You sit back, sighing with relief that your Web site is running faultlessly, optimized for search engines, and producing traffic, leads, and sales. Maybe you’ve ventured into e-mail marketing or pay-per-click advertising to generate new customers. Now, you think with satisfaction, “I’ll just let the money roll in.”
Instead, you’re inundated with stories about Facebook and fan pages, Twitter and tweets, blogs and blogs, and all other manner of social media buzz. The statistics are astounding: Facebook closing in on 500 million active users; 126 million blogs on the Internet; more than 10 billion tweets sent on Twitter since 2006; 2 billion videos streamed daily on YouTube. New company names and bewildering new vocabulary terms flood the online world: Gowalla, Groupon, SocialMention, CoTweet, engagement, community building, content posting, and comment monitoring, for example.
Should your business get involved in social media marketing? Is it all more trouble than it’s worth? Will you be left hopelessly behind if you don’t participate? If you jump in, how do you keep it all under control and who does the work? This blog helps you answer both sets of questions: Should or shouldn’t your business undertake social media marketing? If so, how? (Quick answer: If your customers use a social media service, you should consider it. If not, skip it.)
The philosophy behind this blog is simple: Social media marketing is a means, not an end in itself. Social media services are new tools, not new worlds. In the best of all worlds, you see results that improve customer acquisition, retention, and buying behavior — in other words, your bottom line. If this sounds familiar, that’s because everything you already know about marketing is correct.
Having the most “likes” on Facebook or more re-tweets of your posts than your competitors doesn’t mean much if these achievements don’t have a positive impact on your business. Throughout this blog, you’ll find concrete suggestions for applying social media tactics to achieve those goals. If you undertake a social marketing campaign, we urge you to keep your plans simple, take things slowly, and always stay focused on your customers. Most of all, we urge you to follow the precepts of guerrilla marketing: Target one niche market at a time; grow that market; reinvest your profits in the next niche.
You don’t have to read anything that seems overwhelming or insanely complicated, deals with a particular social marketing service that you dislike or disdain, or doesn’t apply to your business. Content following a Technical Stuff icon is intended for developers or particularly tech-savvy readers. Reading the case studies in sidebars isn’t critical, though you might enjoy reading about honest-to-goodness business owners who successfully use the social marketing techniques we discuss. Often, they share a helpful tip that will make your social media life easier.
If you have a limited budget, focus your explorations on the free or low-cost tools and resources that appear in various tables, instead of enterprise-level options, which are designed for large companies with large marketing budgets. Sometimes, however, a tool with a moderate price tag can save you lots of time or expensive labor.
If you decide to add one or more of them later, simply return to that blog for freestanding information. Of course, if you’re looking for a thorough understanding of the social media whirl, read the blog straight through, from cover to cover. You’ll find out all about social media — at least until a totally new service launches tomorrow.
Instead, you’re inundated with stories about Facebook and fan pages, Twitter and tweets, blogs and blogs, and all other manner of social media buzz. The statistics are astounding: Facebook closing in on 500 million active users; 126 million blogs on the Internet; more than 10 billion tweets sent on Twitter since 2006; 2 billion videos streamed daily on YouTube. New company names and bewildering new vocabulary terms flood the online world: Gowalla, Groupon, SocialMention, CoTweet, engagement, community building, content posting, and comment monitoring, for example.
Should your business get involved in social media marketing? Is it all more trouble than it’s worth? Will you be left hopelessly behind if you don’t participate? If you jump in, how do you keep it all under control and who does the work? This blog helps you answer both sets of questions: Should or shouldn’t your business undertake social media marketing? If so, how? (Quick answer: If your customers use a social media service, you should consider it. If not, skip it.)
The philosophy behind this blog is simple: Social media marketing is a means, not an end in itself. Social media services are new tools, not new worlds. In the best of all worlds, you see results that improve customer acquisition, retention, and buying behavior — in other words, your bottom line. If this sounds familiar, that’s because everything you already know about marketing is correct.
Having the most “likes” on Facebook or more re-tweets of your posts than your competitors doesn’t mean much if these achievements don’t have a positive impact on your business. Throughout this blog, you’ll find concrete suggestions for applying social media tactics to achieve those goals. If you undertake a social marketing campaign, we urge you to keep your plans simple, take things slowly, and always stay focused on your customers. Most of all, we urge you to follow the precepts of guerrilla marketing: Target one niche market at a time; grow that market; reinvest your profits in the next niche.
You don’t have to read anything that seems overwhelming or insanely complicated, deals with a particular social marketing service that you dislike or disdain, or doesn’t apply to your business. Content following a Technical Stuff icon is intended for developers or particularly tech-savvy readers. Reading the case studies in sidebars isn’t critical, though you might enjoy reading about honest-to-goodness business owners who successfully use the social marketing techniques we discuss. Often, they share a helpful tip that will make your social media life easier.
If you have a limited budget, focus your explorations on the free or low-cost tools and resources that appear in various tables, instead of enterprise-level options, which are designed for large companies with large marketing budgets. Sometimes, however, a tool with a moderate price tag can save you lots of time or expensive labor.
If you decide to add one or more of them later, simply return to that blog for freestanding information. Of course, if you’re looking for a thorough understanding of the social media whirl, read the blog straight through, from cover to cover. You’ll find out all about social media — at least until a totally new service launches tomorrow.
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