Social Media Marketing: Like It Or Love It

As a consumer, you might dislike social media, but as a marketing expert you have to love it, which I do! There is no other option. Social media is a big part of how companies attract business and connect with existing clients. I’m part of it too, and if you and I work together, I’m going to do my best to show you why it’s so important! There are some negatives to social media in general, but business accounts are not the same as personal ones. This isn’t where acquaintances from 20 years ago try to reconnect with people they barely knew.

For example, as the Nashville SEO Guy, I’m not interested in that one bit, and no one from my childhood is likely to hang out on my professional Facebook page. Friends don’t post pictures of your recent girls’ night-out on business-related social media where the world can see it for the next 50 years. Social media marketing is used for professional purposes only.

Professional but Personal

While the office is a formal place where business estimates are perused and contracts nervously signed, in a way social media is a place to just hang out with employees or even the owner of a company. The goal is not to become so intimate that the page degenerates into something inappropriate, yet there can be a different level of conversation compared with office-based exchanges; a level that is more relaxed and less intimidating that a direct phone or in-person dialogue. In those instances, everyone feels rushed. They are taking up each others’ time, so they have to get down to practical matters. Social media creates a different expectation which many clients find more approachable.

Many Links to Social Media

How do prospective clients wind up on a firm’s Facebook or Twitter account? They find these pages through links on landing sites, in paper advertising, via online ads, or even on pay-per-click advertisements. Content on these social media pages (including captions for photos) counts as content which a search engine uses to determine how they should rank a page. Where search engine optimization is concerned, social media is an important tool and can be a highly useful means of increasing content; thus, of increasing search engine rankings. Every time a new, original blurb or photo is added to Facebook or a tweet is posted on Twitter, this is added to the amount of content accessible to search engine browsers and their complicated algorithms.

How to use Social Media

Is Facebook just a place to chat? I, along with my colleagues say, “absolutely not!” Do consumers merely log on to see pictures of products and hear what other customers have to say, good or bad? Many promotions are social media-based. A website promoting free samples, coupons, and competitions takes subscribers to a Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter page to sign up for give-aways and to enter contests.

Usually, all a person has to do is “like” the Facebook page to be entered to receive something. Meanwhile, all those “likes” mount up. A large number of “likes” or followers give the impression that a company is doing well; that they can be trusted; that products and customer service are excellent.

Social media can be used to launch short promotions – and we can show you how to do it. Subscribing is encouraged. Subscribers learn about every new post such as 24-hour sales and one-day freebies. Maybe the consumer wasn’t a regular customer before but this is your chance to turn him into one.

Low Cost Love Affair

Social media is one of the cheapest platforms for advertising. Business owners use them to talk about what they do or sell without creating big email campaigns or new brochures for every change of menu or recently released product. Whereas altering a website takes time and possibly money, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace are set up for continual engagement. They are simply cheaper options than print campaigns or TV, although often used as complementary forms of advertising rather than the main show.

For very small businesses with tiny advertising budgets, features on social media might be all they can afford. The most basic page on one of these forms of social media is completely free. These pages also promote chatter between consumers on and off the net; like virtual word of mouth, which is also a free and effective form of promotion – and you’ll learn all about this and more when we have our consultation.