What Is Social Media Marketing?

If you thought traditional marketing or internet marketing were full of challenges, try Social Media marketing…it’s like herding cats…

With Facebook now experiencing more traffic than Google and with TripAdvisor reviews influencing millions of travel decisions every month, Social Media marketing is finally gaining traction as a means of reaching and engaging with your customers.

So, to help you try and gain an insight into this new media phenomenon, let’s first try to break down into swallowable chunks…

• Social - enjoying the companionship of others in a friendly, gregarious manner often including the exchange of like-minded views
• Media – a means of communication (traditional examples such as radio, television, newspapers and magazines) that reach or influence people widely
• Marketing - everything a company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with them

Therefore, Social Media Marketing seeks companionship with customers that have similar interests via social media avenues so as to develop a long lasting relationship and as a result, drive more revenues.

Ok, enough of the dictionary definitions…

Think of regular marketing as a one-way street where you can advertise in a newspaper or on television which allows you to deliver a broad message to an even wider, sort-of-targeted audience with limited ability to interact with your customers. You are in control of most of the mechanisms – message, creative execution, frequency, distribution.

Then consider that internet marketing – which opens up your ability to economically deliver a much more tailored message to a more targeted audience with some ability to communicate with your customers. You are mostly in control of your message, creative, frequency etc

Social media, on the other hand, is a two-way platform that gives you the ability to actually engage with your customers on both a one-to-many as well as a one-to-one basis…but you are herding cats…you are not in control and the moment you try to exert control, you will most probably get a serious scratch and even a deep bite.

There are a wide range of Social Media tools, websites and resources available…from the highly visible and popular such as Facebook and Twitter through to niche communities such as Stumbleupon or Digg…each with their own nuances and requiring a unique finesse. To succeed, you need an overall Social Media strategy, a tactical plan and a Social Media partner who can help guide and implement the Social Media component of your broader marketing plan.

And how do you know what works and how do you keep up?

To be brutally honest, it is really hard. It’s hard for us and we live and breathe this stuff every day – what worked virally last month for one product may or may not do the same for another – and it is even harder for you.

That’s why we created Social Media Works. We have the experience, expertise and resources to keep up to date with all the Social Media sites, trends, strategies and tactics…and then we consolidate and condense these into Social Media programs tailored to suit your particular business, from small niche market segments to major broad interest products and services.

If it’s so hard, then why bother with Social Media marketing?

Because when you execute your Social Media strategy well, you engage and connect with your customers and your customers friends…and things can go ballistic. Serious increases in both online and offline sales and business leads have been achieved by both small and large companies alike. If the internet was a great way to level the playing field, then Social Media is the next great leveller.