In the world of business, marketing is essential. However, in our new digital age, traditional marketing is becoming increasingly ineffective, and a new form of marketing is on the rise. Because of its many advantages, social media marketing has become an almost essential part of any business’s attempt to establish a firm footing in today’s competitive market. When considering the pros and cons of different marketing methods, think of all the time and money that was traditionally spent on marketing your products or services, and compare it to what it now costs to market your business on social sites.
Originally, businesses paid out of pocket for advertisements on television, billboards, or in newspapers. Eventually, these strategies came to the point where they were not cost effective in the least. Of all viewers of advertisements, only one to two percent actually contacted the distributor and was interested in their product. Why was this? One of the most interesting advantages of social media marketing is that when viewing television, advertisements often irritate and interrupt viewers, causing most of them to be uninterested in the advertised product. With social media, the targeted audience not only watches the advertisement, but also participates in it.
Participation is a key advantage of social media marketing. Online, people willingly participate in activities and blogs that market your company for you. When the customers become involved with your business or company, they not only care about your products, the come to care about your business. Social involvement with customers usually leads to an increase in clientele and customer satisfaction.
Another advantage that comes with social media marketing is that online advertising with sites like Facebook is one hundred percent free. You no longer have to rent a billboard or air time on the television or radio. You do not have to pay for ink and paper and distribute fliers about your business. You can do it all electronically and be much more productive. Almost every human being, in the United States at least, has heard of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. Most of them have profiles. By marketing your business online, a completely new world of advertising opens up.
With all these advantages, a business almost cannot survive in our world without internet marketing. The best thing about it though, is that it is affordable, effective and can work for anyone. Any business, no matter how small, can effectively market itself online.
Social media is media that is based on social interaction. It involves being highly accessible and changes monologues into dialogues. This format is often referred to by business as User generated content or consumer generated media. Most consumers are aware of it only from the stand point of the networking sites. Of course if social media is new to you this paragraph probably sounds like crazy talk, but please read on.
What are networking sites?
These are very popular websites used for socializing, connecting and even meeting others. People build connections with those they know. This allows for an amount of privacy by allowing users to hide their information from everyone but those who are “friends.” Some of the most popular sites are Facebook, Twitter, MySpace even YouTube. Networking sites allow friends, family, workers and others to meet online and share information, or social interaction.
Why is Social Interaction so important?
People are very social creatures. Our society has become increasingly mobile. People move far away from where they grew up yet want to stay connected. Also busy schedules keeps people on the move. However the internet and networking sites are always ready. So people are able to interact with people they care about any time of day. This has formed open dialogues in groups of friends and families.
What do you mean dialogues?
Years ago an open invite to the lake meant calling various people and asking them to call others. Now a person may put an open invitation on the wall of Facebook. Various people may respond with what they will bring or if they are coming or bringing someone. Some people use social media to ask about new restaurants or what restaurant to visit in another city.
How does this turn monologues into dialogues?
A simple statement such as “I read this book,” on a social networking site might have another say, “I read that one, but this other book is better.” A third person who did not care about the first book may read the comment about the second and agree. In another case, a person may share that they went to London for vacation. Various friends and family members will comment about when they went or how they wish they could go. People may ask about sites seen.
But how do businesses benefit?
Businesses have watched this from the sidelines and now realized they need to be involved. Companies create fan pages and fans interact with each other and the brand name on the pages. The fans discuss what they like, what they dislike, thus the User Generated Content or Consumer Generated Media. Any size of business is finding that having someone interact with the fans and create social media is a way to grow the business by networking. People like doing business with a friend, or a friendly business.
Do I need social media?
That is a personal decision. As an individual, networking sites allow you to interact with people both down the street and around the world. With privacy settings, you keep your privacy and are able to share with the people who matter.
For businesses, this is a way to find out what your consumer wants and needs directly from them. You are also able to establish a relationship with consumers which helps your business grow. Social media is only going to grow as people find more uses for it, because people are social and so is social media.
Social marketing is a great way to connect with and learn about your target market. Social sites like MySpace or Facebook help develop relationships with your prospects in a relaxed, no-sell environment. When you write an article like this one, you can use content sharing sites to “bookmark” the article and help others find what you have written. Examples of bookmarking sites would be Digg, Stumble Upon, and del.icio.us. There are many, many more.
Here’s a specific example of what I love about network marketing! I received a comment on my blog a few weeks ago from a young man, Tamal Anwar, in Bangladesh. The fact that blogs can be interactive is what makes it a great social marketing tool. Anyway, over the course of our exchange, I wound up regularly visiting his blog. The more I get to know Tamal, through his blog and our (now email) correspondence, the more I am struck by what a unique opportunity the internet has opened up for us. Web 2.0 has made the internet a two-way interaction. No longer do we visit a site, see what it says and leave. Now we are able to connect in some way with other people on that site. How else would a middle-aged woman living in Texas wind up corresponding with a 20-something in Bangladesh?
Today, I received an email from Tamal inviting me to be a “guest blogger” on his blog. I love this idea! As he pointed out, we each have our own readers list. He knows that my blog has been doing well in the search engine rankings. By linking his blog to mine, his rankings will go up. Inviting someone to be a guest on his blog provides his readers with additional content and a variety of writing styles. So, he benefits and his readers benefit. I benefit as well. He is offering me yet another platform from which to attract prospects. I also like the idea of entering in a joint venture opportunity with such an ambitious and hardworking fellow network marketer! Tamal has created a definite win-win situation here.
There are a lot of baby boomers out there, just like me, entering the world of network marketing. We are at a disadvantage in the sense that we have not grown up with the internet as have our younger counterparts.
Social network marketing through content sharing will help build your prospect list as people respond to your content and find value in what you offer. If you had to pay for this kind of exposure, you’d be broke in no time! But you can use this incredible resource for your business without paying a dime. Ain’t it great?