Why social media now?

Marketing approaches have been transformed by all the recent technological innovations, and society along with it. Businesses that invest efforts in social media have envisioned the value of taking marketing to the next level.

Social media consists of:
• Online newsletters
• Blogs, including microblogs like Twitter
• Community forums
• Online Video (webcasts and podcasts)
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Hosting community forums or posting company blogs, uploading podcasts, and enhancing SEO through search sites like Google can build an organization’s online reputation. These virtual actions can translate into real dollars.

Social Media: Where Your Customers Are

Remember, you want to be where your customers are. Today that’s social media. This is true whether your customers are consumers or other businesses. A business is composed of people, and those people are active in social media.

Customers today want to know you before doing business with you, and many turn to social media to research and ask for opinions. If you’re not there, you’re invisible to a large segment of potential customers.

You May Already be on Social Media

Just because you are not actively participating does not mean you don’t have a social media presence. People talk about their experiences with companies, both good and bad, on Twitter and Facebook. They post opinions on Yelp and other review sites.

You cannot control what they say, but if you participate, you can direct some of the conversation. By opening dialog with posters, both positive and negative, you can create a positive image for your business.

It’s About Reach, Not ROI

Many business owners are reluctant to allocate resources to social media, because the relation between cost/effort and results is not as clear-cut as other marketing avenues. This is the wrong approach. Social media expert Erik Qualman, in a ClickZ post “Social Similar to Search a Decade Ago”, offers a great analogy between the ROIs of social media and your telephone. It’s difficult to quantitatively measure return on either, but you know a phone is a necessary communication tool. So is social media. It’s called social media marketing, but it’s really social media communication. And customers love communication.

The Pay-Offs of Social Media

Visibility
Social media provides the opportunity to bring large-scale brand awareness. Many consumers spend time online and this is where businesses are most likely to be seen. Through this visibility companies can expand their name rapidly and as a result increase probability of growing their customer base.

Customer Interaction
People generally like to be heard and online connections in the social environment allows for more interaction. Social media offers a platform for testimonials and provides the ability to ask customers to make suggestions, ultimately improving the business. A solid way to reach customers is to give them what they want. Isn’t asking them a good way to learn?

Recommendations
Consumers generally turn towards personal recommendations as these are more trustworthy than listening to a biased advertisement. Through social media satisfied consumers can rapidly spread their enthusiasm over a purchase experience to all their social connections.

Be a Marketing Pioneer

Erik Qualman asks the pertinent question “will you be a pioneer and let your social media efforts propel you from good to great?” Businesses that stand by the wayside and watch innovation pass them by miss the initial competitive edge gained by the pioneers.

Social media is the future of marketing, at least in the immediate future. Technology isn’t going to slow down and wait, and businesses that don’t embrace social media will miss the opportunity.

Related posts:

1. SEO in 30 Days, Day 29: Social Media
2. Bing Goes Further into Social Media Search
3. Facebook’s Revamped Shared Options Can Help Your Social Media Approach
4. The SEO of Twitter: Setting Up An Account
5. What is Social Bookmarking and Why Should I Do It?