Social Media Marketing has a bevy of benefits. Everyone is connected to the Internet and somehow involved in Social Media. As of July 2011, Facebook had over 800 million active users. Eight hundred million. According to Social Media Today, in April 2010 an estimated 41.6% of the U.S. population had a Facebook account (1). Can you imagine the growth for your company? Whether you have a niche product or mass produced consumer good, Social Media is a crucial tool that needs to be integrated into your overall marketing plan. Lets take a closer look at the benefits of this astonishing potential game changing tool. Extended target market reach
Like I mentioned above, Social Media is huge. Facebook gets even more traffic than Google! Twitter has over 200 million users that produce over a billion search queries. How great would it be to have you or your business show up at the top of those search lists? The outreach online, especially through Social Media is almost limitless and you can use these resources to cast a wide net to bring more visitors to your Web site.
Building relationships
Social media marketing isnt a ponzi scheme. You cant expect to join a couple sites and then make it rain with profits. It takes time and serious investment to be able to stay on top of market trends, build relationships, and effectively deliver your intended message to the intended audience. Hence the word social in the term. You have to be engaged with your consumers and followers. Your social media precence should show you:
- Provide value and resources
- Dont over self-promote
- Demonstrate your expertise
- Sell softly-which brings me to my next benefit
Fortuity selling
Because social media is designed for long-term commitment, a company may not expect selling opportunities to arise. Some do exist, so your not just marketing and creating a brand for yourself when social media’n up. Here are a few opportunities to take advantage of in social media marketing:
- Sell CDs and tickets-Artist, musicians, athletics, and all can use these for entertainment selling.
- Linking back to your store- You can post a new shipment of merchandise on a social media site with a link to your Web site where they can purchase the product
- Special offers- Offering promotional codes or special offers to followers in your network sways them to visit your site and purchase products
- Link to 3rd party sites on various services- Some social media sits allow for widgets (small app placed on your page to enhance visitor experiences) that can show off product and link to Paypal or other places for direct purchase
Branding
This benefit is probably the most important because without it, the other benefits will produce minimal results. Branding showcases presence, visibility, and connects a product to a company. Social media is an excellent way to build your brand. For more branding techniques THIS GUY got it locked down like a pro bowl cornerback.
I got to banana split,
Randall Jefferson
(1) Wells, Roy (August 8, 2010). “41.6% of the U.S. Population has a Facebook account”. Social Media Today. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Now that you have created a social media policy, a plan of action and have taken the necessary steps in protecting your social media investment, it is time to use helpful tools that will keep your site relevant and you up to date with the latest trends. You need to take advantage of the online resources to stay current with social media. A way to do this is to subscribe to feeds about social marketing from one or more marketing blogs or news services. For instance I subscribe to Social Media Examiner, SEO Hacker, Guorilla Media, and various marketing and social media groups on Linkedin. I have daily and weekly feeds that come to me that keeps me up to date with the latest in social media. This gives me all the information I need in one place and controls the frequency of delivery.
Randall Jefferson 