INEXPENSIVE BUT NOT EASY
THE SOCIAL MEDIA phenomenon has become a highly cost-effective marketing tool, for smaller businesses in particular, but it is not easy to use well. Social media requires an investment in time, probably operational change. It is a long-term process that should be included as part of a wider marketing plan. Then, the payback can be considerable.
A perilous pitfall for small businesses is attempting to use social media as a cheap method of marketing or sales. It’s easy to send out messages, but will they have favourable effect?
Social media is a two-way exercise: not about blasting out business bulletins. It has to be arrowed towards the target audience. Then, the expected benefits can range from better brand awareness, to marketplace acceptability, to blossoming sales. Above all, there should be more customer engagement with the brand and a richer experience overall.
DIFFERENT
Social sites are different to traditional channels and require well-planned strategies. Step one is to be sure about objectives, a set of smart aims that can be understood by everyone who might become involved. Only when you know what you want to achieve can you measure effectiveness.
It demands recognition that this is an interactive forum. It’s where small businesses can meet their customers. In traditional advertising, business broadcasts to a hoped-for audience. Early feedback is neither expected nor achieved.
Conversely, social media facilitates dialogue. It is a forum for discussions and a conduit for new and lasting relationships. The net can be tight or cast widely, hook and line or trawling.
A key to obtaining, then maintaining, a competitive edge through social media is to find the most manageable route in what has become a crowded online offering. Research it all and then choose the ideal platform(s) to expose the product or service – the cyberplace where the right kind of target audiences are gathering. The drive is towards achieving “word by mouse”.
EVOLVING
This networking slice of the marketplace is ever-evolving and small businesses have to stay flexible and nimble. Platforms change as technology develops. Popularity waxes and wanes. But they have no limits.
Fortunately, small businesses tend to be more focused on individuals than their bigger competitors and that’s an excellent starting point. It means they should find it easier to connect with customers in an unscripted way and more adept at handling comments and queries.
Larger concerns are slower to get involved, almost by definition, so they are at a disadvantage. Customers have more respect and appreciation when they receive timely responses.
Post it, share it, benefit from it, according to your social media strategy. It’s free. Accept, however, that there is nothing easy about making it work. You have to make your business socially acceptable.
Return to MARKETING INSIGHT BLOGS or go to CONTACT DETAILS
