Jul
Why Your Business Needs a Social Media Strategy
Social media has become the new bandwagon for businesses hoping to generate new sales leads. If you don’t have a Facebook page and a Twitter account, you may as well not exist in the minds of a large portion of your intended audience. For many, it’s just not worth the trouble of having to visit individual sites to check out sales promotions and blog posts. Instead, they want to hop on Facebook and see all the latest news collected neatly for them in their inboxes. But social media isn’t just convenient for consumers. It’s also a powerful tool for businesses to incorporate into their overall marketing strategies.
The Positives
Social media provides potential access to an audience of millions at the touch of a button. Want to build your contact list so more people see sales ads and promotional items? Host an ipod giveaway on Facebook and watch your list of contacts balloon. Social media also gives companies an opportunity to find out what customers really think about their products and services. By listening in on forum conversations and post comments, they can get an inside look at how people view the company and can then take steps to address those concerns.
The Negatives
The social media sphere isn’t all roses for businesses, however. The very thing that makes social media appealing to consumers—the ability to hear real life opinions and experiences with a particular company—can quickly destroy a company’s reputation if a negative experience becomes public. The potential for companies to lose control over marketing messages means that they need a strategy for addressing problems and concerns immediately in order to allay fears.
Putting it together
Remember the Domino’s pizza nightmare? It’s an excellent demonstration of how quickly word can spread in the social media environment. With nearly a million views of a disgruntled employee’s damaging video on the first day it was posted, Domino’s immediately had a marketing crisis to deal with. But the good news is that companies can use that same power to build brand loyalty and address concerns as they arise. Companies like Dell Computers have mastered the art of meeting people where they are and tactfully addressing concerns in a way that garners customer loyalty without engendering feelings of distrust or frustration. Stepping into social media conversations allows you to address specific concerns and needs at the customer’s level, especially when done in a way that doesn’t come across as a sales pitch, but rather as a genuine effort to provide benefit.
Social media will find you whether you have a strategy in place or not. People are already talking about you in blogs, on their Facebook pages, over their Twitter accounts, and in forums. By taking the initiative to define parameters of conversation, you can guide those conversations toward a positive interaction with your company and set yourself up to be viewed as a trusted entity rather than scary corporation.
Are you using a social media strategy in your business? Have you seen businesses that excel with their social media strategy? What about businesses that fail miserably? Share in the comments!
Justin McGill is a web marketing professional and runs a successful Small Business SEO Firm. He is the founder and CEO of SEORCHERS (read: [surch-ers]) - a local web marketing firm specializing in organic search engine optimization (SEO) with a focus on converting visitors into clients. He is available for SEO Consulting and now you can connect with him on Google+!.Related posts:
- Developing a Basic Social Media Strategy Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn—these are names that have become buzzwords not...
- Incorporating Social Media into Email Marketing Email marketing has long been a staple of the online...
- Measuring Your Online Marketing Strategy with Social Media Metrics and Tools Having discussed the metrics and tools best suited to understanding...
- Social Media Impact of Google Buzz Despite the fact that it’s only been online for about...
- Small Business Marketing Trends for 2010 Small businesses need to make the most of every advertising...
I think we can all agree Obama changed politics perpetually by setting the bar for all future political candidates to organize and effectively use social media in political campaigns.
Obama was indeed the first politician to prove out the tremendous power of social media if used with a positive, individual interest, networking message strategy especially if appealing to voters younger than 30.
Hello,
I think this is nice article it gives us such useful information. Social media provides potential access to an audience of millions at the touch of a button.
Thanks!
facebook is my only method to gather traffic, any other else?
Joe@El Paso Divorce´s last [type] ..Understand Child Custody with a Divorce Lawyer in El Paso
Social Media help you getting more traffic and also help you promote your website and blog with product and service to as much as visitors as you can.
Tony @ Android´s last [type] ..Logitech Alert digital security system
I have a group who were all connected through Twitter and we meet up every Sunday for brunch and then beach. We picked the restaurant because of their great social media presence. As of right now our weekly group normally falls between 15-40 people. On top of it we basically promote the restaurant for free since the majority of us are either in marketing or media. The social media for their restaurant has done wonders for their productivity.
Brian@Charleston Marketing Firm´s last [type] ..95SX Charleston 2 Girls & A Guy Discuss The Lowcountry 11 Article
Great article Justin. Why uses a phone book anymore anyway? As you said, if businesses do not have a presence on social media they might as well not exist for a large segment of their customer base. There is a down side to social media, but if managed properly and with client focus, the benefits are worth it. Social media gives businesses an opportunity to engage their customers on a persona level.
Trevor B. Reed@ Charleston Marketing Firm´s last [type] ..Vs Dofollow-A Nofollow Link Solution
These days we are in need of social media strategies as we know that people use social media and marketing more promptly as compared to search engine,every day 150 million people access face book this show the actual picture of social media…this will help us a lot to make you more bigger day bye day…
This is a good article. It’s true, if companies aren’t on Facebook, Twitter, or other sites they look way behind the times. It’s also nice when you’re following a company you like and you get coupons, deals, etc. I think that Starbucks is another example of a company that does a good job using social networking to reach its customers.
social media must need for internet business. Because its helps to increase traffic and also does help to make brand name.
Companies using traditional marketing methods (e.g. surveys, focus groups, test marketing) often spend millions to locate their target markets. Where are the people most likely to buy your products and services? Establishing a social media strategy will help you see where potential customers are hanging out. You can search for related groups and Fan Pages through Facebook, start accounts on social bookmarking sites such as Digg or StumbleUpon, and check on who is linking to your site to find out who’s interested.
I loved your article. Social Media is great for business although sometimes effects can be very extreme, either doing really good or destroying your business’ image. But it is a risk that every business owner should take because it is where all the potential customers are.
Thanks for sharing this information.
The main problem with social media campaigns is in getting business owners to look at gains in the form of exposure as opposed to purely through dollars and cents.
The sooner you can understand that exposure will expand your image resulting in more sales or those missing dollars and cents.
I agree Kevin, thanks!
We are not in era an era of social media. Almost all people have facebook and twitter account. So it’s safe to say that any business need to make social strategy to take advantage of this.
Apparently, it is the social media that has bridged the gap between businesses and its consumers. Making them closer together which made communication and customer service better and easier.