Making Connections- Social Media Marketing
In social media marketing, there are so many channels and tactics as well as ways to measure success and it can seem pretty intimidating for those new to social media. The simple rule is to get yourself connected to the channels that your targeted audience use as well as the goals that you want to achieve. Here are a few tips to help you get your head around:
1) It isn’t instant, but it’s much faster than traditional media
Social media marketing takes a lot more time and energy in establishing contact and it isn’t just simply taking your clients out for dinner. But the effort is worthwhile as you can establish a constant contact with them. With online marketing, you need patience, technical knowledge, speed and authenticity and not to mention creativity to keep your audience interested.
2) Choose your channels last
Just because your competition has a Twitter account, doesn’t mean you need to have one too. As an organization, the first thing you should think about is where your targeted audience goes online, what their objectives of using the said channel and what strategies you should apply to get their attention. When you have all these planned out, then pick your channels to suit with your online marketing budget. It saves time, effort as well as money.
3) Create Newsworthy items
In social media marketing, your main objective it to get followers to spread your stories as well as how to deliver value information to them. In the process of doing so, you would also have to earn their respect and trust in divulging information that you can use to expand your marketing objectives online. When you do this, any newsworthy story will spread fast without you asking them to.
4) Become the point of contact and the regulator
When you have established your online channels, become the regulator by looking out for comments posted on your sites, suggestions from consumers and any other industry related news that you can get your hands on. Once you have this, point your followers to this great stuff and reply or comment back on their comments and suggestions. This will keep you in tune with them, and along the way gain their trust. If you give credible information, your existing followers will come back for more and in the same time, you will create new followers.
5) Go Mobile
Social web marketing is everywhere-from everyone’s palms to their pockets, desktops and laptops. In 2009 alone, it has been reported that at least 4.8 billion people have mobile handsets with internet connectivity. People are more mobile nowadays then they were a few years back. Going mobile is a great way to integrate your social media marketing into a mobile online marketing strategy.
While online marketing is effective, there are a few rules that you should abide to when posting links, comments and information on your online channels. Always add honest and value information and avoid overload of information that can get you into hot soup. Also, remember to respect copyright and fair use laws as well as the laws that are regulating the channels. Be professional and responsible for the information that you post and protect the confidential information of your company. In anything that you post, always include a disclaimer and be respectful to the people you communicate and respond to.