Archive for March, 2010

Social media marketing is set apart from other forms of communication online because of the ability for users to both give and take.  Friends, fans, and followers agree to participate in relationships via social media platforms, with the expectation that the communication will be a two way street.  While there is no proven method, with years of case studies, that guarantees the success of a social media marketing campaign; the following steps will help to make a social media marketing campaign a more successful exchange of communication.

Step 1: Let them know you’re alive!

Once you have added all of your contacts and networked with new friends, what is the next step?  Provide your readers with tangible information. Making your status updates relatable and writing about relevant topics and interesting one-liners, will help to gain more followers on a consistent basis. This is the key to making social media work for business. While your topics should relate to the industry with which you operate, they should also appeal to the audience you are looking to communicate to.  The object of a status updates is to grab a “friend’s” attention immediately and provoke thought and participation.

Step 2: Ask Questions.

One of the best ways to open up a two way conversation is to immediately involve your audience.  Facebook allows the ability for a business page to start discussion topics. These topics can be related to a product within a company for example if your company is a dental office ask users how they feel about going to the dentist, ask them on ways to improve their visit and invite topics that consumers love to debate and talk about.

Step 3: Lead by example!

A sure way to engage readers in the content you post to your social media sites is to participate in your network’s topics.  Post a simple “like” on a friend’s status update, or contribute in a discussion topic on someone else’s page. The more you participate in the conversation on other’s pages, the more traffic you will drive back to your page.

Our experience shows that an active social media profile includes communication both from the profile owner, the end user and the network in which they are involved.  Networking with your network is the best way to make a social media marketing campaign work. Social media can be applied to any type of industry as long as there are clear goals, a clear strategy and consistent communication.

A lot of business owners assume that social media’s major benefit is to gain new clients and while social media marketing will help you expand your network and increase the awareness of your brand, you must never forget the wealth of contacts your already have. Marketers rely on their contact lists to send out solicitations, doctors rely on patient lists to send reminders out for checkups and retail companies use their lists (sometimes even buy lists!) to send out coupons and advertisements. 

The following top five tips will guarantee that your list will be not only be useful and organized, but that your list will be a huge asset to your social media marketing.

1. If you haven’t already, begin a system of documenting all contacts through some type of computer system whether it’s Microsoft Outlook express or excel be sure to take the time to enter each new contact.
2. Reorganize your existing list, whether you are using an old fashion rolodex or notepad, be sure to transfer this information into something electronic so that you may use it for many different types of marketing in the future.
3. Consider the possibility of purchasing a list.  There are thousands of companies out there that offer lists for sale, make sure to research the reliability of the company. It is better to use your own list as opposed to buying a list and building from that, because people are more comfortable receiving information from people they know and trust.
4. Dividing your list into categories can be helpful.  For example, making different sections of your list for current clients, potential clients and suppliers will guarantee the future use of your list will be successful.
5.  Do not underestimate the power of your email account.  A lot of service providers such as Yahoo and AOL automatically save every email address that you have ever communicated with.  The longer you have had your email address the more contacts you have accumulated.

A good clean list will give your company more success in your social media ventures.  Combining your existing clients with your new contacts will ensure a vast array of friends and clients on your social media accounts. This results in more people viewing your brand on a consistent basis and it gives you the opportunity to communicate with a larger audience.