First off, if you do not have a Facebook or Twitter account, I know you know someone who does. You may not understand why it is important to know where your friend Bob went out for dinner, or that your old college roommate just bought a new car. You may look at all the tweets and status updates as useless information overload, but you may want to reconsider.
Sure, most of the information communicated in this manner comes across as trivial and unimportant, and truth be told, most of it is. The important factor is how it is communicated. Facebook status updates and tweets happen very quickly, and with even a relatively small network of followers and friends, they can reach a large amount of people in a manner of seconds. Interesting tweets are often retweeted and can increase the amount of people that see your tweet significantly.
Search engines, like Google and Bing, in an effort to increase the relevancy of the information they provide are now providing real-time searches by including feeds from Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sources. Google is even using the information from individuals' own online social circles to help provide more relevant, personalized search information. That means when you are searching for a new restaurant to try out, where your Facebook friend Bob ate dinner last night suddenly becomes a bit more relevant.
So why should your small business get Facebook and Twitter accounts?
1) Both services are free—you will probably not find cheaper advertising than through social media other than word of mouth, of course. It does take time to maintain your accounts and to get your initial message out to the masses as well as build an online network, but once you do get the message out, it can quickly turn into word of mouth as your message is passed on to the friends of people who find your message to be important or interesting.
2) The speed at which you are able to reach your customer base. As soon as you post your tweet, it goes directly to your friends and followers. By using a services like bit.ly, which helps you create short links that work with Twitters' 140-character posting limit, you can see how many people are clicking on your links. Often, you can even see immediate responses after sending out your tweet.
3) Build relationship with your clients and customers. One of the great aspects of social media is the increased communication between your business and your clients and customers. They can leave comments and feedback on your Facebook page or blog. Having increased communication and interaction with your customers will help you better know the needs of your customer base.
These are only a few of the benefits of using social media. Sure you may have to sort through a lot of trivial status updates and tweets from your friends and followers, but with the benefits of low-cost advertising, speed of delivery, and the ability to build relationships with your clients and customers, you would be at a disadvantage over your competitors if you opt to not use it.
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label twitter. Show all posts
Monday, December 14, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
What Social Networks Should I Join?
Networking Sites Exploding in Popularity
People talk. If you have a product or service on the market, chances are people are talking about you, whether you want them to or not. It doesn't matter if you care to participate in the conversation or not—they still talk.
There are many places, or “social networking sites,” where people talk online. Some major ones include Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn. There are other specialized social networking sites, too, such as Squidoo, ChaCha, and Mechanical Zoo's Aardvark, where avenues to experts and hard-to-find information can be found.
To give you an idea of the potential marketing power of these networks, let's consider the growth of Facebook and Twitter. As of Feb. 2009, Compete.com ranked Facebook number one in visits and length of stay per visit, with MySpace second, and Twitter skyrocketing from number 22 to number three! (See Top 25 Networking Sites.) Facebook has added over 100 million (yes, million) users in less than a year.
Online marketing expert Erik Qualman put Facebook's growth in perspective by saying, “If Facebook were a country, it would overtake Indonesia as the fourth largest country in the world by September at this pace.” (See “15 Maxims for Marketers, p. 15.) That's a ton of customers just waiting to be engaged by your products or services.
Get Into the Social Scene
To maximize your social networking strategy, the first thing you need to do is delineate your own target market, and then determine if each social networking site's demographic makeup matches yours. Surprisingly, the biggest users of social networking sites are the Baby Boomers, that is, those in their mid 40s to 60s, not those in their 20s and 30s. In fact, the younger folks are slowing down when it comes to using social networking, perhaps due to information and technology overload. (See Gen X and Gen Y.)
Listed below are some important social networking sites that you can use (with creativity) to promote yourself, your products, or your services. Don't be afraid to experiment.
www.squidoo.com
Appeals to anyone seeking high-level expertise.
Mr. David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and author, recommends using Squidoo to drive traffic to your site. (See The New Rules of Marketing and PR, pp. 236-37.) Squidoo allows you to create what is called a “lens,” which is basically a single page catalog of your expertise. Searchers can search for your expertise on Squidoo, and when they find your lens, you can direct them from there to your website.
www.facebook.com
Originally only for students, now open to anyone. Women seeking to reunite with old friends are a big part of the membership.
Mr. Scott also describes how to make good use of Facebook. (See The New Rules of Marketing and PR, pp. 231-35.) This strategy is threefold: 1.) use the “post a message” feature to let people know what you are doing (new product release, new book published, attending a tradeshow, etc.); 2. Create a Facebook Group to gather people together with a common interest (i.e., users of your product or service); and finally, 3.) Use Facebook's ability to make customized applications to access as wide a market as possible from the Facebook users.
www.myspace.com
Not just for teenagers anymore, entertainers and musicians, for instance, employ MySpace effectively to build a large fan base and stay in touch with enthusiasts.
