Utah Business

You may have noticed a lot of coverage over the past couple of years about the rapid growth of social networks and how they are changing the way we communicate?

Perhaps, you have also stumbled across one of the many articles professing how to ‘double your sales’ with Twitter or Facebook and maybe feel you have missed the boat with your own marketing?



But, it’s actually worth asking the question as to whether marketing through social media actually works in the first place, and, if it does, how can you make it work for your business?

The Changing Face Of The Web

Many social media web sites have been built on the back of a technical evolution on the Internet – something paraphrased as “Web 2.0”. It’s a term that many marketers talk about with great authority and it is used in many different contexts. But, what exactly is it?

In the early days of the Internet, a website contained words and pictures – like a magazine or brochure – and it wasn’t an interactive environment. But, with the advent of Blogging, Wikis and commenting (to name but a few) we can all get involved with conversations online by writing (and publishing) directly onto web pages.

We can easily create our own Facebook profiles, Blogs and Twitter accounts and share information with people who have similar interests. For this reason, Web 2.0 is often referred to as the read/write web.

Of course, one of the main reasons social networking has become mainstream so quickly is that many of the websites don’t charge – they are free to use.  Companies looking to raise their profile online have taken advantage of this to promote their profile to a whole new audience, often in an inappropriate way.

When it comes to marketing your business through social networks, are people even talking about your brand in the first place? Are they discussing your industry? If so, where are those conversations taking place so you can join in and raise your profile too?

Getting Specific

As with most marketing case studies, many of the success stories you will read about are consumer brands; brands that people want to talk about; brands with a mass market.

From this feedback, companies from all sorts of industries have picked up on the buzz and started Twittering, Blogging and setting up their Facebook fan groups, and, because the cost of entry is virtually zero, it’s not just the big boys. Startups and small businesses have also jumped on the bandwagon.

Move into the business-to-business space and getting your voice heard becomes somewhat harder than the success stories suggested it would be. Who wants to talk about widgets or your bespoke niche service, especially when so many other companies occupy the same space? It’s like exhibiting at a huge trade show with all your competitors setting up a stand right next to you.

Interestingly though, some people do want to talk about the same thing as you and may be interested in hearing what your company has to say. The key is to find out where the most appropriate conversation is taking place and to then to understand how that conversation is taking place.

Conversation Marketing 

With Web 2.0 technology everybody can have a voice. So the way you engage with people through social media works very differently from traditional offline marketing. If you say the wrong thing in the wrong way, people have the right to reply and, in terms of reputation, they may have a lot less to lose than you and potentially a much larger audience listening to them. Treading carefully and mixing with the right people becomes even more important. 

Business marketers in the social space often overlook rules of interaction and social etiquette. They try to sell too quickly and too aggressively without gaining trust, looking to control conversations and relationships. But let’s face it, who wants to stop around and listen to the person controlling the conversation in the real world? Why on earth would we put up with it any more online?

In fact, in the social space we can un-follow, de-friend and block at the click of a button; the relationship gone in a second, along with trust in your brand. It’s happening to a lot of marketers in the social space – no-one is listening to them because they have nothing that people want to hear. 

Creating Trust 

Creating a successful marketing strategy using social networks requires the ability (and patience) to develop trust with people. Like many marketing techniques, it’s a case of creating your pipeline of new relationships and developing them over a period of time – not pushing the sale from the outset.

Gaining initial trust is essential. 

One trust-building strategy for social media marketing – whatever your industry – is to answer the questions that people want (or need) the answers to. If you can engage your audience with relevant information, they will not only buy into you, they will also spread the word – your word. 

Platforms such as Blogs, Twitter and LinkedIn allow you to demonstrate your product and industry knowledge in an open forum. Of course, you can also create relevant links to your website through these platforms to drive traffic to your website and increase your brand profile – as long as you are subtle in your approach. 

Developing Relationships 

Then, as people begin to trust your social profile, you can begin to drive them through to the next step in developing the relationship. For instance, why not ask them to subscribe to your e-mail marketing? 

This overcomes audience apathy. If you have developed enough trust in your social relationship, leverage it to a medium whereby the onus is not on your audience to collect the message, rather on you to send a relevant and regular message – the next step in developing further trust, and one step closer to delivering a customer to your sales team. 

But beware. As in any personal relationship, trust can be lost in an instant if you say the wrong thing. Keeping one eye on the end game and never abusing the relationship is an absolute must. 

Where Do You Start? 

