What's This Social Marketing All About?

What is it? Things like Facebook, Twitter and FourSquare.

This is no longer a world dominated by teenagers, it's an important business tool for every business owner. Social marketing is all about getting in touch with potential customers as your business/website becomes known and respected through key social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

When a small business uses social media as a marketing tool, it allows the company to compete on a level playing field as big organisations. In fact, in this context it is most definitely an advantage to be small and accessible.

The current big thing is Facebook, You Tube and Twitter.  Social marketing is at its heart about people – building relationships and interacting with “people” or in the case of your business “potential customers”.

Why is it Important?

Customer referrals and word of mouth are without a doubt the best way to get new business. One major advantage of using social networking sites to market your business is getting these ‘word of mouth’ referrals to go a lot farther, quicker. Social Networking sites like Facebook have hundreds of millions of members and massive amounts of daily daily active users. It's becoming hard to ignore.

Do I Need It?

You have to decide if the investment of time and effort is worth your while. If you provide B2B products or services, then it might not be appropriate for you right now, but don't rule it out. Check to see what your competitors are doing and how.

For any business that sells to a consumer audience, then social marketing is almost a must now. Don't believe me? You should also check out your competition and make sure you don't get left behind!

How Do You Get Started?

If you are a complete newbie, then it's best to select just one social media platform to start with, until you are more comfortable with putting yourself out there. Facebook is probably the must fun and rewarding to start with.

Start by creating a Facebook Page for your business, this is different (but looks similar) as a Personal Profile, which is about you as an individual. Complete all the basic information about your business: website, blurb, contact details and opening hours. Then begin by posting some news and links from your website and other sites that are interesting and relevant to your industry. 

You'll need to find some fans to "Like" your page and follow your posts. Start by inviting your friends just to get things moving. There are more intensive strategies to building your fan page we can address later. 

What is really important is to also seek out other pages and groups that are relevant and complementary to your industry and then participate on those pages too. Add some friendly comments, "like" some posts and share some posts on your own Page too. The goal is to be seen as a very interactive participant in this important social community. You should avoid posting too many sales messages, especially at these early stages.

Stay tuned for more detailed tips of setting up and marketing your Business Page on Facebook.

The Plug

If you find the prospect of social marketing a bit too daunting, but want to get involved, then get in touch! My Outsourced Marketing Team manages several social media accounts for small businesses, just like you! Have a look at what we do:

http://www.myoutsourcedmarketingteam.com/wedo.php