It’s clear that social media has grown dramatically over the last few years and that with more 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 now, 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 surfers use a variety of social media marketing sites, with many visiting every day and most at least several times a week.” It’s no real surprise that with the millions of prospective customers from everywhere using these sites, every day, that so many businesses have decided to include social media into their marketing mix. Nonetheless it also important to get an understanding of how these sites are being used and what’s involved with maintaining or resourcing your business presence on these sites. Your web footprint can stick around for years so don’t underestimate how this can affect the perception of your brand available in the market place. Spend some time upfront thinking about whether social media marketing is right for the business.
1. Seek first to understand – It is very important that you understand the basics of how is social media really 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 on your own 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 Social Media Marketing firm and ‘how to’ items online about social media marketing, you could run a explore Google or on YouTube on a specific topic of interest watching 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 it? It’s really important that you identify your purpose so you can get involved in social media (or any other marketing activity for example). You need to workout why you are taking part. What do you be prepared to achieve? Do you simply want to build brand awareness, engage with your customers or identify new sales opportunities? Be sure you 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, which ones are best for your business? Consider where your target audience would socialize online, and think about the period of time and resources you would realistically be able to invest in maintaining and administering your site presence. Which ones are right for you? You will probably find that some certainly are a better fit than others.
4. Quality Content – In the event that you decide that social media is right for your business, carefully consider the amount and quality of information you wish to share in the online sphere. Remember it will probably stay there for a long time, so you need to make sure it accurate and reliable information that’s valuable to your target audience. It must be relevant, otherwise people will not read it.
