what is social media marketing

What is Social Media Marketing?

http://thedemystifier.com


Traditional Marketing Tools

Before the internet we had one-way communication methods - or ‘push’ marketing as it’s sometimes known

• television & radio programmes interrupted by adverts• adverts stuck in the middle of magazine articles• direct mail through our doors• companies ringing us up


The Internet

The internet brought us websites ... and with them came more ‘push’ marketing methods!

• banner advertising


Internet marketing was different to traditional marketing – websites had to be found.

Along came Search Engine Optimisation (seo) – placing words & phrases, that customers were typing into search engines, into website text.

But websites were still mostly brochure sites ... advertising products or services.

Because of the internet consumers now had a lot more choice, they didn’t have to buy from high street shops or local business suppliers, they had a whole world of shops and companies to choose from.

Businesses started to get wise to this – they realised that internet marketing needed more of a ‘pull’ strategy.


Businesses realised that getting people to their website was only half the battle – it was keeping them there that was proving difficult.

I mean who would deliberately watch a television channel that was only adverts.

Websites then were all about ‘this is us ... been around 100 years ... we do this ... blah, blah. It was all about the company.

Consumers wanted to know what was in it for them.


Along Came Blogs

Blogs are a page within the website but not a sales page. Companies could post short articles which included words & phrases for seo purposes. But instead of being sales oriented they gave customers added value ... by giving tips and free information that helped.

Blogs allowed prospective customers to get to know, like and trust a company and were consequently more likely to buy from them.


But at the time, companies were still relying on search engine optimisation, online directories and pure chance for their websites and blogs being found.


Enter Social Media Sites


Because people are social in nature, when sites like My Space and Bebo came out practically everyone under the age of 25 wanted be on them – talking to their friends, meeting new people and sharing photographs and info about concerts, bars and restaurants they were going to.

It took a while for businesses to realise that more and more people were spending their time on the internet, on social media sites, and less time watching television and reading magazines & newspapers ... In fact they were actually watching television and reading the news on social media sites!

Businesses realised that they needed to be where their customers were, so they jumped on the social media bandwagon.


Facebook replaced My Space and Bebo, Twitter came along and YouTube popped up. Older people started to join in and now the largest age group on Facebook is 18 to 34, the fastest growing age group 65+

As well as general social sites, business social sites started to pop up .... ecademy.com was very popular in the noughties (and I was proud to be a part of their Customer Service Team back in 2004) ... now Linkedin is the number one professional business networking site with over 150m users.

Businesses started to realise that social media sites were very effective marketing channels.

But they’re not advertising channels.


Push v Pull MarketingSocial media marketing is very much a ‘pull’ marketing strategy.

People have to click a Like button, click a Follow button, or accept a request to connect ... customers have to allow you to put your messages in front of them.


UsefulEntertainingEducationalInformative

So your messages need to be useful, entertaining, educational, informative ... basically helpful to your customer.

Social media sites are ideal places to put links back to your blog pages, links to event registration pages, links to forms where you can capture names & email addresses ...

and especially ideal places to get to know your customers and let them get to know you.


Social media is not only a great way to move people over to your blog, but the sharing capability of Facebook, Twitter etc. helps you reach a much wider audience than was ever possible.

You tell a friend offline that you really enjoyed that meal in a restaurant last night and you’ve told one person.

Post that same comment on Facebook or Twitter and you’re potentially telling millions of people!


If you’d like more information on how to use social media marketing to help your business find new customers & keep existing customers coming back for more come and connect with me at:

www.twitter.com/kljsocialmediawww.facebook.com/kljsocialmedia

www.linkedin.com/in/kljsocialmedia

You can also read my blog at:


Hope to see you soon Karen L James

Demystifying social media for small businesses

http://www.twitter.com/kljsocialmedia

http://www.facebook.com/kljsocialmedia

http://www.linkedin.com/in/kljsocialmedia

http://thedemystifier.com/

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