Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

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The use of social media and social networking tools is widespread and very popular across the universe. Of course, it is one thing to use social media to communicate and interact and it is quite another to strategize with it.

In any business, the first thing that should always be done is an established business plan or strategy. Along with that, it is very important to have a social media policy. If you, as a business owner, don’t have a solid social media strategy, of course, don’t bother with the social media policy because it won’t do you any good. With that said, you should establish both as soon as possible if you want to leverage social media to its fullest potential. Your strategy should also factor in a great deal of solid communication and interaction with others online.

Social media is here to stay

Social media is so widely used at this point that it is safe to say that it is here to stay. With social media (as with all other forms of interaction), the communication and educational and informative efforts must be strong and consistent if you have a notion that it should help to make your business a success. It is all well and good to listen to what the “experts” are saying. Of course, you need to understand not just the “how” but also the “why” when it comes to your social media approach. A lot of smoke and mirrors with nothing behind them won’t get you very far.

On your social media journey, you must learn as much about social media, how it works, and what works most effectively for your business. To a great extent, your social media strategy will not look anything like the social media strategy of another business owner. Your strategy will have been customized to your needs and the the nature of your particular business. It is critical that you view social media as an extremely powerful and effective marketing tool. Additionally, always remember to keep your customers’ needs in mind when designing your strategy. Listening is a critical skill to have when it comes to the success of your business. However, it is also essential that you learn how to listen to what is important and to weed out what is not important.

Be sensible

If you don’t get your business involved in social media, it doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be successful. Many business owners were successful in the past before social media even existed. However, you are now living in a different age. It is an age in which you have to keep up with what other business people are doing. If you everyone else is effectively leveraging social media and you are not using it, you and your business will be left behind. You really have no choice. Your focus should always be centered around your customers. Always remember that your top priority is WIIFM (What’s In It For Me). Their needs and wants come above everything. Your principal responsibility is to solve their problems.

Social media marketing is a very broad concept. It means different things to different people. Once you  have established your marketing strategy (a strategy that is built around social media to a great extent), you need to figure out exactly what you need to do to successfully implement your plan in a way that includes the essential elements to make your business succeed. No matter what, you will be ahead if you use social media appropriately and effectively.

The basics of social media for your business

  • Listen to your customers so that their experience is positive.
  • Successfully work effectively in a multichannel environment.
  • Consider everyone a customer.
  • Enjoy more success by providing relevant, appropriate, personalized service and communication. This will result in additional business for you.

 Return on Investment (ROI)

As a business owner, It is natural to want a healthy ROI as a result of all of your efforts. As social media gains more and more popularity, many more people are learning how to capture the metrics that occur as a result of social media use. Once you have captured the metrics, you can begin to understand the return on investment and then redirect if and when your plan requires tweaking. The way to gain online connections is all about valuable content that you share with as many people as possible. It has little to do with money and everything to do with consistent and regular effort on your part as the business owner. Of course, “free” is an extremely misleading term at times. Nothing is free. It’s just that not every price demands money.

Conclusion

The concepts discussed here are critical to the success of your business through your online efforts. Before you even begin to lay out a social media strategy, you need to figure out what is important for your particular business and never waiver from that essential path. Through your interactions with other people online, you will be able to understand how your brand is perceived and thus, make revisions as needed. The chances are great that you will have a plan and then as you are working toward your business goals, you may change little things along the way. Life doesn’t go in a stick straight path that never gets wavy. Business doesn’t do that either. You need to always remember the balance between sticking with what you believe in and being flexible when it is necessary for the good of your business.

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Author

  • Michael Cohn

    Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications. He has decades of experience in IT and web technologies. Michael founded CompuKol Communications to help small businesses and entrepreneurs increase their visibility and reputation. CompuKol consults, creates, and implements communication strategies for small businesses to monopolize their markets with a unique business voice, vision, and visibility. Mr. Cohn earned a Master’s degree in project management from George Washington University in Washington, DC; and a Master’s degree in computer science and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ.

