In today’s digitally connected world, social media rules. Facebook has over 1 Billion users. That’s one in every 7 human beings in our planet. There are over hundreds of social media sites that connect users in different unique ways and as a business looking to promote yourself, you can ill afford to ignore this medium. However like every other marketing medium, you can easily burn your time and money with social media- if you get into it without understand what each medium does, how it connects and how you could leverage that network for your business.
It’s marketing at its simplest, logical form- Understand your medium before investing into it. In the traditional world businesses used to invest heavily on traditional mediums like Print, Radio, Outdoor and Television. You had large agencies with specialized media planners who understood these mediums. Today’s scenario is very different.
Unlike traditional promotional mediums, today’s social media is undergoing changes at a frenetic pace. Newer, sharper mediums are edging away the hegemony of bigger networks like Facebook like never before. Content, especially content that engages with the audience and user driver content is increasingly replacing companywide distributed content. There are a plethora of social media marketing tools today that weren’t available a year ago. For any business- big or small wading through the mass of what social media has to offer can be a daunting task.
It’s akin to drawing up a comprehensive media plan that traditional media buying agencies do, except that there are no social media planners with the intelligence or tools that can help businesses navigate social media effectively.
Hopefully this white paper will attempt to lay the foundation for businesses and help those that are already doing social media marketing as well as those that are getting ready to get their feet wet.
Why is Social Media Marketing so popular?
Social Media Marketing is using existing social networks to promote your business. A social network is simply a connection of individuals or businesses linked together. The network could be a personal network like Facebook where one’s network are usually friends & family or it could be a business network like LinkedIn where the network contacts are mostly professional. A network could also be a group of individuals with a common interest like Flixter (which connects movie buffs) or Wayn (a travel oriented social network that connects travelers). You even have one for those who are interested in Knitting called Ravelry! For those socially inclined, you could check out this excellent compilation of social networks for all interests here.
From a marketer’s perspective, social networks are a powerful influencer network. If as a marketer you are able to create a brand advocate within a network, your brand champion would advocate your business to thousands of his or her connections.
Social Media Sites
Today, there are hundreds of social media sites and by the time you read this article, there would possibly be a few more that are launched. It is very critical as a business to distinguish the various types of social media platforms available in order to fully exploit them. The below table broadly classifies 18 social media platforms in three buckets.
However what should be considered that while each platform lends itself more easily to a particular type of business, it does not prevent it from being used for other types.
| B2B oriented | B2C oriented | Vertical focused |
| Pinterest ( women ) | ||
| YouTube | Flickr ( photo sharing) | |
| YouTube | G+ | Instagram ( photo sharing) |
| Quora | Tagged | Airbnb ( travel) |
| Blogging | Foursquare | Geni ( family tree) |
| Meetups | Habbo ( teens) |
What business you are doing and your target audience behavioral characteristics one could chose the primary and secondary mediums for social media marketing. For example if one were to be targeting women a larger focus should be given to Pinterest with almost 80% of the user base being women.
Getting started on social media marketing
Like every other media vehicle, the trick of succeeding on social media where others have failed is to understand what makes social media tick for some and bomb for others. Traditionally, many companies have been approaching social media marketing from a “I, Me, Myself” perspective rather than a “You, You’re, Us”
To read more..please download our whitepaper at Agencyonnet.com
