The What and Why of Social Media Marketing

Social Media Marketing

 

The What

 

 

When it comes to the world of marketing, social marketing is the hottest of hot commodities. As improbable as it seems, Facebook and MySpace have gone from being social sites for kids to chat with each other to something even Fortune 500 companies compete for attention on. Social Media websites now impact how news is reported across the world, with such major events as the Iranian presidential election of 2009 and the earthquake in Haiti immediately coming to mind. So, with Twitter, Facebook and the other Social Media properties becoming part of our daily conversations, what is social marketing?

Simply put, social marketing is the use of Social Media to market a company, a brand, a product or service, a promotion, an event or a cause. Companies create profiles on Facebook and Twitter to communicate different marketing messages to the public. They produce videos for YouTube in hopes their funny message becomes a viral video which grabs the attention of potential consumers the world over. They write and distribute press releases that promote new products or events directly to their customers and prospects rather than waiting for a newspaper to run the story. What makes this type of marketing so appealing is the sheer number of potential consumers spending time on many different Social Media websites. Facebook, for instance, went from roughly 55 million visitors in December of 2008 to over 111 million in December 2009.

The Why

 Social marketing is on a path of insanely rapid growth. Recent new media surveys reported that up to 86% of companies surveyed plan to expand their social marketing efforts in 2010. They also reported that only 10% of surveyed companies do not already have some means of social marketing already in their strategy. What could drive such a wholesale commitment to this new and relatively young technology from companies like Coca-Cola, Ford and Apple?

First – advertising clutter. Advertising clutter is a term used to describe the large amount of advertisements now in circulation. It's impossible to avoid seeing advertisements for a day, let alone an hour! Magazines, newspapers, radio, television and billboards – all are at every turn of the head and all are chock full of ads. New products, such as the DVR and ITunes, have been hugely successful in part because they help consumers avoid the advertising onslaught. This is not to say that traditional marketing strategies are totally ineffective; it’s that making a connection with the target market using traditional media can be very difficult. Today, traditional marketing is best used as part of an overall marketing strategy to help establish brand awareness. It can, however, be enhanced with social media techniques to make it more effective at prospect nurturing and lead generation.

 Second – the users. The more consumers log-in to social media, the more companies have an opportunity to connect with them – millions of them. In addition, the social sites are typically used as communication or information transfer tools. This allows consumers to be more easily targeted based on personal preferences: their likes and dislikes, topics of interest, profile selections, and more. Users of popular Social Media sites can even help create a “word-of-mouth” buzz about advertisements that they either like or dislike. With over 100 million users participating in a variety of Social Media sites daily, harnessing the brand building power of individuals makes tremendous marketing sense and costs much less than traditional media.

Third – the future growth. Social Media platforms add users by the minute, sometimes by the second. This constantly growing consumer base is an opportunity for companies to not only develop brand-loyal customers, but also increase new prospects. In addition, the Internet as a marketing communication tool is an ever-changing system that continues to add surprising value. For instance, LinkedIn and Twitter recently merged their information distribution feeds, helping companies reach a larger audience with no additional effort. New technologies and social sites constantly spring up offering new ways to network and share ideas. Social Media, being relatively new, still leaves lots of room for innovation. In other words, there will continue to be new and compelling ways to stand out from competition, gain fans, appeal to prospects and grow your brand.

If Social Media Marketing still seems confusing, check out offering for VARs and tech companies: http://www.thesagecloser.com/socialmedia.html. Call us at 512-255-7243 if you want to talk further about designing a Social Media Marketing strategy for your company!

Co-authored by Trevor Robertson, our New Media marketing intern from Texas State University in San Marcos.