11 Responses

  1. Anna Ioudovskaya says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: CMS User Group
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    Social media is great! It connects people from all over the world. But in my opinion, social media is becoming overrated and repetitive. Every social media website competes with exactly the same features: blogs, photo albums, commenting on someone's profile, adding videos, even interactive games and surveys! I don't think there is opportunity for growth as far as social media is concerned. I think it is becoming annoying and repetitive when someone tells you to join a new website…why start creating your profile from scratch when you already spent a few years on a different social media website and already have a lot of friends on there?
    Also after the developers completed a project, they get bored and start creating new possible projects for the social media website and I can relate to that, but that doesn't mean you have to change everything around the whole website. People are used to same layout and that is why they continue to come back. Adding new features is great, but don't change the layouts! People will get confused, and may stop coming back.
    Posted by Anna Ioudovskaya

  2. Bert Raymond says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: eMarketing Association Off-Topic Group
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    I do not think much of social media as people get to talking about so many thing and do not inter act with people. People do not get to see the sun .
    Posted by Bert Raymond

    • Michael Cohn says:

      Bert,

      I beg the difference. The primary goal of social media, or social networking, is to interact with people. And since social networking is not a replacement to face-to-face networking but a complimentary method of networking, we use social networking to build business relationships and to setup the face-to-face meetings where the deals are closed.

      So we do see the sun a lot, perhaps even more than those that are not involved in social media as we are constantly on the lookout to build new business relationships.

  3. Franz Keller says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: MCCC – Morris County Chamber of Commerce
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    I work for an architecture firm and it is very hard to gauge the effectiveness (and thus usefulness) of our various social media sites. We use it more as an arm of our PR strategy rather than marketing/sales. We know we aren't going to get many jobs based on the number of people that "like" us on Facebook, but it is easy to upload photos of new jobs, drop a quick project update, or link our quarterly newsletter. If you're in the business of selling an actual product, I think you can better strategize your use of social media sites to do things like announce sales promos, discounts, specials, etc. In my experience, the industries that have benefited the most from social media seem to be restaurants, retailers and also some publications.
    Posted by Franz Keller

  4. Jennifer Soodek says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: For Women Entrepreneurs
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    I am a newbie with it all and it is daunting. Each day I try to do a little more, learn something new, and hopefully gain a level of comfort with it. Any suggestions for making this new language more comprehensible?
    Posted by Jennifer Soodek

  5. shella hernandez says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: eMarketing Association Off-Topic Group
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    I agree with Michael the idea is to network with others you would not have a chance to meet in everyday settings. It helps you get the word out worldwide instead of just a limited few.
    Posted by shella hernandez

  6. Dina Eliash Robinson says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Freelance Editing Network
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    Carolyn, you hit the nail… I'm finding social media to be at best a scattershot approach to business marketing–unless the subject (or source) is celebrity, gossip, entertainment, sex, trivia or 'cute animal' video. (Even a respectable health guru like Dr. Joseph Mercola has recently been resorting to adding at least one cute cat or dog video on his otherwise serious & informative emails & web site.Most disappointing.) So FB & others are good publicity tools for showbiz, pet shops, etc.
    How about us, creative types putting our heads together and coming up with more precisely targeted online marketing tools that serve us better? I'm thinking… I'm thinking…
    Posted by Dina Eliash Robinson

  7. Alyona Mallayeva says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: eMarketing Association Off-Topic Group
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    ~Bert, I clearly see your point about people increasingly spending immense amount of their time socializing on Internet, while in-person interaction is becoming "out of fashion". I fear the art of social interaction is being lost due to emergence of a new channel – social media. It can keep people from developing and nurturing real-life, face-to-face relationships with friends and family.

    ~Mike, from the business standpoint, you better stay tune and hang out where you customers hang out (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and make your brand visible on those media platforms.
    Posted by Alyona Mallayeva

  8. Sue Clement says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: For Women Entrepreneurs
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    I must admit that I'm a Twitteraholic and have been able to successfully monitize my process & effort. So I'm a fan of Twitter – now Facebook is different for me. I haven't been able to get a good grip on it & not much of a fan – although I know that's a mistake & I need to get going on it 🙂 And for Linkedin I'm beginning to get more involved and really liking the connections I'm making. So all three have their place and benefit in my mktg.
    Posted by Sue Clement

  9. John Kullmann says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: MCCC – Morris County Chamber of Commerce
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    Social Media is important on several fronts. Though it may not be the mechanism that got the prospect to call you it may be:

    – A place that new employees check you out before accepting a position with your firm

    – A place where current employees interact creating a living company newsletter

    – A place where prospective customers check you out as they are during due diligence during their decision process

    – A place where you can demonstrate you are a people focused organization
    Posted by John Kullmann

  10. Erica Klemens says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: MCCC – Morris County Chamber of Commerce
    Discussion: Your Perception of Social Media Marketing

    Social media is largely under-estimated and under-utilized in this economy, as a FREE marketing tool for brand recognition, promotions, and reaching the millennial generation.
    Posted by Erica Klemens