These days, it is not enough to have a
website for our business our digital storefront extends to social media
marketing sites like Face book and Twitter and it is time to start capitalizing
on it. If your company still does not have a Twitter account or a Face book fan
page, it is time to get with the program and bring yourself up to speed.
1.) You get
to see your market. Part of what makes
marketing with Face book and Twitter so cool is the interaction you get to have
with your customer base you can read their tweets and status updates to get
insights into their daily lives.
2.) You can respond to
problems immediately. If there is a problem with your product
or service, you want to know about it immediately. With the feedback you get in
the process of social media marketing, you will be the first to know when there
are issues and you can take steps to resolve them right away. Study after study
has shown that consumers appreciate companies that respond to customer
complaints.
3.) Your competition is Tweeting and Face
booking like crazy. The early bird gets the worm, and the
sooner you start up Face book and Twitter pages, the sooner you can start
amassing a ton of fans and followers. This isn’t something you want to fall
behind the competition on, because it’s much harder (and more expensive) to
play catch up than it is to get in on the game early. Truth be told, your
competition is probably already marketing with Face book, and maybe even
Twitter and other social networking sites too.
4.) People are receptive to your
messages. People view Twitter and Face book as social networks,
not marketing machines. As a result, they are less likely to see what you post
as an advertisement and will be more likely to hear what you have to say.
5.) It will get you more sales.
Not surprisingly, when you stay in front of your customer base, they are more
likely to buy from you when they need the products you sell. Social media
marketing does not just keep your company’s name in front of potential buyers,
but it also gives you the opportunity to constantly give them incentives to
buy. Try Tweeting or posting coupon codes, good only to those who are your Face
book fans or Twitter followers around The Content Factory, we call them
“Tweeps”). You will be surprised at how many people make purchases using the
code by the code.
6.) You will find customers you did not
know existed. If you follow specific keywords in Twitter, you
can find people who are looking for the products you sell (and then direct them
to your site). Using Twitter for marketing is great that way telling people who
want your products how to get them from your company.
7.) Customers
you did not know existed will find. In the process of marketing
with Face book, you will probably join a ton of groups related to your
products, industry and customer base. By posting links in these groups, you
will help influence customers to check out your site. Post a link today, and
two weeks later you might see a sale from it.
8.) It is free. How can
you argue with that? If you handle your own social media management, running a
social networking campaign is as cheap as it gets. If you hire a social media
management or online PR agency but it will be an investment that you will be
likely to see a return on. If you’re intimidated by interacting with people
online or your writing skills leave something to be desired, hiring an online
PR agency is definitely the way to go. Posting poorly written content or
conveying the wrong kind of messages on social networking sites can seriously
affect your digital PR presence.
9.) The social media marketing arena is a
level playing field.
Unlike the brick and mortar world where you need to have millions of dollars to
run traditional ad campaigns, all companies start off on pretty equal footing
when it comes to social media marketing. The people who thrive and go viral in
cyberspace are the people with the cleverest, attention grabbing tactics and
the most useful. If you want to get lots of
traffic and really increase your sales online, you are going to have to outwit,
out network and out write your competition while offering superior products and
customer service.