Myspace profiles are a good way to connect with a lot of people. Mr. Scott warns, however, that “authenticity and transparency” are critical. (See The New Rules of Marketing and PR, pp. 229-31.) Ad agencies have been known to create false profiles for selfish benefit, only to see a huge backlash when their scheme is discovered. Mr. Scott suggests that one way around needless trickery is to emulate Volkswagen's idea of creating a fictional character that everyone knows is made up who can then humorously and shamelessly promote your product.
www.twitter.com
Appeals to young and middle-aged professionals alike.
Twitter is easy to use, and focuses on the ability to get quick answers to questions. While Baby Boomer individuals aged 45-54 are the largest segment of Twitter, the second highest segment is individuals aged 25-34, indicating that both aspiring young executives as well as seasoned business veterans benefit from, and consistently use, this social networking site. (See Social Media Optimization.)
www.yourwebsite.com
Remember, the quality of your website and its content is critical because the whole point of harnessing the power of social networking is to drive people to your site. When they come, you want them to stay! For more tips on making your website the best it can be, contact HIT Web Design.
People talk. If you have a product or service on the market, chances are people are talking about you, whether you want them to or not. It doesn't matter if you care to participate in the conversation or not—they still talk.
There are many places, or “social networking sites,” where people talk online. Some major ones include Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Youtube, and LinkedIn. There are other specialized social networking sites, too, such as Squidoo, ChaCha, and Mechanical Zoo's Aardvark, where avenues to experts and hard-to-find information can be found.
To give you an idea of the potential marketing power of these networks, let's consider the growth of Facebook and Twitter. As of Feb. 2009, Compete.com ranked Facebook number one in visits and length of stay per visit, with MySpace second, and Twitter skyrocketing from number 22 to number three! (See Top 25 Networking Sites.) Facebook has added over 100 million (yes, million) users in less than a year.
Online marketing expert Erik Qualman put Facebook's growth in perspective by saying, “If Facebook were a country, it would overtake Indonesia as the fourth largest country in the world by September at this pace.” (See “15 Maxims for Marketers, p. 15.) That's a ton of customers just waiting to be engaged by your products or services.
Get Into the Social Scene
To maximize your social networking strategy, the first thing you need to do is delineate your own target market, and then determine if each social networking site's demographic makeup matches yours. Surprisingly, the biggest users of social networking sites are the Baby Boomers, that is, those in their mid 40s to 60s, not those in their 20s and 30s. In fact, the younger folks are slowing down when it comes to using social networking, perhaps due to information and technology overload. (See Gen X and Gen Y.)
Listed below are some important social networking sites that you can use (with creativity) to promote yourself, your products, or your services. Don't be afraid to experiment.
www.squidoo.com
Appeals to anyone seeking high-level expertise.
Mr. David Meerman Scott, marketing strategist and author, recommends using Squidoo to drive traffic to your site. (See The New Rules of Marketing and PR, pp. 236-37.) Squidoo allows you to create what is called a “lens,” which is basically a single page catalog of your expertise. Searchers can search for your expertise on Squidoo, and when they find your lens, you can direct them from there to your website.
www.facebook.com
Originally only for students, now open to anyone. Women seeking to reunite with old friends are a big part of the membership.
Mr. Scott also describes how to make good use of Facebook. (See The New Rules of Marketing and PR, pp. 231-35.) This strategy is threefold: 1.) use the “post a message” feature to let people know what you are doing (new product release, new book published, attending a tradeshow, etc.); 2. Create a Facebook Group to gather people together with a common interest (i.e., users of your product or service); and finally, 3.) Use Facebook's ability to make customized applications to access as wide a market as possible from the Facebook users.
www.myspace.com
Not just for teenagers anymore, entertainers and musicians, for instance, employ MySpace effectively to build a large fan base and stay in touch with enthusiasts.
Myspace profiles are a good way to connect with a lot of people. Mr. Scott warns, however, that “authenticity and transparency” are critical. (See The New Rules of Marketing and PR, pp. 229-31.) Ad agencies have been known to create false profiles for selfish benefit, only to see a huge backlash when their scheme is discovered. Mr. Scott suggests that one way around needless trickery is to emulate Volkswagen's idea of creating a fictional character that everyone knows is made up who can then humorously and shamelessly promote your product.
www.twitter.com
Appeals to young and middle-aged professionals alike.
Twitter is easy to use, and focuses on the ability to get quick answers to questions. While Baby Boomer individuals aged 45-54 are the largest segment of Twitter, the second highest segment is individuals aged 25-34, indicating that both aspiring young executives as well as seasoned business veterans benefit from, and consistently use, this social networking site. (See Social Media Optimization.)
www.yourwebsite.com
Remember, the quality of your website and its content is critical because the whole point of harnessing the power of social networking is to drive people to your site. When they come, you want them to stay! For more tips on making your website the best it can be, contact HIT Web Design.
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