As a small business operator- especially one trying to deal
proactively with the current financial climate- new and effective ways
of promotion are a matter of constant research. So, for our Friday
reflection, a bit of a think about social media and business, inspired
by a great article on Yahoo! Personal Finance.
Breaking It Down
Social media has been described as savior and Satan, and not just for
business reasons. Have you noticed in the past years that Twitter was
simultaneously regarded as a crucial positive factor in the Arab Spring
and the resistance in Iran, and a crucial negative factor in the London
riots? As significant in the Obama election and a total flop for Kevin
Rudd? Social media is a tool like any other, it can be used effectively
but it won’t win the war. And the problem facing small business is that
the prominent social media tool of today is likely to be redundant by
the time you’ve invested in it. Myspace is a great example. It’s still
used by a lot of people, but has fallen by the wayside when compared to
Facebook. Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIN are all still being used, but that
can change quickly. Which is a good reason to diversify your social
media marketing plan; different age groups use different social media,
so diversifying your presence is still imperative. It’s possible to set
up social media syncing, so you don’t have to spend your entire life,
going from page to the next, updating the different websites.
Start A Convo
Obama’s social media campaign was effective because it engaged a
group of formerly disengaged voters and gave them something to talk
about. Personally, I would say it also significantly tapped into their
feelings of detachment and allowed them to feel part of the process. It
is the home run of any campaign- to make your customers feel personally
involved and invested. Social media can be a marketers dream, as in- if
effective- it will spin itself without any further cost. If someone
likes what you’re saying, they’re likely to send it on to a friend. A
great YouTube video is a perfect example- some are so good, they’re
impossible to resent when eventually outed as advertising.
Deliver It
The way you deliver your message is, obviously, pretty important. A
necessary rule, especially when targeting the younger generation, is to
to keep it genuine. Cliched messages or obvious advertising talk will
turn them off so quickly, it’ll give you whiplash. The Yahoo! personal
finance article suggested the ‘Three I’s’. Interesting, informative and
interactive and in that order. In an age of interactivity dependence,
the attention to being interesting can sometimes get lost. Twitter is a
great venue to widening your promotions beyond simply advertising- tweet
other things you are interested in, or different experiences you have
as a small business. It’s a very humanising tool. Use locator services,
like FourSquare and Facebook, to start showing the buzz around your
product. Tailor your promotion to the media- no use having a stiff
synopsis of your product on a blog, which is meant to be engaging. And
if you can’t write, get someone to do it for you.
Monitor
Research is the base of all great business. Don’t just put your
message out there, consistently check how it’s being received, what is
working and what could be improved. There are a gazillion tools online
to help you monitor your social media marketing.
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