A Few Words on Social Media Marketing
It used to be that social networking was the way to promote your business or services. You passed your business cards out to everyone and anyone you were able to speak to about your business. You went to trade shows to be in front of like-minded people who might be interested in your services. And you joined leads groups so that you could stand in front of the group and deliver a presentation so that the people in your group would use your services and/or pass along your information to friends, family members or their own clients who might possibly be interested in your company’s services.
Even though those practices are still in place, they seem archaic compared to the massive audience that the social media scene provides. The amount of people that can be reached through the likes of Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and others boggles the mind. And the speed at which the information travels is even more incredible. It’s like the difference between a horse and buggy or the Concorde.
So how exactly do you use social media to promote your business? Major companies (one coffee company in particular) uses their Facebook page to directly reach their customers and ask their opinions regarding their products. They get immediate reactions that may result in bringing a product back due to popular demand, helping decide between two new products, or getting feedback on improving customer service in general.
Polls and surveys taken through social media sites are direct and immediate. Companies don’t have to pay big bucks for any type of media demographics profiles that take time to tally responses and provide results. Responses are directly from the very people that they are trying to reach.
And the best part is part of the protocol from the old networking days is still at hand here. The only difference is when someone shares their likes or dislikes regarding a specific company, it can be through a blog that will instantly reach hundreds of people as soon as the send button is pushed, as opposed to telling a couple of your friends over dinner.
The impact that social media has had on businesses today is immeasurable. The branding alone is solid and the control of the marketing is directly lead by the company itself. It is as easy as building a following on Twitter, or promoting a new product line ahead of schedule on your Facebook page. Direct click throughs and hits on links provide companies with instant feedback that used to take months to compile.
Probably the best part of joining the social media scene is that you can reach a massive audience with one touch of a button, it is a free medium, and you have your choice of sites to choose from – one or all. Each one just reinforces the other providing you with an even larger audience to market to.
Even though this is still a relatively new way of promoting your company, it is an equal opportunity forum. With the number of telecommuting positions available today, you can be an independent contractor or a major corporation and still realize the benefits of social media marketing.
4 Responses to “A Few Words on Social Media Marketing”
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mike D and WebDoctus Blog. WebDoctus Blog said: A Few Words on Social Media Marketing http://url4.eu/ROYo [...]
Michael, I think it’s the “equal opportunity forum” that has a lot of old-school execs concerned about using SM. I just posted on this at http://bit.ly/XOdqh after reading a business magazine article that suggested companies should outright ban SM in the workplace and monitor employee’s profiles! So there is still not recognition of benefits–as you aptly point out the immediate feedback/polling is extremely useful to companies.
I enjoyed the article, thank you for bringing up those points. If the concept is not fully understood then neither can the recognition of benefits.
Excellent article, I believe there is a ton of potential here, older people just need some training on the subject to move forward with projects.