“Where do I start social media marketing?” That might be the biggest question that appealed so many markers to the Charlotte AMA June’s meeting as the topic is about Facebook. When Mark Zuckerberg found the Facebook as an online community to connect college friends five years ago, he probably didn’t expect this website would become a widely used tool to market various products.
I got a chance to chat with several people in the CAMA meeting and found that everyone was using at least one social media site and they all understood the vital role social media may play in the future marketing activities. Most people, however, still haven’t figured out where to start the first step. Markers are still observing various online communities, collecting trendy knowledge and searching for best practices they may apply to their own companies.
Why not stopping your research and start learning best tactics from your own experiments? Here are some tips to help you kick off your social media marketing programs:
Step 1:Opening an account in social media for your company will cost no more than 10 minutes and especially there is no expense needed. Some people may think that sounds so easy. So they fill out the application form, post their companies’ logos and some basic information. Done! But, is that enough?
Don't wait for customers coming to knock your door. You need to proactively send social media invitations to them. The easiest way is to include a social media invite in your email newsletter or on the company website’s home page, such as “Fan Us on Facebook” or “Follow Us on Twitter.”
Step 2:Imagine an interested customer links to your social community from your website but finds almost no content there. Will the customer still be interested in joining? To start your social media marketing, there might be no money directly needed from your pocket, such as costly ads or professional copywriting. But your company needs an administrator to regularly manage your community. There are a bunch of things the administrator can do, for instance, writing blogs, posting messages and photos, organizing discussion boards, conducting polls, etc.
No matter what you do, the main purpose is not to talk about yourself, but to stimulate conversations among your community members. Never forget the social media world is about person-to-person activity. You are not speaking as “the company”, but as a person. Don’t be afraid to add any content that may benefit your customers.
And then, be a good listener. Keep your ears open to any feedback, comment or suggestion on your product. You can also write a blog with questions or create a discussion topic to hear more voices. Other company staff can also engage in conversations with customers in all aspects. It’s like building up a bridge from one individual to another. Customers will be more open to speak up as they don't consider talking to a company but to people.
Step 3: Be creative! The social media workplace gives you infinite capabilities and no boundaries to market your brand and products. You can post company news, announce product launch, organize events, and provide special offer or coupons to community members.
By adding the vanity URL to each marketing message, your Web analytics expert will be able to track the page views, visitors from your social community and analyze the user behavior by looking at the path they visited on your website. All the information will be useful to create more effective message in your next marketing campaign.
Nevertheless, it’s relatively hard to really measure the effectiveness of social media since its ultimate power is “word of mouth.” For example, if one person becomes a fan of your brand or RSVP your event (real or virtual), all the status will be displayed in this person’s home page and be seen by his or her 200 friends on Facebook. Maybe ten friends followed this person by doing the same thing and the information will be passed to their friends too. Think about the math if the activities continue to happen. That’s how your brand message to be spread out. That’s how companies like Coca-cola have had more than 3 million fans on Facebook.
Is your business struggling to find new opportunities? It is the time to stop looking around but to take some actions. Don't wait until you hear your competitors have gained tons of traffic and numerous quality leads from the social media marketing. Sometimes it’s good to hear more best practices from different companies but it will be more significant to find your own successful stories from the ground work. Good luck!
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