The Internet has been the rage for almost a decade now. Gone are the days when people would condescendingly look down upon the Internet world as a time passer or a satellite devise to track ones high school pals.
Today the virtual world controls the pulse of all important nerve centers of the real world. Authors are using it for virtual book launches, it is indexing the movement of stock exchanges all around the globe, it has become the most important tool for communication, you name a field and it has been revolutionized by cyber networking. And one of the biggest innovations it has probably brought to the world of marketing.
Advertising was never so much fun and interesting. And it is this medley of avenues that social networking has set out to explore, which goes by the collective name of Social Media. So how is it that you can use this creation to market whatever it is that you want to sell? Read on to get the answer.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that, the social media only assists in promoting your brand as against creating it. It only acquaints people of your ambitions and goal in life as against being an aggressive sales portal.
So before you log on to one of these sites ensure that you have a brand that has enough meat in it to arrest and sustain the attention of the web traffic you will be interacting with.
The social media is only fruitful till you can convince other people. According to Dr. Ben Mack, your brand is not the item that you put up for sale; instead it is a projection of that latent quality in your character, that should persuade them enough to be eventual buyers of whatever it is that you are selling.
What Obama did was he spread his message of change through his ‘brand’ vote for change; and in doing so, he used today’s most happening tool of communication – the internet, more specifically the social media. People all over the world liked his brand and bought the product he was offering a presidential term in the White House. They paid for it, by digging into the smallest savings they had as small as $1, $2, $5 etc. and contributed it to his electioneering funds.
The rest as they say is history.
Now that we have got the basics of social media clear, let us now venture into its other interesting attributes.
Social media is a veritable research tool.
As stated earlier, social media are great interaction junctions where one can learn about what people are excited about and what events are causing ripples in the societal circle. It can be about anything — a happening restaurant that just opened, or an interesting tourist spot that someone is just back from visiting, or a controversial issue that is to affect all the major stock exchanges of the world – absolutely anything.
Social media can be an effective vehicle for pulling web traffic to ones’ site:
The main idea of a social media is to let people know of the services you have for them and in the process, identify the mass of people who really need what you have. Social bookmarking tools, social profile sites, social video sites are just some of the cardinal outlets that can draw massive traffic to your site, if you simply leave your weblinks with them. This assists in the exposition of your brand by establishing reciprocate links to your site and improves your position in the search engine results.
Social media used as a tool for the diversification of the audience base:
Once you have spread your message and your customers start flowing in, you now need to figure out how to sustain them, so that they can persuade other prospective customers to visit your website. This way you are expanding into a wider stretch of the customer base that would have probably been a problem to acquire otherwise.
Social media in marketing:
Only a fool will deny the immense power that the Internet exerts in the promotion of any type of businesses — small, large, medium — in today’s date. Unfortunately the inane lot is none other than a faction of top IT professionals who are still apprehensive about testing the reliability of this potent networking tool. These kinds of reservations are highly disadvantageous to innovating newer marketing techniques; and then, it is not much different than visiting the local chamber of commerce or networking club where you make new friends and touch base with old ones.
Online networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, all have the same end–to help people find new friends. And the requirements are also identical to the ones we expect in the forming and continuation of any friendship. They are:
Something that is critically important when networking with other people is to stand out in the crowd owing to your personal signature style. You need to be beautifully etched in the memory of these people so that they instantly recognize you, when you get back to them for follow up. And how are you going to be that memorable experience to them? By trying to sell your product to them? They will resent ever meeting you, forget about remembering you. Always be an inspirational figure whom these people can fondly recollect and tell their friends and relatives about. Always try to help them in whatever ways you can.
Don’t project yourself as an insensitive sales person on these networking portals. That includes not posting backlinks to your product, either on your Blog or on Twitter. Your sole aim should be to apprise the visitors of the attributes of your brand, nothing else.
Be engaging. Again like real world interactions, people will despise your company if you fail to excite their attention. Be versatile. Express your views on matters of current significance that is shaping the world that we live in. If you have to be a bit controversial for this, don’t mind being so, as a bit of contention only peps up the reader’s interest in reading your blog regularly.
Interact with the members of your industry or respond to the judgments of other individuals of your local community by offering them your insight on an issue.
Your blog should offer enough substance for thought to your visitors. The content in your site need not always be genuine, but they should serve one cardinal end–it must offer your customers that what they are in search of.
Develop your content by researching on the Internet. There is always an abundance of content on the net; more than you could ever imagine using.
As it is important in the real life to follow up with a customer after the initial meeting, so it is with online marketing. Be in touch with your customer and keep them updated on the latest postings that you have made on your blog. It will only keep the interest of your customer alive and serve as an additional promotional medium for your product. Remember, the major way of spreading your brand name is by word of mouth. So the more impressed your customer is, the more people they will talk to about you.
Social media is a powerful tool for mass advertising. All you need is the technical awareness of how to use it in the best possible manner.
Now that you know the social protocols that need to be adhered to while networking, let us educate you about the technical instruments at your disposal whose services you can make good of.
