Tuesday, 9 October 2012

Social Media Marketing as a Strategy



Social Media Marketing as a Strategy


The question is no longer should we be doing social media, it's are we doing it right? - Eric Qualmann, Author of Socialnomics (http://www.expansionplus.com/impr/social-media.html

With Social Media being such a crucial aspect for today's businesses, companies need to make sure that they are implementing a social media marketing strategy to help better the success of their social media tools. By setting in place a social media marketing strategy it will help to send the correct message, and lead to deeper relationships with consumers. 

There are 5 important steps when developing and creating social media marketing for your business. 

1)      First you must find your best audience, with the web getting more and more crowded every day, you need to make sure you are spending your time and efforts on marketing in the right places. By networking with your target audience across the web you gain maximum exposure, also build relationships which will lead to loyal customers.

2)      Second important factor is to make sure you are using the right amount of content with your social media. What you say or expose on the internet is very important, you want to give your business a personality, be honest about what you say. This will help consumers to become more loyal in your business and products if you have gained their trust.


3)      Thirdly, you must do your research. Find out who exactly your target audience is, what do they want? What do they need? What keeps them coming back for more? And then give them more of it. Also it doesn’t hurt to do a little research on your competition, see what they are doing to help reach consumers, which could give your business a few ideas on how to better reach your audience.

4)      Next, you should give them more, with social media being so easy to reach your target audience, use that to help create better relationships. Ask them questions, answer theirs, this makes your consumers feel special to your company and that their opinions matter.


5)      Lastly, don’t limit yourself on social media sources. The more you get your business on the web the better. This helps your business connect with a broader audience and build your network. But keep in mind, the more social media sites you are on, the more you need to update and stay active on. Don’t take on more than your business can handle, quality trumps quantity. 

Companies and even small businesses use these steps to help better create and build their brand on social media sites. Since the use of social media has doubled in the past two years, it is an important marketing strategy for every business to gain exposure with social media. From start-ups to small and medium-sized companies Social Media is the greatest equalizer as it allows them to compete with competitors with much larger marketing budgets.

The link below is a video I found very interesting, it is filled with social media statistics that are quite fascinating.

TAKE A LOOK!


By: Christina Gooding

14 comments:

  1. Well-organized essay! As No.1 online channel among the world, social media has multi-functions in communication and spreading newly culture and information with huge potential of marketing value because of the high reach and frequency. With unquestionable ability of carrying exchange value, it's just us marketer as a matter of fact to choose the right topic to the right audience.

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  2. Social Media is very important because is very fast to introduce your product and show consumers your offers. also, these five step strategies keep your business in the right way when you apply it and improve your business

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  3. awesome blog! social media is great because it lets businesses conenct with people on a personal level and lets the business build a larger market. it also lets them further define what kind of people are using their products. it is also pretty inexpensive and can have very useful results

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  4. Any Business interested in setting up a social media profile, these five steps would be very beneficial to them. A lot of companies aren't taking social media as serious as they should be. Conducting marketing research such as these 5 steps, would be a smart decision by an business. Good Blog, Ms. Gooding.

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    1. Any business? These steps are not only for new companies. Existing companies looking to revamp their online presence should follow these steps.

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  5. Christina, I really enjoyed your post. These five steps would come very handy to many businesses starting with their social media efforts. A lot of businesses do it wrong, and attempt to gain likes and followers, but they don't know what to do with them. Conducting these 5 steps would be a smart decision by any business.

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  6. I agree that companies should not get too carried away with the amount of social media sites they appear on. It is tempting to to try and expand your companies awareness but this is a very inefficient way to do so. It also waters down brand image.

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    1. Exactly! Businesses can create as I like to call it "Social Media Overload'. For example if you are a smaller business you may not have the tools, resources or even money to maintain and create social media sites. Although if your company is big enough and well established, more social media is not usually an issue.

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  7. Kaila has a definite point, the the spread to many social media websites can water down the brand, and the way it is viewed by the public. Bombarding people with you product or service can do more harm than good. By attacking the right and specific social media websites, one can get the same results if not better. These 5 points though are key elements to remember when setting up social media

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  8. Awesome post!
    Social media can be a very effective tool used by marketers. Although it can be over bearing on people who may not to see that. But for anyone who is interested, it is great for getting the message to them.

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  9. Nice blog Christina!
    I enjoyed reading it and it was very clear. Loved how you had 5 steps. Referring to your point #2, you made an excellent point. The content!How important is to post the right things. We can destroy the brand image of a company if we are not responsible of what we expose to social media.

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  10. Great Post Ms. Gooding. As a student of marketing these five points will be useful for when I am looking at developing a social media strategy for my business.

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  11. Excellent post Christina, your 5 steps explained it all on developing and creating social media marketing for your business. Social media is very useful tool for companies and they should take full advantage of it. They should use social media to collect customers opinions, feedback and experiences with product or service and further use it for improving products and services.

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  12. Great Post!

    It's important for businesses to utilize social media platforms as a marketing strategy. With the overload concept as stated above, I think it is easy to get lost in the mix. Having a differentiation factor within your social media platform sets you apart from the rest. Whether it be through contests hosted through the site or other creative ideas, it will help make what you are socially marketing unique.

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