The Power of Social Media in Marketing

Transcription

1 The Power of Social Media in Marketing 1

2 Contents Executive Summary...3 What is Social Media Marketing?...3 Importance of Social Media Marketing...4 Promoting Through Social Media...5 Social Media Channels/ Tools...8 Benefits of Social Media Marketing Brand Building and Management Social Media Marketing Metrics Conclusion About B2B List Experts Contact Us

3 Executive Summary Social media is now the top internet activity! This whitepaper is set to understand how marketers are using social media to promote and grow their business. If you are among the ones who are on a mission to explore the unending opportunities in social media marketing (SMM), there's a heck of a lot of fodder here to help you develop the right strategies. What is Social Media Marketing? Social media is a critical component of a comprehensive marketing strategy and a form of internet marketing. It is the process of gaining awareness, driving traffic and engaging your customers and prospects using various social media channels. This type of marketing involves implementation of various social media networks in order to achieve marketing communication and branding goals. Social media marketing primarily covers activities involving social sharing of content, videos, and images for marketing purposes. 3

4 Importance of Social Media Marketing Social media marketing is one of the most important types of online marketing where businesses are marketing their products/services and brands on social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, etc. Social media provides an opportunity for businesses, giving them a personalized platform to connect with their customers. By using social media as a way to advertise for your company, you can speak directly to the consumer in an arena they are comfortable with. Social media allows businesses to connect with customers while shaping their perceptions of products and services. Fact: In the United States 93% of marketers are using social media for their business This clearly shows the growing importance of social media marketing among small businesses. Social media marketing has become an essential part of online marketing strategy among small businesses because of its cost-effectiveness, ability to reach targeted audiences quickly and generate more leads/sales 4

5 Promoting Through Social Media The first step to branding your company through the correct social media avenues is to develop a social media strategy. One the most inexpensive ways to promote your website and to keep new and existing customers chatting about your business is through social media. Here are some quick and easy tips for using some of the most popular social networking sites Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and LinkedIn to help drive interest and customers to your business. Facebook Start by setting up your business page on Facebook and delight your page members with special offers (at least once a month) to all those who Like your page. Polls: post polls on your Facebook page that ask customers fun or quirky questions related to your products or services to make it more interactive. Ask customers to share pictures on your Facebook page that shows them using their favorite product they bought from your website. Go local: One great way to attract attention from potential clients is to offer them an incentive in the shape of a limited offer based on their location. 5

6 Twitter Be creative in Twitter tweet interesting or unusual facts about your business or products and provide a link to that product page on your site. Send a note like quick tips via Twitter on how to use your services or products. Tweet pictures related to you or your business to your Twitter followers. YouTube A YouTube channel for your online business can be a great idea, you can regularly add fun and useful videos and then encourage customers to view and share your videos. Launch a video contest: Ask customers to create short videos of how they use your product or service and post to YouTube, and then let other customers vote on their favorites. Customer video testimonials on your YouTube channel will add credibility to your business LinkedIn LinkedIn is a top site for professional networking, create a LinkedIn profile and add links to your website. Join LinkedIn groups that may be popular with many of your customers and frequently post questions or comments related to the products or services you offer. Ask your customers, vendors, or other business associates in your network to provide a recommendation for you or your business in LinkedIn. 6

7 Google+ Create circles in your personal Google+ profile that are set up specifically for your customers, your vendors, and others interested in your brand. Post interesting content to your customers and other business-related circles and encourage feedback or comments on the content. That content might include your blog posts, interesting articles, product reviews, announcements about special promotions, and other exclusive offers or news. Start a Hangout, the multiuser chat tool in Google+, to solicit feedback from customers. You might, for example, discuss a new product or service or ask for input on issues such as customer service. Launch a Google+ profile (as soon as Google opens this feature to all businesses) to make it easy for your customers to find and follow your business. 7

8 Social Media Channels/ Tools In today s competitive environment companies are struggling to capitalize on their use of social media channels. By now, most businesses are fully aware of the importance in utilizing social media in their online marketing and that they need to be prudent about the channels they use both in terms of cultivating the right image and reaching the right audience. To provide some guidance on this we would like to share our approach on how to make effective use of social media channels Social Networks: There are many types of social media networks; there are niche social networks specifically designed for B2B brands, and, therefore, are better suited for them example LinedIn. Many social networks offer in-network multimedia communication options. Example: Facebook while Twitter allows you to create a dialog using text & links only. Blogs: Generally, blogs work better for B2B brands because they require a certain level of prior knowledge and interest. The effort required to follow blogs generally means that the audience already has an interest in the industry. That is why there are so many industry-based blogs. Share Video Content: Video sharing is a channel better suited for B2C brands but, again, it would be a mistake for B2B brands to ignore the potential of this channel; as this channel is often used as functional support to a B2B campaign. 8

