Theres a lot of talk about social media marketing and a lot of debate about the ROI but here my take on why you should invest time, resources and energy into building a profile across different social networking platforms and how you can use your profile to drive traffic to your website.
Before you begin to jump onboard the social media marketing train though, take a look at what’s out there right now across the social media landscape and you’ll see a whole host of social networking sites popping up on a daily basis, each offering games, music, gadgets and other attractions to lure you away from your business goals.
It’s essential to plan ahead to avoid failure in any marketing campaign but social media with all its’ attractions and distractions makes this task even harder. So, here’s what you need to do;
Start by listing three things to get a clear picture of who you are, who you are not and who you want to be. Branding is a big part of any marketing model but with social networking sites able to send your message, words or brand across several platforms with the click of a button it’s vital you nail it from day one. If you dont you might just end up the fool at the party. And nobody listens to a fool!
Next in your plan to conquer the social media world should be a research phase. Start out with a list of twenty popular social networking sites and find out if your customers wuold use this type of platform. This is easy to do but very important because the last thing you want is to waste your time, efforts and energy on facebook if all your customers are on Zenzuu or some other niche social networking site.
Finally, enter the social media party the way you would enter a room full of strangers. Take the time to look around and listen to what others are saying and don’t rush in with all guns blazing or you will be shot down like an outlaw. Twitter is a good place to start. Listen and learn before you start to tweet or nobody will hear the noise you make.
So, be social. Be unique and try to add some value or entertainment to the social media party. Do this well and when you speak others will listen. Get this wrong and you’l be whistling into the wind.