Neculai Gigi Catalin - Social Media Marketing: How Businesses Use Social Media
Business are realising the power that social media marketing can have on achieving their overall marketing and business objectives. However, there is still much confusion with many small to Medium sized businesses around social media marketing.
It must be remembered that social or social network marketing
is not a unique concept; but the integration of this concept with modern
technology has created a phenomenon. However, it is still just one of many
marketing mediums available to the business for the promotional, PR and
marketing activities of the business. When it is not placed on a pedestal and
treated in this mindset, businesses can evaluate the function and role that it
has in the working environment.
Often when new products and services hit the market, there
is much hype surrounding the releases and a natural urgency is developed by the
general population considering that they have to be involved. This is the
initial responses and what is still occurring with media marketing for
business. However, as with all commercial decisions relating to the viability
and profitability of the company, it must be highlighted that using social
media as a component of the overall marketing strategy is a business decision,
not a technology decision. Before any business attempts to utilize social media
for marketing purposes, it must be understood what the benefits are, how the
tools will be used in a targeted manner and how the new tools will be used in
synergy with current and traditional marketing mediums.
Utilizing social media marketing for business purposes is
completely different to that of personal use. Just because you may be confident
in utilizing the range of social media tools for personal use doesn't mean that
you have the means of experience to complete this task for business. Just
because you drive a car doesn't mean that you're a mechanic! Before the
business engages in social media marketing, some key questions and
considerations require answering, including:
• What are the objectives of the business? Putting the
company on social network sites without a clear direction or strategy can be
ineffectual at best and damaging to the business at worst. Is it to increase
brand awareness, online business visibility, generate leads, make connections
with current and potential customers, etc.
• What are you using the various sites for? Identify the key
media sites that correlate with high usage of people within the parameters of
your target market. What are each of the platforms going to be used for and
define their roles? For example, recruitment, PR, competitions, marketing, etc.
• Who is charged with the responsibility of managing the
channels? Do you have the staffing and expertise to manage the channels in
house or is there need to use an external agency?
When contemplating the next steps for your business in the
realm of social media marketing, it is essential that the platform and strategy
be defined at the outset. Get in contact with a company that specializes in
social media marketing and has a proven track record in delivering business
results with the tools.
Comments
Post a Comment