9 Image Sharing: Although not as engaging as video sharing sites image sharing is quick and easy to use. The integration of image sharing in B2C campaigns concludes that this channel is just as good for the B2C market as the B2B market. Pinterest is one such channel that has taken the social scene by storm this year, don t ignore image sharing. Social Bookmarks: Social bookmarking and social news allow you to specifically target what you want to see. Easy to maintain, and easy to integrate into campaigns, although these bookmarks might be used more by B2B customers; their ability support makes them just as useful for B2C brands Micro-Blog: B2C brands likely won't find the value in maintaining a micro-blog. However there are exceptions and this particular channel is evolving. This channel is still better suited to B2B brands; but it is recognized that it has value for B2C brands. 9

10 Benefits of Social Media Marketing Social Media Marketing has been a buzz lately and is one of the most powerful marketing tools using which companies communicate with their audience through variety of channels, earning trust and brand recognition. Take a look at some of the business benefits using Social Media Marketing: Increase your Exposure Social Media sites like Facebook and Twitter alone reportedly serve in excess of 2 billion people on a daily basis. Social media allows your business to extend well beyond the immediate geographic are no matter whether your business is local or global in nature. Reduce Marketing Cost First and foremost, the ability to tweet a message or post something to Facebook is dramatically more cost effective than running a paid ad or mailing thousands of marketing pieces. Gain Insight Into Your Customers/Clients This is one thing that is viewed as perhaps one of the biggest benefits of social media. Social media provides limitless opportunities for you to interact with current and potential customers. 10

11 Build Customer Loyalty This is one of the greatest benefits of social media as your clients, customers and potential ones are able see you in a much more personal light Impact Your Search engine Ranking If your company has active social media accounts on multiple platforms, it can improve your rankings on search engines which will boost your visibility and potentially increase your profits. Bring Attention to Your Products Featuring a product on a social media site is one of the fastest ways to bring attention to it. Offer a promotion along with it for your online community members and watch your sales skyrocket. Associate with Other Businesses The fact that you are able to connect directly to the consumer means you can use this platform to also connect to other entrepreneurs and business owners. Increase your Website Traffic Factors like customer loyalty, lead generation, exposure, etc. will result in an increase of traffic to your website. And It s one of the key benefits of social media for business. 11

12 Brand Building and Management Successful brand building and management requires an understanding of the ideal audience and provide value added products/services that differentiates it from its competitors. Keeping the target audience in mind we maintain consistency in the key elements across all media and craft a message that motivates them to respond. This consistency is important for long-term brand building and management. When defining or redefining your brand, we need to follow some steps that will help us and enhance brand building strategies: Create a logo that conveys the quintessence of your organization. Write a slogan or tagline that captures your unique value to the customers. Create an online identity with optimized keywords to top the search engine results. Clean up your web presence and create your online reputation with free tools. Launch a blog that will help you to emerge as a brand and show your perspectives. Claim your social media profiles and your customized URL on LinkedIn. Get to know yourself, and share helpful content on a regular basis. Create your elevator pitch and key messages. Develop a feedback loop with those you trust, and evolve your personal brand. By consistently using these elements across different media and distribution channels it can help you define and manage a brand that will serve you well for many years to come. 12

13 Social Media Marketing Metrics Measuring the success of your social media marketing campaign is not an easy task, the problem with social media measurement is the rate at which the medium is evolving there are new sites appearing constantly and new uses for wellestablished social media sites. By using audience-centric social media metrics and competitive benchmarking, brands can better understand their performance and identify opportunities to improve their social impact. Here are five of the most important social media metrics you should be tracking 1. Reach Metric to track: Audience Growth Rate 2. Engagement Metric to track: Average Engagement Rate 3. Acquisition Metric to track: Visitor Frequency Rate 4. Conversion Metric to track: Assisted Social Conversions 5. Activity Metric to track: Customer Service Savings 13

14 Conclusion Interestingly enough, some of the most successful business owners have learned how to use technology to gain an edge. Rather than shelling out thousands of dollars on prime air-time, companies are learning to generate buzz by creating viral content and encouraging shares and likes. If you are not currently using social media for business, you need to know where you may be missing out on engagement says Derek Jones in his blog. Social media, and social networking, have changed the business landscape, both for companies that have adopted them and for those who have not. Though, there are some drawbacks associated with the social media, but its positive effects always outweigh the downsides of social media and companies that have embraced this have an ever-growing advantage over those who have not. Mark Zuckerberg s Take on Social Media There is a huge need and a huge opportunity to get everyone in the world connected, to give everyone a voice and to help transform society for the future. The scale of the technology and infrastructure that must be built is unprecedented, and we believe this is the most important problem we can focus on. 14

15 About B2B List Experts At B2B List Experts, we believe in simplifying the whole process of Marketing, Campaigning and other activities that help businesses to achieve customer confidence, profit and reputation. We build our services keeping key factors such as rising customer demand and user-friendliness features. We constantly strive to deliver service par with international standards and in the process we encounter new challenges and opportunities that has helped us grow to the next level. Thus, today we have hundreds of clients relying on our quality of service known for unmatchable performance. Backed by team comprising of highly talented top level management, technical experts, hardworking executives, we not only stay ahead of the market competition but set new standards through quality of solutions. With our industry insights, market expertise, invaluable resource and last but not least our team of experts, we remain one of the best service provider in the market prepared to take our customer through new journey. Be it Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Database, Data Cleansing, List Compiling or Campaign Service We are here for your every need! 15

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