Social marketing tip #1: What is social media marketing and why is extremely valuable?

bysmartketeer

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Updated 6 years ago

What is social media marketing and why is extremely valuable?According to Social Media Examiner …

Over 81% of marketers found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours per week invested in social media marketing.

In other words, social media marketing is not only very important, but also very effective. But, here’s the thing … Done wrong social media can harm your business, you brand and your credibility. Done right social marketing can be the secret ingredient that will take your business to a whole new level. Obviously, you are going to need a good strategy, but don’t worry, is not rocket science and I’ll be here for you all the time.

So, let’s see …

What is social media marketing and why is extremely valuable?

First of all, what is social media?

Social media is a “collection” of websites and applications dedicated to community-based interaction, content-sharing and collaboration. It’s a huge network of owned (blogs), rented (social platforms), “occupied and conquered” (commenting systems) or paid (paid ads) online communication channels that enable non-technical users to create and share self-generated interactive content.

On the other hand, as David Alston said …

Social media is not a media. The key is to listen, engage, and build relationships.

And this is the real beauty and the real, almost creepy power of social media. Whether you are listening and engaging or not, your customers are having conversations, commentaries and annotations relevant to your business operations.

As a marketer you have no choice: you must join the conversation. Which bring us to the next point …

What is social media marketing?

Yes, I know, it can be defined and phrased in hundreds of different ways just like anything else. Here is my favorite definition:

Social media marketing is all about creating memorable interactive moments with your customers in order to achieve certain well-defined goals.

As I also like to say, social media marketing is a kind of digital word-of-mouth marketing. A word-of-mouth marketing on steroids. And more importantly, is a free marketing channel which can be used on daily basis to engage billions of active users, hard-to-reach audiences and potential customers.

Why is social marketing so valuable and powerful?

The simplest answer: because it works like a charm. To answer the question in a more serious manner, I am going to rephrase it: How does social marketing differ from tradition marketing?

Well, the difference – always – lies in the “how” part. In this case the secret is quite simple: avoid overselling, be friendly and create shareable content. Basically, this is the very essence of social marketing. All you need is a piece of interesting, relevant and unique content. There are dozens of different social platforms and billions of social media users all over the internet, and any piece of valuable information will be shared, blogged, liked or retweeted almost instantly.

With a few well-chosen words or a single memorable image you can generate a true viral explosion, exposing your content to hundreds or thousands of new potential customers you normally wouldn’t have access to. This is why social marketing is so incredibly effective. With a well-crafted and successful social marketing strategy you can transform your customers into highly efficient cost-free marketing assets. If you have a consistent and well-diversified social marketing strategy, your customers will become your most loyal and most efficient promoters.

By leveraging social media networks like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn you can use your customer as a “marketing vessel”. You will discover new opportunities to acquire new customers, to re-engage your existing customers, to improve your brand recognition and to build long-term, trust-based one-to-one relationships.

And there is one more very important benefit, which – sadly – is often left untapped by marketers: the social-interactive nature of these networks. The social media content is not a passively received wisdom, but a clear and loud message that usually will trigger certain reactions. Those questions, feedbacks, comments, recommendations or opinions will help you to understand your customers and their needs. I will use again the very same quote from David Alston: ” Social media is not a media. The key is to listen …”. Social media marketing is a conversation. Be a good listener, build your credibility and you’ll be able to unlock every single benefit that comes with social media marketing.