|
Connect your business to your audience
Social Media has become a huge part of our lives, but what is it, do you need it and where do you start?
Social media is people connecting online across the world, interacting using a variety of forms such as blogs, social networking sites, photo & video sharing, forums and other online communities. It is an opportunity for everyone to share content, personal opinions, swap different perspectives and insights.
This in turn has provided the business world from sole traders to the large corporates with the opportunity to access their consumers and competitors and make new connections in a way that has changed the marketing arena forever.
Confused? Well here is a breakdown of social media and how you can use it
- Social networking. (e.g. Facebook, MySpace) websites that allows you to create a personal profile about yourself then chat, discuss and share information with others such as friends and family.
- Micro-blogging. (e.g. Twitter, Foursquare) these websites allow you to post micro blog-like posts to announce what you are currently doing.
- Blogging. (e.g. Blogger, Wordpress) a web log or online diary of a person or business.
- Video & Photo sharing. (e.g. YouTube, Flickr) video-sharing sites allow you to upload and share your personal videos and photos with the rest of the web community.
- Wikis. (e.g. Wikipedia) wikis are websites that allow you to create, edit and share information about a subject or topic.
- News aggregation. (e.g. Digg, Reddit) news aggregators provide a list of the latest news stories published by users from a range of different websites.
- Social bookmarking. (e.g. Stumble upon, Del.icio.us) social bookmarking sites allow users to publicly bookmark web pages they find valuable in order to share them with other internet users.
|
This list is by no means complete and there are many more types of social media sites available on the internet. Any website that invites you to interact with the site and other visitors falls into the definition of social media. The social media wave is moving so fast, even if it was possible to list all the varieties of social media websites that exist, it would probably be out of date by the time we uploaded this page!
So what is Social Media Marketing and why use it as part of a marketing strategy?
Social Media Marketing is a form of internet marketing which looks to achieve branding and marketing communications goals through using a variety of social media platforms to engage and interact with your audience.
The benefits of Social Media Marketing
- Increase website traffic
- Increase backlinks
- Improve public standing
- Build better customer relationships
- Listen to what others are saying about you
- Get instant feedback about products or services
- Tap into new markets
- Create memorable socially driven marketing campaigns
- Improve customer engagement
- Increase brand awareness
|
Visibility
When businesses establish a presence on the Internet and actively use social media tools, they become more visible to both current and potential customers. You build customer relationships, awareness and knowledge, which in turn gets customers interested in your products and services.
Good for the smaller marketing budgets
For the first time businesses have the advantage of being able to access a large audience base without spending ridiculous amounts on television and radio ads or banner campaigns. These online communities have a large number of potential customers. With the wide range of social networking and communities available, going online can save the company much needed time and resources in finding out its potential customers.
Better customer relationships
Advertising in these communities has its benefits in the fact that the customers now view the company as more accountable and reachable. Customers prefer to get a quick response via an online community instead of writing a letter to an anonymous customer service department.
Reputation and credibility
Good reviews online can result in more business while a negative review noticed early can give the company time to re-establish it’s credibility by reaching out to it’s customers online.
Building your own community
People that choose to Follow or Like (depending which social media site is being used) are actively interested in what you have to say. This is targeted marketing at its best.
Quicker results
A newsletter to a targeted group of customers can often lead to better results than a widespread media campaign for the basic reason that you are reaching out to a select group who have used your services in the past.
Awareness
When you make the effort to find and meet your customers on social networking sites, you are able to keep abreast of what people are saying about your business. Whatever people are saying, you can be part of the conversation. You will be aware and can respond to correct any misinformation, fix the mistake, or change the situation in ways that build stronger relationships.
Relevance
Social media is a great way for you to stay current and keep your finger on the pulse of the business world. Information about new tools and trends is readily available. You can move quickly to modify products and services to cater to the changing needs of your customers.
Taking advantage of social media is a powerful and inexpensive way to promote and market your business. It takes time to reap its immense benefits as a marketing tool, but as you develop relationships your customers become part of your effort. They talk about you and your products when they become fans of your page or follow you on social networks. Sometimes they talk so much the ideas go viral …they get others to view your pages and decide if they want to jump on the bandwagon too.
Social media tools are more than just a new way to communicate. When business owners harness the people power behind the tools to connect with customers in the right way; small businesses and their reputations can grow.
If you’re just starting out into the world of social media, what scares you? We can help with our social media packages...
 view social media packages
contact us
To get your business on the social media map, call ImmediaSite today.
|
