Instant communication and direct consumer feedback via social media has transformed communication. Marketing company brands and generating effective results essential for business success has exploded into mostly uncharted regions for many organizations. Continuing to employ one way traditional promotion alone for any business would be equivalent to using clay models for children’s animation rather than HD computer enhancing graphics. It’s just not good business.
Two way communication between business and customer has never been so close from so far. Social media networks, like FaceBook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn, are much more useful than providing another business listing for contact information. 80% of people lookup local business information on their mobile device 15 minutes prior to purchasing from the searched for business. Consumers are more likely to purchase from a business for the first time based solely upon reviews and ratings from their “friends” in their circles online. Google has recently implemented their users ratings and reviews to provide a better user experience for other users in their circles by posting user comments and ratings along with their Google+ profile pic. Users are customized commercials for businesses when they provide a rating and review which is instantly shared with their virtual family, “trusted” circle of “friends.”
Social media marketing is basically connecting with your targeted customer base and region over the major social networking websites. How do you do this? There are several steps and various SEO tactics, as well as some very intense algorithmic formulas involved in any marketing plan, social media is no different.
However, no matter what the angle or style of communication, social media marketing has a single goal: Customer Feedback
6 SMM Principles
- Content
Ensure your site is accurate, visually appealing and has SEO content. By providing useful, relevant, and fresh content to your audience through either a company website or offsite blog. - Engagement
READ what people are saying not only on your site’s forums but on the networks as well. Blast new blog posts out weekly on all platforms for added link building, long-term SEO. - Responsiveness
Monitor your social media accounts, messages, as well as comments posted on your blogs. Reply timely and appropriately. Make it brief and avoid any talk of religion, politics, or personal posting. - Sincerity
- Trust
- Brand Recognition
SMM has a direct effect on increasing traffic to a website which results in increased SEO.
In other words, the more visitors to your site, the more it will come up in keyword searches for your industry. Business websites are no longer their shells of static information but dynamic lead generating showcases providing details and bumping up your bottom line.
Note: Executives should not expect an ROI for 6 – 12 months after actively interacting on social networks online.
The profitable data gained from social media tracking for a company is very useful for learning the following:
- Business Reputation
- Business Connectivity with Established Customers
- Business Conversions of Potential Customers
The safe distant but direct platform social media engagement provides for real-time client-customer communication can be used to a company’s advantage while providing a more satisfactory customer experience.
Additional benefits of social media engagement and marketing are:
- Market Research
- Industry Specific Best Practices Discussion Forums
- FAQ’s – products and services
At the end of the day, the marketing goals and strategies described here are very much like those tried and true marketing practices, with an instant kick. Authority, expertise, and competence are injected into a company’s social media atmosphere by maintaining professionalism.
Human beings thrive on human interactions, communications, and sharing of experiences (good and bad). However, if you’re going to really listen to what customers are saying, you’re gonna have to tell a story which causes the market to resonate with your brand. You may even embarrass yourself a little. Humanizing a company by creating a more personal, intimate image requires the appeal to our social side. A side which social media has managed to create a level consumer playing field where every voice has equal playing time and the client acquisition potential is limited to the world.
