In web design and online marketing circles, we hear a lot about what social networking is, what it can be, and how it stacks up against other ways to reach customers like search engine optimization or online videos. When I hear these conversations, two things stand out: first, that none of these are truly even separate disciplines anymore – what you do on social media sites affects your search engine optimization, and vice versa, for example – and also that it misses the point a little bit.
It doesn’t matter what we, as marketers, think about social media. The fact is that customers everywhere love them, so they are going to be an increasingly-important part of our plans to reach them whether we want them to be or not.
At the time of this writing, Facebook alone boasts somewhere around 600 million members, and doesn’t show any signs of slowing up. Twitter is nearing 200 million, and LinkedIn is connecting more than 50 million professionals with one another. The more people continue to sign up and use social networking sites as a forum to meet one another and share ideas, the more we are going to have to use them as marketing mediums.
The bottom line with social media is that your customers and potential customers love it. That’s reason enough for all of us to keep paying attention to it.
There are a lot of reasons we could give you about why your business needs to have a Facebook fan page, like the fact that the site currently has more than 500 million registered users and is growing quickly, that it’s a great way to meet new customers who have self-identified their interests, or that there’s no better way to let buyers see you as more than just another company.
But as great as those are, none of them are the real reason.
When it comes down to it, the one thing we simply can’t ignore is that social media in general — and Facebook in particular — is all about word of mouth advertising for businesses of all sizes. It’s a concept that’s as old as commerce itself, but also the single marketing tool that’s more profitable and effective than any other.
When your customers are busy saying good things about you on your Facebook fan page, other people believe it in a way that they wouldn’t if you were saying those things about yourself. The longer they keep it up, the more it spreads and the more other new customers want to come and talk about how great their experience was. And that good word, as a business asset, is truly priceless.
The brilliant marketing team at Bing only has it half right: The incredibly high number of results that come up for virtually any Internet search has made it harder, not easier, to find what we’re looking for. But what they conveniently leave out of their clever ads, however, is that what we want isn’t really another search engine – not even a smarter one.
What we really need is informed advice from other people.
For that reason, the biggest room for growth in Internet marketing doesn’t have to do with search engines all, but social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. By tapping us into our networks of friends, colleagues, and family members all at the same time, they help us take some of the confusion out of the buying process by giving us instant access to people we consider to be experts. While there might not be as much sheer information as there would be from a site like Google or Bing, that’s not nearly as important as getting opinions we trust.
The answer to “search overload” isn’t another search engine, it’s making connections with real people. Your potential customers are figuring that out every day, so embrace social media marketing and be sure they can find you in the places that are going to matter most. And make sure that your website design and marketing works towards that goal.
Given that social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are such a relatively new phenomenon on the Internet, you would think that they would present a wide open field, that there wouldn’t be any “rules” to deal with yet…
That’s not exactly true; there is one guideline you had definitely, positively better pay attention to. Here it is: Use social media to connect with customers, let them find out more about you, and give you input or feedback – Do not use social media as a soapbox to shout your marketing message as loudly and often as possible.
The one thing that makes all of these social media sites work so well is the idea that they are fun and interesting. And few things aren’t as fun or interesting as being sold to. How many people do you know that look forward to meeting door-to-door salesmen or sitting through a timeshare presentation? Exactly.
When it comes to reaching out to the attention of buyers in social networking sites, think of holding their interest, not grabbing their wallet. Keeping things in that perspective won’t just make social more entertaining for everyone involved, but will yield you a lot better long-term bottom line result. And it’s important to incorporate your social media efforts in your website design and marketing plans.
When Apple unveiled Ping – its proprietary music social media site – with iTunes 10 recently, it was more than a sign that big companies are becoming increasingly interested in using social networking as a marketing tool. It was also a reminder that, throughout the industry, things are always changing, and quickly.
Consider this: just a few years ago, MySpace had what seemed like an unassailable lead in terms of users, cutting-edge content, and “buzz factor.” Now, Facebook is the king of the hill, with Twitter gaining members and popularity every week. And even though advertisers have always seen social media as a potentially unique way to get in touch with customers, they’re only now starting to realize how it can work in tandem with video marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click, and other existing tools.
In short, the only thing you can really bet on with social media is that the future is going to be different. As a small business owner, someone who wants to use sites like Facebook and Twitter to bring in business, but can’t spend a lot of time and money on the effort, how are you supposed to keep up?
Here are a handful of tips for staying on top of the constantly-moving target that is social media marketing:
Look for big trends. Some things are going to fall under your radar, and that’s alright. It’s not important that you know the finer points of Facebook’s relatively new advertising program, for example. What does matter is that you know it’s out there, and that your options for using social media as a way to find new business are increasing. As long as you can see the big picture, you’ll be able to devise a winning strategy.
Use social media sites and profiles like ingredients. LinkedIn is great for different reasons than Twitter, which in turn is a lot different than the new Ping. For that reason, you don’t ever want to rely on a single site or profile to market you effectively; to get anywhere, you have to use them in combination without having any one ingredient overpower the recipe.
