Social Media Marketing
In order to understand Social Media Marketing, it‘s important to understand Social Media first. Social Media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn personal communication into interactive dialogue, allowing people to share their opinions, experiences, perspectives and perceptions with others. In a nutshell, Social Media is word-of-mouth advertisement online. Word-of-mouth advertisement allows customers and clients to refer your business to other people that they know and this is the essence of Social. Social Media is also referred to as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value.
Social Media Marketing may have played an integral role in the Arab revolutions and revolts of 2011. As one Cairo activist said, “We use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate, and YouTube to tell the world.”
The Seven Pillars of Social Media Marketing
Facebook is the fundamental building-block for brick and mortar businesses. “By 2013, 62% of web users and almost half (47.6%) of the overall US population will be on Facebook.” True Social websites are sites like Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Meetup, Multiply, Orkut and Bebo. If you haven‘t heard of Facebook, then welcome to the 21st Century; but we won‘t be surprised if you haven‘t heard of the others. True Social Sites are complex websites known as Web 2.0. They intimately engage users by allowing them to create profiles and share information like photos, links, music, videos and more. Typically, True Social Sites are enhanced with some type of advertisement, either paid or free, and based on the idea of creating friends online. In addition, there may be some sort of relationship status such as single or married. These little details may seem trivial but in fact, they offer the user an entire platform to express themselves and become involved with the things they love, including your business! Social Media Marketing begins with True Social Media profiles. (Click here to request our entire Social Media Marketing & Management Campaign)
Twitter, Tumblr, Posterous, FriendFeed, Plurk, and Identi.ca are all Micro-blogs. Micro-blogs allow users to share small bits of information quickly to a multitude of friends or “followers”. Micro-blogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. Think of blogging as news updates, either personal or professional. A Micro-blogs differ from traditional blogs in that its content is typically smaller (usually less than 140 characters) such as short sentences, individual images, or video links. Companies began harnessing the potential of micro-blogs a few years ago to promote their brand and to collaborate with other organizations. The purpose of any Social Network is exactly that, networking. The most important of all is link-building. Link-building has been called back-linking and/or Off-Page Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Adding your website‘s link to your micro-blog posts add huge SEO value to your search engine ranking. One of the main reasons why Social Media Marketing Campaigns fail is because they simply don‘t understand their own objectives. We have full-knowledge of our objectives and implement those to bring you the best results. (Click here to request our entire Social Media Marketing & Management Campaign)
If you’re a local business, most likely you’re already listed on one of these “Location-Based Social Media Sites”. The question is, do you care what people are saying? Location-Based Services are sites like: Foursquare, Gowalla, Facebook Places, Google Places, Yelp and Brightkite. LBS‘s allow members to connect with others based on their current locations. In most cases, people use their smartphones (iPhone, Android, Blackberry) to “check in” to businesses like restaurants, bars and stores they visit. These locations are then broadcasted to their online friends. Because each check-in is broadcasted to a user‘s friends, there‘s natural word-of-mouth advertising that occurs through the site. If users see their friend’s check-in to a location, they’re more likely to visit. Sites like Foursquare and Facebook Places allow businesses to run specials that are unlocked by users who check-in to their locations. For example, a pizza place could create a special that gives free breadsticks to customers who check in five times. These specials encourage frequency, first-time visits and competition among customers.(Click here to request our entire Social Media Marketing & Management Campaign)
Have you ever emailed a friend or family member and sent them a link to a website you thought they might find interesting? If so, you have participated in Social Bookmarking. Social Bookmarking is a way to share interesting content with users in a social circle. However, providing eye-catching and functional social profile links and sharing options are essential (icons). There are essentially two types of Social Bookmarking: Social Bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon, Reddit and Digg; and Social Bookmarking icons that allow website visitors to share content by clicking on an icon. Enabling social sharing and providing links to various social touch points is not optional – today‘s online business environment demands it. This is where Bookmarking comes in. The second concept for Social Bookmarking occurs with actual websites, allow participants to save their favorite websites, and links, to a bulletin board that they can access anywhere there‘s an Internet connection. The advantages for Social Media Marketing Campaigns are: bookmarks are usually public and tagged, helping search engines find articles/content you post, advertisement is integrated and metadata for SEO. (Click here to request our entire Social Media Marketing & Management Campaign)
