is a very big plus in the eyes of the consumer. It also allows you to screen and answer complaints and compliments before too big an issue is made of it.
7. Sharing is the big thing with social media. Sharing yourself and your business is what consumers are coming to expect before they buy now. Sharing makes others reciprocate and your business can only benefit from this action.
8. Using social media brings you into the market place and connects you with potential and existing customers in a way that traditional media methods can't compete with.
The best part? This kind of activity is measurable. Set your parameters at the start of your campaign and like any other media, judge it on those criteria. Social media can be altered quickly and completely if necessary and you learn about your target audience and your own business every day.
So, if everyone is already out there having conversations on social media, shouldn't you be listening?
Jane van Velsen - The Right Writer offers clients a full social media marketing service including training, strategy, researching, writing, distributing articles and posts, conversion into press releases for online distribution and to hard copy publishers, creating databases for social media use, creating website site maps, content and overseeing set up, business blogs from inception, design and content to monetising, 3rd party advertising and guest authors, sourcing articles, and linking to social media for maximum visibility online, client service between client and other service providers such as web designers and SEO experts, Pay per click advertising, Facebook advertising campaigns, review of analytics, strategic input.
http://www.therightwriter.co.uk
http://therightwriterblog.co.uk
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