Social Media Marketing

By Paul & Sarah Edwards LLC.

In this day and age, social media websites—Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.—are crucial to businesses wanting to remain visible in the public eye. You’ll learn about these particular media resources in detail through this new 6 page guide, chock-full of information any marketing strategist needs to know. Each aspect of social media is comprehensively discussed, with key terms and their definitions included for extra clarity; in addition, general hints and guidelines are provided to ensure your company gets the most recognition while plugged into the technological pipeline.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BarCharts, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9781423237846

Book preview

Introduction

Word of mouth has long been the best way to grow your business. Social media magnifies word of mouth—what one person says or writes to another individual can now be expressed to hundreds, thousands, and even millions. Think of what you do off-line as one side of a coin and what you do through social media as the other side. What you write, show, or say on any social media platform is immediately distributable, expanding your interaction with customers and the public.

10 Ways Social Media Can Benefit Your Business

Expand the ability of your business to support your products and services, thereby keeping customers and, in the process, developing and maintaining relationships with them.

Identify and relate to influential people and decision makers in your industry, including suppliers and new companies with which to team up.

Generate leads.

Show what your competitors are doing.

Provide a virtually instantaneous way for your business and your customers to interact with each other and build relationships.

Easily and quickly create and publish your message at little or no cost and without special skills.

Improve your visibility to search engines.

Publicize events and campaigns.

Be your presence on the web by supplementing or substituting for a website.

Turn what you learn about your company (e.g., what people say they like or dislike) into better service, products, or content that can be repackaged in marketing materials and on your website.

A Must: Select Your Goals

Be clear about your social media goals so that you can form strategies that will benefit your business.

Your Goals Might Be...

To develop stronger relationships with customers and others important to your business

To generate page views on your website that will generate leads resulting in sales

To improve awareness of your business and/or product (a.k.a., branding or positioning)

To drive page views in order to sell advertising on your site

To conduct market research

Key Terms

Buzz and viral marketing: Ways the web expands the effect of word of mouth and evolves from an information medium to a primary means of social and business interaction.

Customer relationship management (CRM): Techniques that use technology to relate to customers, clients, and sales prospects, including tracking interactions, using purchase history to develop specific offers,