Pictures speak louder than words so what can videos do? YouTube dominates with over 24 hours of video upload every 15 minutes! “Social Media Marketing using video is one of the most effective ways advertisers can reach their consumers on social networks,” said Mitchell Reichgut, founder and CEO of Jun Group. The Jun Group, a New York City-based Social Video solutions provider, recently released a study identifying top trends. The data was compiled from more than six million user-initiated video views that resulted from Social Video campaigns the Jun Group executed for Fortune 500 brands and major entertainment companies during the latter half of 2010. The study’s key findings were as follows: Shorter is better; Social video advertisements of 15 seconds or less are shared nearly 37% more than those between 30 seconds and one minute, and 18% more than videos over a minute long. Facebook dominates; People share videos on Facebook 218% more than through Twitter and e-mail combined! Video Social Media Marketing is a strategic, hybrid form of marketing. (Click here to request our entire Social Media Marketing & Management Campaign)
There are paid and non-paid advertisements that companies can implement on Social Sites to boost traffic. Recently, Twitter released a press release that confirms they will now allow paid advertisement on their Twitter feed in order to boost revenue. This means that aggressive Social Media Marketing Campaigns can be enhanced with paid advertisements. Facebook also allows for businesses to advertise on their mega-traffic platform. Facebook’s advertisement potential is limitless due to the pinpoint accuracy of their campaigns. Facebook has also taken huge steps in protecting people from spam and part of their reputation rides on the fact that you don’t feel “spammed” with advertisement when browsing your profile because each mentioned advertisement is highly-tailored to fit your niche. Other Social Media sites like Location-Based Services are also capitalizing on their ability to use advertisements to get people through the doors. StumbleUpon allows members to get their content posted towards the top of news feeds and can potentially reach millions of users in a single day. (Click here to request our entire Social Media Marketing & Management Campaign)
Understanding and managing Social Media can be a daunting. No longer do we give attention to one thing, but we’re forced to be attentive to many things (trends, forums, news, videos etc.). This is where we step in. Our system gives you the best building blocks for your online enterprise using by:
- Security – Securing your brand name across Social Media platforms.
- Optimization – Optimize your Social Media Site so visitors can find your information above others.
- Activity – Activity is the heart of Social Sites. We’re active on your outlets and advantage of conversations.
- Monitoring – A scathing review on your Social Site should not go unchecked. We monitor over 20.
- Engagement – Advertising is changing; consumers don’t want a sale’s pitch, they want a conversation.
- Reporting – Without KPI’s and ROI’s, how do you know Social Marketing is working? We report your stats.
(Click here to request our entire Social Media Marketing & Management Campaign)
What is Social Media Marketing & Management?
Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a term that describes the use of Social Networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. Some argue that word-of-mouth advertisement is the best form of advertisement and we agree! But take word-of-mouth advertisement and couple it with the viral nature of the Internet and you have Social Media Marketing. Social Media Management is the organization of these outlets.
Why Does My Company Need Social Media Marketing?
The most important question all organizations ask is SMM is, does it work? In a study of Social Media usage by market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies in February 2010, ―consumers who are Facebook Fans and Twitter followers of a brand are more likely to not only recommend the brand to others (60% of Facebook Fans and Twitter followers), but also more likely to buy from those brands than they were before becoming Fans/followers — an impressive 51% of Facebook Fans and 67% of Twitter followers (Website Mag, 2011). Convinced yet?
- 46% of Internet users worldwide interact with Social Media on a daily basis
- 73% of US companies use Social Media tools for marketing purposes
- From 2008 to 2012, the percentage of US companies who use Social Media for marketing purposes is projected to more than double (from 42% to 88%)
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