Social Media Marketing

Social media marketing allows your business to have two-way conversations with people. Websites such as Twitter and Facebook are designed to allow you to have direct contact with customers and prospects. No matter how scary this sounds this is an enormous business opportunity.

Small businesses can benefit from using social media sites because they compete side by side with large companies.  It is important social media marketing is handled with a ‘light touch’. Social media means informal rather than casual and users of social media sites aren’t looking to buy when they are using the likes of Twitter or Facebook and can react badly to being sold to.

Unlike other forms of marketing such as traditional advertising, social media can be effective even on a relatively small budget.  Rather than being a direct sales tool social media marketing lets you build awareness and appreciation of your business, and its brand and directs traffic to your website. Think of social media as a way of building connections. You share content that’s of interest to others and this generates interest in your business and can support SEO efforts.

The art of making the most out of social media marketing is to understand and prepare for a two-way conversation and to put effort into creating quality content. Different social media sites allow for different ways of connecting with people.

It’s important you don’t shy away from sites like Twitter. Above all else Google is watching and making note of social marketing ‘signals’ when it ranks websites.

My view is that it’s essential to view social media marketing as part of your wider marketing strategy and not a replacement for other marketing. Using social media correctly will help your business pave the way for future sales. But because it’s a two-way conversation you have to be prepared to deal with both positive and negative contributions.  After all, social media is a way of getting attention.

If you’re currently not using social media or are confused by it I would urge you to contact me. I can help remove the mystery and help you plan your social media marketing activities so they complement any other marketing you are doing. There’s never been a better opportunity to put your business on the map.

If you want to read more about specfic types of social media, please see my guides below:

Facebook Marketing		YouTube Marketing		Twitter Marketing
Google+