Social marketing seems to be all the rage these days. What was once just a cool way to stay in touch with your friends is now the topic of college courses and high priced seminars.
Does a success story really exist where a company with a virtually nill marketing budget launched a product or service successfully and maintained the brand image?
Hi. I doubt it. Most of the hype is just that - hype, I think.
I'm not aware of any such story though I'm sure there are some. As with most things, an existing presence in the wider world may mean that you can use twitter and facebook to market more effectively.
If you build up a big network of followers or friends then you can make money. Say you have a couple of hundred friends on facebook and you've written a new hub-you can e-mail them and be fairly certain that a significant % of them will look at your article. That will directly to higher adsense or other affiliate payments.
It is questionable whether spending time acquiring a wide social network is easier than direct marketing efforts though, I'd treat it as an optional extra.
"Does a success story really exist where a company with a virtually nill marketing budget launched a product or service successfully and maintained the brand image?"
Yes, there are many. There are many case studies in Erik Qualman's best selling book Socialnomics.
Gary Vaynerchuk, an immigrant from the Soviet Union, is a great example of a person who took his father's liquor store business to a $60 million wine specialty business in a few short years by using free social media advertising like Youtube, and more recently Facebook and Twitter. He has over 850,000 followers on Twitter @garyvee .
There are many more examples of success stories that have happened in just the last two years using free marketing via Social Media.
As I know, Facebook and Twitter are the tools for promoting the brand.
http://www.miinkimoop.com.au/ Qubies are one that popped to mind. Invented by a mother, sold online with a large facebook fan base...
facebook and twitter are a great way to advertise your brand. It gets you tons of traffic to any site you want. However, not targeted traffic. If you need some backlinks use these websites..if you need some customers..i dont think its that great
Most of the time, social media engagement has more to do with reaching out to and connecting with your client base than with directly selling. You are providing a face for your brand, a channel of communication that can increase brand loyalty because you're no longer just another name. In addition, it can be a great channel to improve your customer service. You are also getting your name out there in front of people, which has long been recognized by marketers as extremely powerful in itself.
Social media, when used properly, can do all these things and also drive highly targeted traffic to your site; targeted, because they are already interested enough in your niche to follow you. Whether they purchase at that moment, keep you in mind for the future, or recommend you to friends because of your brand's personality, you have made a worthwhile investment.
As for specific examples, Qualman's previously mentioned book, Socialnomics, has some great studies.
I don't personally know of any but it is a great question. Check out Brian Solis http://www.briansolis.com/ - he's one of the leading "experts" on social media and you may find some answers there. If you do be sure to let us know!
Benefits of Social Media Marketing:
Provides you large number of new & repeat visitors Helps you to get links Helps in syndicating your
content Makes your website more visible in social media searches Helps in creating awareness
Social Media Marketing is recommended for all website owners however you need to make sure:
You should have regular updated content available on your website in the form of blogs, Articles,
Newsletters etc. Static websites which do not get updated regularly are unlikely to be optimized on Social Media.
You need to make certain changes on your website for making its tagging and bookmarking easier E.g. you can
add quick buttons like share on Facebook or add to digg / delicious on your website which makes the tagging easier.
Share information. Be like a resource area for your industry audience, so users will start sharing your content across
Social Media Channels
Social Media Marketing Tools – There are many Social Media Marketing tools available. Some of the famous one’s are:
Facebook – In past few years, Facebook has transformed from a photo sharing website to a business networking &
advertising platform. Facebook provides businesses many ways in which they can market themselves. Following
options are available:
Pages – A company can create a page to promote its business. Facebook page has its own tabs for Wall, Info,
Boxes, Notes, photos etc. You can add applications to customize your page and you can change the landing page
on which the visitors will land when they come from outside the Facebook. You can share news, offers, article topics,
product updates etc with your fans on Facebook. Other Facebook users can also become you page fans and they will
start receiving your updates. Discussions – You can join other groups or create your own group and participate in
discussion with other members of Facebook.
Why aren’t more companies leveraging the power of social networking?
Here are the obstacles:
They don’t understand the benefits
They are afraid to empower employees who don’t normally network or market or represent the company
There’s no nationally recognized solution for training Fortune 1000 companies how to do this
So let’s go through these point by point.
The Benefits of Social Networking for Your Company
Here’s where I’m going to tell you WHY you should let more of your key people use Twitter and
Facebook as agents of your company.
Marketing/PR: Build Brand Awareness and Manage Company Image
New Business: Find Business Opportunities and Expand Into New Markets
Innovation: Inspire and Drive Innovation
Customer Retention: Increase Customer Loyalty
If you read through those functions carefully, you’ll see a lot of your corporate goals.
Social networking works on many fronts:
Get new ways to get marketing and PR messages out
Learn from your customers
Provide customer service to people who fell through the cracks of your existing customer service approach
Prevent negative word of mouth by meeting problems in the public arena
Your employees get to talk to peers, which…
Keeps them on their toes,
Continues their education (they hear about the latest ideas, products, and tactics), and
Gives them an opportunity to lead the industry in their role.
Fear of More Employees in The Public Eye
This I completely understand. Not everyone at your company should be in the public eye.
Not everyone can do Social Networking well, not everyone has the talents to be good at it and
some people are just going to embarrass the heck out of you.
So let’s start with this idea:
More of your employees should be on Twitter and Facebook using Social Networking to
benefit your company. But not all your employees. And some should be forbidden from doing it.
If only those who have the talent and training are doing it, if they’ve taken a class and are
following the policies you’ve developed, then what’s left to fear?
Could even savvy, trained, professional employees make a huge gaffe that turns into a
PR nightmare and causes your stock price to plummet?
Unlikely.
If you are an ecommerce entrepreneur with a home dropshipping business or other online enterprise,
you have probably at least thought about using Twitter as part of your social media marketing efforts
, if you aren’t already tweeting merrily away!
Twitter is definitely a vital presence in the world of internet social sites, and can be extremely beneficial
to anyone with an online business.
Of course, just as is the case with any other endeavor, the more knowledge you have about how
Twitter works—as well as how to optimize your social marketing presence on Twitter—the better off you will be.
Here are some tactics to help you get more mileage out of your time spent in social media marketing on Twitter:
You are allowed 15 characters for your Twitter User ID. Use them wisely! Make your Twitter
name memorable, descriptive and relevant. It should be something that makes it obvious what your online business is about.
You are allowed 20 characters for your “real” name on Twitter. Now, this doesn’t mean
that you have to use your real name, which might be more than 20 characters anyhow.
This is an added opportunity for you to make a statement about your ecommerce business in some way.
For instance, if you have a toll free number, you might incorporate it into your real Twitter name.
When you are filling out your profile info for Twitter and see the space for
“Web Address,” this is a golden opportunity for you to display the dedicated landing page
you are using for Twitter on your website!
You are allowed 160 characters for your one line bio on Twitter. Make the most of this space by including a link to your website and making your bio something snappy and interesting.
The whole idea here is to be someone others will want to follow and learn more about!
Post a personal picture of yourself. This is important! Twitter and other social sites are about
people interacting with other people. You can help “humanize” yourself by giving viewers a real
face to put with your Twitter name.
These are only a few Twitter tactics, but if you use them well, they can be quite helpful in making the
most of your social media marketing efforts!
I cant be any more clearer than that visit my website @ http://www.oceanmarketinginc.com
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