Using Social Media as a Marketing Tool
Tricia White of the MSBDC spoke to the Stoughton Chamber of Commerce about effectively using social media to help your business grow and connect with customers.
Is social media a fad? Maybe for Charlie Sheen, but when used effectively, Tricia White, Senior Business Advisor of the Massachusetts Small Business Development Center, said it can help your business grow and connect with customers.
White spoke at last Tuesday’s Stoughton Chamber of Commerce March meeting, held at the Stoughton YMCA, and said social media represented a “fundamental shift in how we communicate.”
She said businesses, at minimal costs, can use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Blogs, LinkedIn, and even Myspace and e-newsletters as a way to build your company’s brand, market your company and better connect and build relationships with your customers.
“It’s not about you, it’s about the customer,” White said. “It’s how we make it easier for the client base.”
And, social media networks, White said, allow businesses to share information and gather customer feedback.
A social media presence can also improve your company’s presence on the web, otherwise known as search engine optimization (SEO).
To further increase your SEO, White suggested immediately registering for an account on Google and to utilize three of their basic tools: Google Alerts, Google Maps and Google Analytics. These features will allow business owners to monitor and track what is being said and written about their company, list their company on Google Maps and Places and track how people are finding your website on the internet.
Facebook and Twitter allow for business to consumer contact and are effective tools in building relationships with the consumer, according to White. Facebook provides additional advertising opportunities while Twitter can provide followers with real-time updates.
YouTube provides businesses the opportunity to upload and share videos and share information about their company.
White said blogs are like a diary of your website and company and help to further increase the conversation between the business and the consumer. Blogs can also be used to help cross-promote events and even your company’s website itself.
As for Myspace, White said, “you may not want to be on Myspace, but if you’re customers are, you should be,” noting it is still an effective tool for musicians and artists.
With any network, she said it was important to consider if your target audience was there and using that medium.
White said a good place to start expanding your social media footprint was LinkedIn, a place to post your resume online, brand your business and connect with other businesses and individuals.
The most important thing to keep in mind, White said, is to “be smart about the things you do and say” when using social media. Don’t provide inappropriate information, whether it is business secrets or offensive/lewd comments or pictures.
She suggested making a distinction between your fan pages and personal pages on websites like Facebook and Twitter. Use a headshot for your personal page, but use your company’s logo for your business fan page. This way a consumer (or friend) can “differentiate who is talking to me.”
White said that while social media grows overnight, building a personal network using social media can take time.
For more information visit http://www.msbdc.org/semass/video/ and click on the presentation for “Marketing Strategies Using Social Media.”
David
3:38 pm on Tuesday, March 15, 2011
For local retailers drinking the Social Media Kool-Aid might not be the best way to reach your market.
On February 3, 2011 ForeSee, a Michigan-based marketing analytics firm, released its annual report on the state of social media effectiveness for retailers.
At the heart of the report is the statement:
"...social media interactions are a primary influence for only about 5% of visitors to retail websites. The research indicates that, in fact, more traditional marketing techniques like promotional emails, search engine results, and even advertising influence far more visits to retail websites."
The report goes on to state that email influences more traffic to websites and better quality traffic (i.e., visitors who want to buy) because of knowledge of the brand, email, word of mouth, PR and product reviews. Knowledge of the brand, particularly for new and small businesses won't come from social media. At least not before your energy to execute it and the bank account are drained.
Kirk Hazlett, APR, Fellow PRSA
5:05 pm on Tuesday, March 15, 2011
As I commented this morning during my South Shore Chamber of Commerce presentation at Curry College on "The Collision of Social Media and Customer Service," while consumers are slow to adapt to/adopt social media as part of the decision-making process, the potential is there and cannot be ignored.
The business owner has to gauge the amount of energy and effort he or she can devote to the activity...but it cannot be ignored. Trust is a major factor in consumers' purchase decisions, and a company's social media presence can play a large role in building that trust.
-- Kirk Hazlett, APR, Fellow PRSA, Associate Professor of Communication, Curry College
Rob Mitchell
6:53 am on Thursday, March 17, 2011
I don't know Ms. White nor did I attend her presentation but, imo, Ms. White is spot-on about social media usage. It "can" help grow your business, provided you do things properly. Social media usage is not about set-and-forget. Its more like parenting children, you have to work at it and there are sure to be bumps along the way. You have to tend to creating and maintaining new content and searching terms and, well, be innovative at times with presenting your business.
Yes, email advertisements (both traditional and mobile versions) along with 'texting' and 'alerting' go a long way towards customer engagement. The latest phenomenon, which has been done forever, is word-of-mouth marketing where there's no paid participant but honest (sometimes positive, sometimes negative) opinions, reviews, and recommendations are shared among people.
If you saw a TV or web page advertising Ernie Boch's latest car sales pitch versus your next door neighbor showing you his new car and the great price and financing, what's more motivating to you? Word-of-mouth goes a long way to consumer engagement and, more than likely, re-socializing the word-of-mouth discussion. Social media goes a long way toward channeling those golden threads; much more so than traditional marketing activities.