In this paper we offer an introduction to the new Internet phenomena – Social Media Marketing explaining:
1. Why it’s important for small businesses to understand it2. What to do, and how to go about it. (all the site names are links)3. Where to go to start building a web presence.
Why you need to be marketing via Social Media
Do you need to get into Social Media Marketing (SMM) – Almost certainly YES because a) the other approaches don’t work so well anymore, and b) because it offers a much wider reach, to a more closely targeted audience. And it’s free.
a) Other approaches don’t work any more:
* Cold calling on the street – when was the last time anybody got invited in to make their pitch?* Cold calling on the phone – talking to voice mail isn’t fun anymore.* Print and other broadcast media – far too expensive and unproductive.* Email – authorized sender lists and other filters send these to Trash.* SEO your marketing site – Google ranks advertisers first and content (in blogs) next.* Adwords – cost per click is driven up by big brand budgets and only Google makes money.
On top of these is the resistance we all have to intrusive advertising. Our brains, our Firefox or our Tivo, allows us to filter it out.
Social Media platforms aren’t intended for marketing, but do help us get messages out there, to people interested in the subject. The creators built these systems so communities could interact, on the Internet.
Social Media Marketing is:
1. More effective2. Wider reach to people who are interested3. Free!
The Seven Secrets to Being Welcome
Getting started with SMM can appear intimidating. All of these places seem full of experts who use their own special languages. We have to write and publish stuff in ways people want to read. Most of all it seems to take up so much time.
But actually it’s easy, provided we stick to the fundamental principles:
* Avoid Internet Marketing Experts like the plague. Sites are dominated by these characters trying to drive readers to their blogs, in the hope they’ll click an Ad. They know less about SMM than we do, or they wouldn’t act the way they do.
* Sign up to sites where your prospects, or people they know, hang out. Be social. Fill out your profile as if you’re joining a club. In Social Media, members like to know the person behind the business. It’s just like meeting people at a cocktail party.
* Don’t make promises you can’t keep. Bad news about a product or service will be around the world in a nano second and consign the perpetrator to oblivion.
* DO NOT SELL. There are plenty of fools who do, but they’re noticed as Spammers. There’s no need to sell. When we know what we’re talking about, people in the market will want to buy.
Anybody following these rules will be welcome on discussion forums and other meeting places.
Easy Steps to Global Presence
To join in we’ll need to move toward the outside and be prepared to move more quickly. The further we get out there the faster we have to think, and move. What’s happening isn’t near the center, it’s out there on the edges. In today’s world it’s a case of “be out there, or be square”.
Most of the sites out there have been started by people wanting to get paid for advertising, one way or another, and run the site for their own benefit. Why not start at Front Office Box User Group ?- it’s run for your benefit. You can manage your own communities, get all your blog posts automatically sent to content distributors. Get your profiles indexed by Search Engines, and advice from the Social Media Marketing group.
At implu.com find up to the minute details of 167,000 company officers, create a personal profile and share your “stories” about corporate America. There’ll be blogs and a forum coming soon.
Not many people know but you can set up a business profile on Facebook go to Mari Smith for a guide.
Next go to to Linked In. Here we find 25+ million professionals, like us, wanting to connect for business: reconnect with past colleagues, receive job offers, get help from their peers. Linked In has 1,000s of special interest groups and posts questions and answers in 100s of categories.
Spread your Internet footprint by submitting content at Ezine Articles. From December 2008 join AddsYou for more of the same opportunities. Post the same content in Squidoo lenses and Google Knols. Contribute to Knols Debates. – researchers use these like encyclopedia.
Microblogging and What We Can Do With It
Even further out we come to Twingr. This is a site/service letting people create their own communities, just like Ning but limited to the 140 character post size. (It’s brand new so might need some time to fix a few things.)
Why limit messages to 140 characters? Because it cuts to the mustard. People out there want to benefit from our insight, not out literary skills. The limit focuses minds on the meat. Readers can scan hundreds of posts in a few minutes, choosing ones they want to know more about.
Now news services monitor Twitter posts to find out what’s happening. Journalists monitor them to find out what people are thinking. Politicians are doing the same, and engaging a new public with their own ideas. Software companies are publishing service notices to their users. Brands don’t need customer surveys anymore, they just monitor Twitter.
With Twitter we can find new friends and colleagues anywhere in the world. We can learn of a new opportunity, evaluate and decide within just a few minutes.
We can be so much more productive, because we’ve got access to so much more information and support. It’s the ultimate question and answer service.
What’s Next ?
Beats me! We just need to keep up with pace.
Recommend Social Media Site’s:
MyWolfbook.com – Make friends online, Meet friends online – Meet Sexy girls online – What’s Different? Express Yourself with custom profiles, music and more. Find friends and meet friends online easy and fast. Free Dating, Watch Videos, Upload Music, Photos and more.
