I’ve got a dog
who spends most of the day chasing squirrels, but he’s yet to actually catch one and you might be wondering if social media marketing is the same. Can Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg and all those social media sites actually make you a dime?
The answer is yes and no.
If you’re thinking I’ll tweet my list or make a Facebook entry and it will instantly make money, you’re missing the point. The social media sites are for, well they’re for socializing. Why is that good for business?
Whether you market online or off, the stronger your relationships with prospects and clients and the more relationships you have, the more money you’ll make. And the social media sites are one more tool to help you build relationships, stay in front of your prospects and clients and increase loyalty.
And in marketing, loyalty means more first time and more repeat customers, which means more profits.
To get the details of how to use Twitter, Facebook and the other social media sites to grow your business, stay tuned as I invite the top experts in social media marketing to share their proven strategies in upcoming posts.
– Charlie
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September 3rd, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Nicely said, Charlie!
Many businesses, particularly the smaller ones seem to think that sending out self-serving Tweets a few times a day or just posting a blog is the solution to Social Media. That would be a waste of time.
Building a business DEPENDS on building relationships and that’s what social media does.
The biggest misconception in SMM is measurement. People want to know how much money they made from their social marketing efforts. Well, the simple answer is, it’s not that simple. Can you tell how much money you made from the new sign that was hung outside of a storefront? Or how much money you made from designing and printing a brochure? We KNOW they help grow the business, but we don’t always know just how much.
The important thing to remember about social media, is to DO IT RIGHT or don’t do it at all. Hire a consultant if your not sure what that means, or read everything you can get your hands on and then get the right help to execute it. For some ideas, you can start at http://bit.ly/GUa1l. (To be honest, we do Social Media Consulting, so I know I’m biased).
How ever you look at it, SMM is as much of an investment in your business as any other sales or marketing effort.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
We use a variety of inbound and outbound marketing techniques. I can say that our social networking efforts are definitely worth it in the sense that we keep our customers much longer, or should I say, they keep US much longer.
When customers are able to interact on a personal level with the leaders of a company, or their account reps it obviously leads to a much more satisfied relationship then the occasional email or phone call once or twice every quarter.
Social media is also very content and seo driven. You should adjust your blog titles, website headers, even the way you comment on other peoples content to be very tactful in terms of seo. You need a great website and great relevant content for Social Media to be successful.