Social Media Marketing
Is Social Media the new black? That’s what I heard Cam our Social Media Administrator say the other day. For me social media marketing is a lot like web site building back in the mid 90’s. I used to sell web sites back then and people would ask me "well how is this going to make me money?" back then we had no idea but we knew websites were a necessity for business. That’s all changed now with SEO & online marketing more generally. I feel Social Media Marketing is at the same point. Most of us in the industry are convinced of the benefits to business & whilst there are plenty of case studies that demonstrate individual success stories for business the strategies certainly haven’t matured as much as website marketing strategies have. It’s partly because social media is primarily about relationships. Not necessarily between you and your customer or you & your community but between your customer and their social circle.
Depending on your buyer personas the social media outlet that you should participate will vary greatly. If you are in B2B you probably won’t get as much benefit from a Facebook presence as you would from say a LinkedIn presence but that could change too.
For me I love twitter for business and also Youtube for social media video marketing. Both of these are classed as social media outlets (even though we had Youtube before we had social media 🙂 )
Social Media – Networking
If you operate in the B2B space a helpful way to think of social media marketing is to treat it as business networking. At a business networking event it’s not a good idea to go there to try and find buyers. You go there to expose your brand to others and maybe you can pass on details of people you meet at an event to your social circle. I quite often say to business associates, "Have a word to -insert contact- they’ll be able to help you." By me recommending others I meet at business networking events they recommend me to their circles. Social Media marketing is very similar. By adding value to the networks you participate in, it increases your brand value in those circles.
Social Media Sponsor
If you are unsure how to get involved with social media why not sponsor an event. Don’t try to control it, just try to help a community like a local tweetup group in your area. Buy the drinks and the nibblies. Don’t insist on speaking your piece at the event so you can get your key corporate message out. Explain to people that your learning about social media and one way is be a Social Media facilitator.
Social Media Facilitator
You can extend this idea into online events too. Maybe pay for a community website to be developed. The only way you will get yourself into trouble on social media is when you try to manipulate. You need to "paint it red" . Basically be honest. The reason I’m writing about this is because I want people to find us when they search for social media help
Social Media Help
If you are a business that needs help with social media marketing then we can help. As we have over 10 years exp in Internet Video as well as 6 years in search marketing our focus with social media activities is always on the goals. You can spend a lot on social media and not see a return especially if you don’t know what the return should be.
IN case you are unconvinced of Social Media’s influence, watch this video.
Jim’s been here for a while, you know who he is.
