Social Media: Marketing Considerations for Small Business
It’s clear that social media marketing has grown dramatically during the last few years and that with more than 800 million active users, the quantity of Facebook users is easily a lot more than twice the size of the entire population of the United States!
Its growth has been astronomical and today, thousands of people are posting more personal and business information online than ever before. It’s happening at lightning speed with thousands of posts, tweets and uploads occurring every hour.
Recent research conducted by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) commissioned by Sensis Pty Ltd (May 2011, p. 10) indicates, that “62% of Australian Internet users use a variety of social media sites, with many visiting every day and most at least a few times a week.” It’s no real surprise that with the millions of prospective customers from around the world using these sites, each day, that so many businesses have decided to include social media marketing into their marketing mix. Nonetheless it also important to get a knowledge of how these sites are increasingly being used and what’s involved with maintaining or resourcing your organization presence on these sites. Your online footprint can stick around for a long period so don’t underestimate how this may affect the perception of your brand available in the market place. Spend time upfront thinking about whether social media marketing is right for the business.
1. Seek first to understand – It is vital that you understand the fundamentals of how is social media marketing really works and how it’s used. What exactly are people and businesses doing with social media marketing? What gets them results? Some of you may be thinking, how do you do this? Perhaps you could consider trying it out for yourself by setting up a personal account, then testing a number of the features, or get a trusted friend to show you their account and guide you through. Alternatively there are so many resources and ‘how to’ items online about social media, that you could run a explore Google or on YouTube on a particular topic of interest and watch the video tutorials to obtain informed.
2. Understand your purpose – What’s your purpose is for using social media? What do you hope to achieve for your business by using it? It’s really essential that you identify your purpose so you can get involved in social media (or any marketing activity for that matter). You need to workout why you are engaging. What do you expect to achieve? Do you simply want to build brand awareness, engage with your customers or identify new sales opportunities? Remember to be realistic about what you believe you will be able to achieve.
3. If you decide to take part in social media marketing, which sites are best for you personally? – With the plethora of social media marketing sites available, those are best for the business? Think about where your market would socialize online, and take into account the amount of time and resources you’ll realistically be able to commit to maintaining and administering your website presence. Which ones are right for you? You might find that some certainly are a better fit than others.
4. Premium Vacation Packages – If you decide that social media is right for the business, carefully consider the amount and quality of information you would like to share in the online sphere. Remember it’ll probably stay there for years, so you must make sure it accurate and reliable information that’s valuable to your target audience. It must be relevant, otherwise people will not read it.