It’s clear that social media marketing has grown dramatically during the last few years and that with more than 800 million active users, the quantity of Facebook users is easily more than twice the size of the complete population of america!
Its growth has been astronomical now, thousands of people are posting more personal and business information online than previously. It’s happening at lightning speed with a large number of posts, tweets and uploads occurring every hour.
Recent research conducted by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) commissioned by Sensis Pty Ltd (May 2011, p. 10) indicates, that “62% of Australian Internet surfers use a variety of social media marketing sites, with many visiting each day and most at least several times a week.” It’s no real surprise that with the millions of prospective customers from across the world using these sites, every day, that so many businesses have decided to include social media marketing into their marketing mix. Nonetheless it also important to get an understanding of how these sites are increasingly being used and what’s involved with maintaining or resourcing your organization presence on these sites. Your online footprint can stick around for a long time so don’t underestimate how this can affect the perception of your brand on the market place. Spend time upfront thinking about whether social media marketing is right for your business.
1. Seek first to comprehend – It is vital that you understand the basics of how is social media marketing really works and how it’s used. What exactly are people and businesses doing with social media? What gets them results? A few of you may be thinking, how do you do this? Perchance you could consider trying it out on your own by setting up an individual account, then testing a few of the features, or get yourself a trusted friend to show you their account and guide you through. Alternatively you can find so many resources and ‘how to’ items online about social media, you could run a explore Google or on YouTube on a specific topic of interest watching the video tutorials to obtain informed.
2. Understand your purpose – What is your purpose is for using social media? What do you desire to achieve for your business by it? It’s really important that you identify your purpose for getting involved in social media marketing (or any other marketing activity for that matter). You need to work out why you are taking part. What do you be prepared to achieve? Do Motivational Content want to build brand awareness, engage with your customers or identify new sales opportunities? Remember to be realistic about what you think you will be able to achieve.
3. If you decide to engage in social media, which sites are best for you personally? – With the plethora of social media marketing sites available, which ones are best for the business? Consider where your target audience would socialize online, and think about the amount of time and resources you’ll realistically be able to commit to maintaining and administering your website presence. Which ones are right for you? You will probably find that some certainly are a better fit than others.
4. Quality Content – If you decide that social media is right for the business, carefully consider the amount and quality of information you would like to share in the web sphere. Remember it will probably stay there for some time, so you need to make sure it accurate and reliable information that’s valuable to your market. It has to be relevant, otherwise people will not read it.