Strive for consistency. The only way to get better at marketing through social media is practice, and that’s a good thing – the more you post, make connections, and update your profiles, the more visible you’re going to become to other users and search engines. Try to work on your social media plan a couple of times a week. That amount of effort won’t overwhelm you, but it will keep you in the game and on top of the biggest trends.
Find an online marketing partner. The easiest way to shorten the learning curve is by teaming up with someone who has the time, experience, and expertise to figure out the ins and outs of social media marketing. Most often, that’s going to be your web designer or online marketing team. Take advantage of the help that’s available – the right partner can translate your business goals into a social networking plan for a fraction of the time and expense it would have taken you, and with better results.
Confused by social media and looking for a way to add it to your online marketing mix without breaking the bank? Contact Marcy Design today – we know our way around Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and how to make them a profitable part of what you do.
Why Sites Like Facebook and Twitter Make It More Important than Ever to Monitor What Your Customers Are Saying About You.
“Reputation management” has become a buzzword on the Internet in recent years, and for good reason: people trust what others have to say about you, your company, and your new products whole lot more than they trust your marketing materials.
This has always been true, of course, but with the rise of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, it has taken on a whole new importance. That’s because it no longer takes a phone call or an in-person visit for a prospective buyer to get the scoop on your company. All they have to do is check out your fan page, look for tweets that mention you, or look for customer referrals on LinkedIn to get the same information. It’s instantaneous, and they can find out what they want to know before you even have a chance to make your case.
So what does this mean to you, as a business owner or marketing manager? It means that you should be proactive in looking for information – and especially customer impressions – on social media sites. Hopefully, you’ll be doing such a great job serving your customers that there won’t be anything negative to find. But if there is, however, it’s better to know at the time and try to resolve the situation than it is to start losing business without knowing why.
Social networking sites can be a big boost to your business, and your company’s reputation, but if you want any of that to happen, you need to keep close track of what buyers are telling others about you.
Small businesses are using social media. But which ones? Facebook and Twitter are the prominent social media services used by both business-to-business and business-to-consumer companies. Below is a terrific infographic from Mashable that peeks behind the curtain to reveal what small businesses are using to promote and marketing their products and services.
Along with the normal upgrades and improvements that come with any software release, Apple’s iTunes version 10 contained an accompanying twist – the first distributed version of Ping, a combination social networking / music purchasing platform.
If you haven’t seen or tried it, the premise is pretty simple: like Facebook, you can connect with your friends, family members, and colleagues through your Ping profile; and, as with Twitter, you can see feeds and updates from celebrity artists who want to share news and thoughts.
What makes Ping different than other social networking sites, however, is that it’s all built around the iTunes store. In other words, the whole point of sharing your taste in music, the interaction with stars from different genres, and the feedback you can give and receive in moments, is set to help you make a better buying decision.
On the surface, this is a win-win for both Apple and its customers; on a deeper level, it’s a huge win for that company, and probably a sign of things to come.
The reasons are simple: first, social media marketing is growing at an astounding rate. There are hundreds of millions of people using sites like Facebook and LinkedIn right now, and hundreds of thousands more joining every month. Companies have been looking for a way to tap into these markets more effectively for quite some time, and Apple seems to have figured out a relatively seamless way to do it.
And secondly, it’s just good old branding. The more you use Ping, the more likely you are to keep buying your music, and music players, from Apple. What’s more, the more accustomed you become to using it, the more likely you are to bring your friends and family into the network, too. In that way, Apple is turning social networking into a constantly-strengthening storm of new revenue.
Besides being the case of savvy Internet marketing strategy, though, what does any of this have to do with independent auto dealers?
Well, the music and auto industries have something very particular in common: people feel very strongly about their personal tastes and preferences. It’s not just about the car, or the band, it’s about the feeling that being associated with them gives you. For that reason, it’s a smart bet that the ties between social networking and the auto industry are going to deepen in the years to come.
Of course, a lot of that growth is going to come to and from the major manufacturers. But that doesn’t mean that independent dealers like you can afford to sit the game out. To take advantage – and reach your customers more effectively – you’re going to have to not only keep an eye on what the bigger players are doing in social networking, but also what kinds of industry and location-specific social media platforms are going to pop up over the next couple of years.
The real winners in social media so far – the companies like Facebook and Apple – are doing well because they’ve anticipated the next steps and made sure to be in front of them. Even if you aren’t going to be launching your own social networking site soon, there’s no reason your dealership can’t do the same. Auto dealers and manufacturers are going to rely more and more on social networking in the years ahead, so pay attention to where tomorrow’s customers are headed and try to get there first.
Facebook continues to dominate the social media landscape. As far as photos being uploaded by members, Facebook is averaging 6 billion photo uploads per month and is on track to having over 100 billion photo uploads by the summer of 2011. 750 million photos were posted on Facebook last New Years Eve alone! See infographic provided by Pixable below.
