Make Social Media Work for Your Business
In today’s competitive, 24/7, global, on-demand, consumer-centric world… newspaper and Yellow Pages ads are gone, replaced by social media “media designed to disseminate through social interaction.”
What that means is that the people aiming the messages and the people receiving the messages are working together to create communication.
Think about a financial services Web site, as opposed to a traditional Yellow Pages ad: In the Yellow Pages, you created an ad that presented the information you wanted potential clients and customers to see, in the form that you preferred. On a financial services Web site, you put forward information you want to get noticed, but potential and former clients and customers may add their own questions and perspectives—and not always what you want customers to see.
And remember, a distinctive Web site is less expensive, reaches more people and provides more information than a Yellow pages ad.
I’m sure you’ve heard of Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, blogging and e-marketing, but you may wonder how the use of these programs can help effectively market your business (or organization). It’s not as difficult as you might think.
Facebook is a global social networking Web site where users can add friends, videos, photos, links and broadcast messages.
How to use: Set up a profile and “group” page for your business. Add photos, videos, links and menus. This is very effective for broadcasting activities, special events and promotions.
Blogs
Blogs are regular online entries of commentary, descriptions of events or other material such as graphics or video. They exist as part of a Web site, or on their own site.
How to use: Think of a blog as you would a journal. Talk about events, new products, expanded services, photos and videos.
E-marketing
E- marketing is a form of direct marketing done by sending emails to a determined list. They may be used to try to generate new business, or to persuade current clients and customers to purchase something immediately.
How to use: Constant Contact or I Contact are fee-based companies that will store your email database. Sort addresses by groups for special promotions. Pages can be designed within the program for a professional marketing piece.
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read messages (tweets). Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters that are displayed on your profile page and delivered to your “followers.” Tweets also can be posted directly on your Facebook page.
How to use: Keep this simple and use it to let your followers know what you’re doing in real time.
You Tube
You Tube is a video-sharing Web site where you can store videos of your business events.
How to use: Upload your videos and link with your Web site, Facebook page, blog and email promotion.