The purpose of social media marketing is to engage with enthusiasts and existing customers in interactive communities in order to drive more traffic and sales. This type of engagement – when it is genuine – facilitates a highly involved audience that wants to interact with the brand. The more people a company can interact with who already have strong social networks, the more likely it is that a message can be spread through those networks – but only if the company is already a trusted member of the community.
Social Media Marketing: Know the Secrets
Incorporating social media into your marketing isn’t a quick fix, magic elixir, or sure thing. It’s about creating community, and that doesn’t happen overnight. Consistent participation in social media delivers its best results months, or even a couple of years down the road. You need to be in it for the long haul.
Establish Credibility
One aspect of social media is a set of tools that people can use to recommend products and services to others. Absolutely anyone – including big corporations – can use them to establish credibility and trust. Social media levels the playing field. Participants in social media have a zero tolerance quotient and will not stand for thinly veiled corporate messages. Be ready to be credibly involved or don’t get in. Build a genuine connection with your audience so you can experiment with prototypes and new ideas.
Embrace all Feedback
Customers who complain are an opportunity. Social media marketing should engage them in conversation in order to find out what would make them happy. Then make the changes that will knock their socks off. People love to be heard, and the ideas you get from people outside the company are often more objective and original than those you get from insiders.
Resisting the voice of the customer is futile. Your customers are already talking about you. They’ll keep doing that whether or not you respond. But if you do respond, you have the opportunity to surprise and even delight people who might otherwise never have bought from you again.
Zappos, with more than 250 employees on Twitter, and several other smart companies pay attention to conversation and respond immediately when complaints crop up, earning the respect of the community. That respect often leads to favorable blog posts – endorsements money couldn’t buy.
Think Globally
Global marketing is no longer just for giants like P&G and Microsoft. Social media marketing brings globalization to firms of all sizes. Speak in many tongues. Hire a human translator rather than relying on machine translations (which make you sound like the village idiot). Communicate in simple words. Avoid idioms and complexity.
Social media can change the world. A social media marketing message that resonates can make an enormous difference. The Frozen Pea Fund began as a series of Twitter posts and became a global campaign for breast cancer awareness.
