Social Media Marketing: Networking Sites
Are you a Tweeter? Should you be? Navigating the complex maze of social and business networking sites can be a challenge, but Wootton Marketing Associates, LLC can help.When considering adding social and/or business network marketing to your media mix, you should first consider your audience, as you would with any traditional marketing initiative. Some questions to ponder include:
- Does my target audience visit this site?
- Can I justify the cost of keeping my organization’s online presence fresh?
B2C Social Networking Marketing
Social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook offer an excellent opportunity to reach a wide audience of consumers. A nonprofit or consumer goods company, for example, might make excellent use of these sites. Setting up a Twitter account or Facebook page allows you to:
- Communicate regularly with “followers” or “fans” through updates
- Give your audience a venue in which to comment on the organization
- Provides a mechanism for you to collect email addresses for other e-Marketing efforts such as email postcards or newsletters
- Instantly communicate any urgent needs (or offers for “for profit” consumer goods companies)
While setting up accounts on Facebook and Twitter are free, keeping the information on these two sites fresh takes a lot of man-hours, which should be thoughtfully considered before launching. Including a blog or a link to a blog on these pages can help keep content fresh. Someone will need to monitor these accounts carefully and respond to posts from your audience. Also, a plan should be in place to deal with potential negative comments.
Finally, social networking sites offer opportunities for businesses to create highly targeted online advertising campaigns. Because the sites collect a vast amount of data on users, they are able to offer narrow demographic parameters to companies.
Contact Wootton Marketing Associates, LLC today for more information on creating a social networking page, formulating a response plan for negative comments, planning an effective social network marketing initiative or seamlessly integrating social network advertising into your media mix
B2B Business Networking Marketing
If your organization has a B2B focus, Facebook and Twitter may not be the right venue to reach your audience, but LinkedIn is a business networking site that may be more appropriate. Like Facebook, a company or an employee can set up a page and provide status updates. The network also allows you to link to clients, vendors, business associates and friends, providing you a virtual referral network and giving your business a greater presence on the Internet.Additional features include the ability to:
- Ask clients to “recommend” your product or service
- Access the people in your associates’ and clients’ networks
- Communicate with the people in your network
- Capture email addresses of people in your network for other e-Marketing purposes
- Communicate your message within your profile
- Ask and answer questions posted by business people, positioning your company as an expert in your field
Finally, business networking sites offer opportunities for businesses to create highly targeted online advertising campaigns. The sites collect data on users, offering specific demographic parameters to companies.
Contact Wootton Marketing Associates, LLC today for more information on creating a business networking page, formulating a response plan for negative comments, planning an effective business network marketing initiative or seamlessly integrating business network advertising into your media mix.
Blogging
More than 94 million Americans read web logs or “blogs”, according to a May 2008 study by eMarketer. Regular and relevant blogging has a multitude of benefits for companies and organizations, including:- Positioning your organization as an authority in your industry
- Providing regular updates to your website and/or social and business networking pages (such as LinkedIn or Facebook), which enhances search engine optimization
- Offering an opportunity for clients or potential clients to interact with you by posting comments and receiving replies
- Generating good will amongst clients and potential clients by providing relevant, free advice in your area of expertise (B2B) and/or announcing new products and services (B2C or B2B)
- Allowing you the opportunity to link to other sites, and potentially, for other sites to link to you, which also enhances search engine optimization
- Linking to other pages in your website or social and business networking pages
An effective blog takes a commitment to regular updates and a strategy to ensure your company’s branding messages are incorporated into it in a welcoming manner. Additionally, someone must be responsible for monitoring the blog to ensure any customer comments are responded to in a timely manner.
Contact Wootton Marketing Associates, LLC today to set up your company’s blog, create a blog plan, and learn more about how a blog can help you improve your search engine ranking and increase sales.
Integrating Social Media Marketing
Like any other marketing initiative you should be certain your social media marketing communicates the same brand messages you communicate via other media vehicles. While social media may be more informal, you should absolutely ensure whatever you are posting on your page or in your updates conforms to your company’s brand identity.Also, like other marketing projects, social media strategy should be carefully planned. Considerations include how often to update pages and posts, how often is contacting your fans or networks appropriate, what messages should be sent to contacts, who will manage the page(s), and more. Blogging is one way to keep content fresh, but other information, such as special offers, photos, events, and new hires should also be periodically added to the pages as well.
Contact Wootton Marketing Associates, LLC today for more information on how social media marketing can benefit your company.