Having a strategy for your social profile is often overlooked but is essential to give you focus with your approach. Questioning your objectives is essential: 

Should your profile be you (as a person), your CEO, or your company? Who will gain the most trust and credibility online? Which social platform is the most appropriate to focus on? Where are your existing customers? Why not ask them how they use social media? What are you going to talk about? What do you want to be recognized (and found) for? By sticking to a subject (however niche), you can become an acknowledged expert. How much personality should come through? Is it yours, or your company tone-of-voice? 

Setting up a profile in any of the social networks is a straightforward process and often free. It pays to explore the media to see if the audience is right for your business and be prepared to switch off your efforts if they do not yield any results. 

Summary 

There is no doubt that engaging people on the right social media platform can help you reach a new audience and increase your online profile.

The challenge is to create a focused strategy aimed towards a specific audience and engage them in a conversational dialogue to encourage trust.

Only when you have gained trust can you leverage the relationship and lead the conversation to the next level. Where many marketers want quick wins, social media is much more of an effective marketing medium if you are not pushing too hard. So, you may have to be prepared to wait until trust has developed. 

T
hat said, when your pipeline begins to fulfill itself, social media offers a very sustainable route to generate awareness and, ultimately, potential new sales leads.

When you do business online there are many different social media sites that you will need to use to market your business. Social marketing is one of the more effective marketing methods available online.

Not only can this advertising at the drive more visitors to your website you can also keep you in touch with potential business contacts. Many people use these sites to help them build a better relationship with their customers.

By using the different media sites effectively you will be able to use them to build your business to success. Some of the top media sites include:

1. Squidoo – This is a very big site that is used by many online business owners because it is very effective. Plus it is free to get started no matter what business you are promoting.

You can even build more than one Squidoo lens about your business using different angles. That is a very effective way to use this media site to build your business. This will help people start seeing you as an expert in your niche.

2. Facebook – This is another very popular site that you want to use for your marketing. Many people use Facebook for personal reasons but also for business building.

It is always a good idea to remember that you need to learn how to use these sites effectively. If you don’t learn how to use them from the beginning then you will always struggle to get good results.

The smart way to use this site and any other is to educate yourself about them and then put into action what you have learned. This will provide the maximum results for your business building.

3. YouTube – This is a social site that everyone has heard of before. Because it works this site is being used by many Internet marketers were building their online business.

You can use on a video on the site to promote your business and people love videos because it benefits them without all the work of reading. You certainly want to be using this site for successfully building your business.

These are not all of the social media sites that can be found and used online to build your business but they are the biggest ones and most effective. Always remember that social marketing is one of the most effective methods available so you definitely want to take the time to learn how to use it successfully.

Every entrepreneur dreams to make it big in the corporate world. All business owners would definitely do everything in their power just to be known globally. Who would not want to be number one in sales and conversion? Of course, the goal of every business is to capitalize on the investment. Did you know that writing world class and first rate releases about your company would absolutely build your media relation which is the heart of advertising?

According to successful companies who were able to top the world trade industry, press releases are actually helpful in strengthening media relations. Increasing your product awareness and building your credibility through strong mediums will be the strength of your company which you can use against your competitors. This is the reason why it is important to revolutionize your media relations program by coming up with significant corporate press releases. How are you going to do this? Besides the conventional approach in writing releases, you should be strategic. You may formulate your own model or follow these guidelines first:

You are not alone in the marketing world. Whatever it is you are offering; there are about a hundred other companies who have the same product. This is the reason why you need to stand out and make the public know that you are the best among all the other companies. You can do this by writing about feature leads for your products and that it can give your customers. Your readers will definitely appreciate your feature leads and would probably be interested in your products if you will be able to present the advantages of purchasing or availing your goods. You would need to explain how the product can benefit them so it is imperative to point out what specific need is being addressed by your company’s offer so that you could build a better media relations. Providing the benefits is not the only way to entice your customers into buying your goods. You have to be creative in presenting the offer explanation why it is important as well as its added features. Make everything sound extreme and quantifiable so that they will find it very interesting and appealing. Start with a good headline or title. It is vital to get the attention of your reader and prospective customer right away with the title of your press releases. If you would just have a generic or lame title, they will not read through your writing. Also, it is important to keep the momentum. Your customers must keep reading until you are finally able to impart your message to them and you can only do this if your article is not lifeless.

Definitely, a company would undergo a lot of challenges and competition and it is up to the entrepreneur to handle the pressure. He could get out of it successfully but he has to work really hard. If you are having problems with your business as well, particularly with media relations, it would be best to come up with a new campaign. Be innovative and use your resources wisely. There are strong advertising mediums that you can take advantage in order to get to the top. Go and grab those opportunities now!