It’s clear that social media marketing has grown dramatically during the last few years and that with more than 800 million active users, the amount of Facebook users is easily a lot more than twice the size of the entire population of the United States!
Its growth has been astronomical now, millions of people are posting more personal and business information online than ever before. It’s happening at lightning speed with a large number of posts, tweets and uploads occurring every hour.
Recent research conducted by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) commissioned by Sensis Pty Ltd (May 2011, p. 10) indicates, that “62% of Australian Internet surfers use a variety of social media marketing sites, with many visiting each day and most at least several times a week.” It’s no real surprise that with the millions of prospective customers from around the world using these sites, each day, that so many businesses are determined to include social media marketing into their marketing mix. Nonetheless it also important to get an understanding of how these sites are increasingly being used and what’s involved with maintaining or resourcing your business presence on these sites. Your web footprint can stick around for a long time so don’t underestimate how this can affect the perception of your brand available in the market place. Spend time upfront thinking about whether social media marketing is right for your business.
1. Seek first to comprehend – It is vital that you understand the basics of how is social media really works and how it’s being used. What are Personal Development and businesses doing with social media marketing? What gets them results? A few of you may be thinking, how do you do this? Perhaps you could consider trying it out for yourself by setting up an individual account, then testing a few of the features, or get yourself a trusted friend showing you their account and guide you through. Alternatively you can find so many resources and ‘how to’ items online about social media, you could run a explore Google or on YouTube on a specific topic of interest and watch the video tutorials to obtain informed.
2. Understand your purpose – What’s your purpose is for using social media marketing? What do you hope to achieve for your business by using it? It’s really important that you identify your purpose for getting involved in social media marketing (or any marketing activity for that matter). You need to work out why you are engaging. What do you expect to achieve? Do you simply desire to build brand awareness, build relationships your visitors or identify new sales opportunities? Be sure you be realistic about what you think you will be able to attain.
3. If you decide to take part in social media, which sites are best for you personally? – With the plethora of social media sites available, which ones are best for your business? Think about where your market would socialize online, and take into account the period of time and resources you’ll realistically be able to commit to maintaining and administering your website presence. Those are right for you? You might find that some certainly are a better fit than others.
4. Quality Content – If you decide that social media is right for the business, carefully consider the amount and quality of information you would like to share in the online sphere. Remember it will probably stay there for some time, so you need to make sure it accurate and reliable information that’s valuable to your target audience. It must be relevant, otherwise people will not read it.