Web Devcoach

Posts Tagged ‘Social’

t seems that a lot of big companies today (with big marketing budgets) have managed to jump right into social marketing and successfully use sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube in their everyday marketing activities. However, it also seems that small businesses are lagging behind the social marketing trend, even though it is a very low cost marketing channel that almost any small business can afford (the sites are free to use; all it typically costs is time!).

So why are so many small businesses hesitant about social marketing, or seemingly scared of using social networking sites as part of their regular marketing activities?

It could be as simple as not having the time to take on a new marketing activity, or maybe a lack of familiarity with sites like Facebook and Twitter makes them seem hard to use. It’s also possible they’re concerned about negative comments showing up on social media web sites, or worried about employees using these tools appropriately for business. Whatever the reasons, social media marketing is here to stay, and small businesses are going to have to face their fears if they hope to leverage its value as a marketing tool and stay relevant with their customers today.

If you are one of the millions of small businesses afraid of jumping in to social marketing, here are five good reasons you should overcome your fears:  Read more...

When I discuss social networking, social media, SEO, SEM and social marketing with small business owners for the first time, many are overwhelmed and confused about what they really are and how they impact their business. They know that they are all important, but not sure why. They know they need to establish an effective social web presence, but not sure how. If you feel similar frustration, let me share a little light on a couple of these subjects.

What is Social Media?
In a nut shell social media is content designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using social tools such as social networks, business networks, forums, bookmarking, video sharing, etc. Social media are web-based technologies that transform traditional broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It allows you to not just talk at your customer; it allows you to talk with and interact with your customer in a way that was never possible before.

What is Social Marketing?
Social Marketing is the actual marketing strategy and implementation of your efforts to effectively market yourself on the internet utilizing social media and social networks as well as related strategies that utilize SEO “Search Engine Optimization” and SEM “Search Engine Marketing/Monetization”.

Wikipedia describes social media marketing as

“the act of using social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other collaborative Internet form of media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.”

Where I believe that most small business owners run into trouble is that they see the action side of social marketing and not the planning side of social marketing. The action side has two primary components:  Read more...

A two way conversation with potential customers or “engagement” is the buzzword in the social networking circles these days.  If this is the truth, what could be the building blocks that facilitate such conversations?  A company that has a web presence via a website or pay per click advertisements may not really make an impact because people today are more information savvy, are more empowered and smatter than ever before.  To reach these clients takes more than a couple of paid advertisements, one needs to have informative and responsive communication tools since it involves more than one and off solution.  There is no comprehensive approach that utilizes modern web strategies like social marketing, the promotion of products and business through social networks.  Here are a few forms of social marketing strategies a company may make use of:

Blogging – a company blog will help accomplish a number of goals in creating a successful social marketing strategy.  The most important thing is that the blog will be a way to provide fresh, relevant information to the audience and allow them to react to it in order to draw a way forward and evaluate the move.  Real Simple Syndication (RSS) has made it very easy for people to subscribe to blogs and have their favorite blogs appear on their blog readers or mobile devices.  A company blog will help build a community of loyal followers but the topics in discussion must be of casual nature, should be informative and must have tips and hints on the industry.  Read more...

Social marketing is so important! So how important is it to have training in Social Marketing and who needs it? Gone are the days when you can send out fliers in the mail and get a great response. I don’t remember the last time I responded to a mailing advertisement. These days every one has either the Internet or blackberries/iPhones.

How do people keep in touch these days? We keep in touch by Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Flickr, MySpace and much more! Not only do we keep in touch there but we talk about things we, products, services, etc. We also talk about what we don’t like. So if companies, including big brand names are not on these social media sites they are losing touch with there target market.

So to answer the second question who needs social marketing, the answer is everyone. If you are going for a job interview the prospective employer will be looking you up on Google! If you are a home-based-business building a brand name for yourself you need to know what your market wants and needs. You also need to know what they are saying about you!

Now back to the first question, how important is it to have training in social marketing? It is critical to have training in social marketing. You must know what you are doing and how you can benefit from these media sources! This is really important for growth of successful off-line businesses! In ten years if off-line businesses have not created some type of online presence they will be in trouble. This may even be a problem five years from now!  Read more...

Today in internet marketing you have to embrace social marketing in order to succeed. This is because of the dominance of online social networking sites like myspace, facebook, twitter and many others which we now refer to as Web 2.0.
The network sites in Web 2.0 are social sites for socialising not centres of trade. These are where people go to interact, socialize and build friendships with like minded people.
As internet marketers we want to grow our businesses as fast as we can but to push our products and opportunities on just everyone , without permission, will only “blacklist” us in the long run. People will just shun us.  Good internet marketers have adopted “permission marketing” and stopped spamming.

ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING STRATEGIES.

As an online marketer and internet business owner, we have to adapt to changes on the internet by keeping up with the best ways of marketing in order to maintain profitable. As all the individual social sites have their own set of rules, we have to master the use of Web 2.0, to know how best to use the online social networks, article marketing, social bookmarking, or a combination of all of them. You have to study the various kinds of memberships and the types of people who join,  what are their interests, what they do while they are there and interact with them accordingly.

As marketers, just socialising at these sites is not enough, we have to be able to project ourselves as being able to give value by being able to provide solutions, tips, guidance, recommendations, etc. Once you are known as someone of value to them, they will be interested in what you have to offer, or they will recommend you to their friends and that is where the real power of social networking rests.  Read more...