It’s clear that social media has grown dramatically over the last few years and that with an increase of than 800 million active users, the number of Facebook users is easily more than twice the size of the complete population of america!
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 a large number of posts, tweets and uploads occurring every hour.
Luxury Travel Guides 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 each day and most at least several times a week.” It’s no surprise that with the an incredible number of prospective customers from everywhere using these sites, each day, that so many businesses are determined to include social media marketing into their marketing mix. Nonetheless it also important to get a knowledge of how these sites are being used and what’s involved in maintaining or resourcing your organization presence on these sites. Your web footprint can stick around for years so don’t underestimate how this can affect the perception of one’s brand on the market place. Spend some time upfront thinking about whether social media marketing is right for your business.
1. Seek first to understand – It is vital that you understand the fundamentals of how is social media marketing actually works and how it’s being used. What are people and businesses doing with social media marketing? What gets them results? Some of you may be thinking, how do I do this? Perchance you could consider trying it out for yourself by setting up an individual account, then testing a number of the features, or get yourself a trusted friend showing 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 search on Google or on YouTube on a specific topic of interest watching the video tutorials to obtain informed.
2. Understand your purpose – What is 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 other marketing activity for example). You need to work out why you are engaging. What do you be prepared to achieve? Do you simply desire to build brand awareness, build relationships your customers or identify new sales opportunities? Remember to be realistic about what you think you will be able to attain.
3. If you decide to take part in social media, which sites are best for you? – With the plethora of social media marketing sites available, which ones are best for the business? Consider where your market would socialize online, and take into account the amount of time and resources you’ll realistically be able to invest in maintaining and administering your site presence. Which ones are right for you? You will probably find that some are a better fit than others.
4. Quality Content – If you decide that social media marketing is right for the business, carefully think about the amount and quality of information you wish to share in the online sphere. Remember it’ll probably stay there for years, so you need to make sure it accurate and reliable information that’s valuable to your target audience. It has to be relevant, otherwise people won’t read it.