Social Media Marketing and Management

In our previous post, we discussed what social media is and how it can help businesses in today’s competitive world.  Today we will explain why social media is so important, and how having a well thought out, executable, social media marketing plan is the smartest decision your business can make.

As most businesses have realized, gaining and keeping new customers is rapidly becoming more challenging.  The days of loyalty just because customers like using your products or services are quickly fading away.  People want information about products and services immediately.  Maintaining a consistent customer base depends on faster service with better value.  For years businesses have had large marketing and advertising budgets to snag that important “new fish in the water.”  With traditional advertising becoming obsolete, many companies are stuck wondering what direction to go.

If you are unsure about this new and adventurous shift in marketing, then pay attention as we dig a little deeper into the subject.  When thinking about advertising, most of us think of the following: newspapers, postal mailings, magazines, coupons, yellow pages, billboards, radio, television, etc.  Let’s take a few of these and talk about what is happening in the real world.
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Today’s businesses should be interested in the new age of “Social Media” to promote their products and services.  With this in mind, it is important to gain a firm foundation of all “Social Media” encompasses.

First let’s talk about “What is Social Media?”  When social media comes up, web sites like Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube (some of the most popular right now) usually come to mind.  However social media is much more.  Our definition of social media would be people interacting with each other through technology.  The purpose of social media networks is to create communities of people that have similar interests and experiences.

There is a long list of social media outlets which may be used to reach many different networks of people.  A few that you may not have considered are forums/chat boards, blogs, email, text messaging, and web sites that engage in social interaction.  Television is even becoming more interactive with advertisers directing consumers to social networks, as well as most new televisions have internet access built in.  Video games today have social elements allowing players to interact with one another online.  Mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets have access to many types of social media, allowing consumers to stay “logged in” and connected no matter where they may be.  You are probably thinking of others that could be added to this list.

The key is for businesses to understand that social media has been growing rapidly and is by far the fastest growing segment of business marketing ever.  Yes, the players in the game may change, sometimes very quickly, but the social interaction we as humans yearn for will not.
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