Saturday, November 20, 2010

Don't Get Stuck in a Social Media Rut!

If you're looking at using social media for promotion, odds are that you have already defined your target market. Taking on or ramping up your presence on social media means that you need to keep a close eye on each platform (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) that you’re using. Each social media platform has distinctive features and means of communication. 

It is easy to get lost in the “tactics” aspect of each platform and forget to adjust your strategy. The tactics only mindset of “I’m using Twitter so I must tweet once a day” is a dangerous one. Simply posting a tweet once a day without having a strategy or structure of evaluation will get you nowhere fast. So, how do you avoid getting stuck in this mindset of what tactics will I use? The answer lies in what I like to call the 8 C’s of the Social Media Marketing Mix.

By keep in mind the 8 C's of the Social Media Marketing Mix for each social media platform, you will avoid getting in a rut with your social media marketing efforts:
  • Categorize social media platforms by target market relevancy (i.e., the ones where your target audience resides)
  • Comprehend the "rules of the road" on the platform by listening and learning how to behave, successfully spark conversation, and engage and energize the participants
  • Converse by acknowledging and responding to other users of the platform, always remembering to be a contributor, not a promoter
  • Collaborate with platform members as a means of establishing a mutually beneficial relationships with the platform participants
  • Contribute content to build your reputation and become a valued member, helping to build the community
  • Connect with the influencers, so you can enlist them to help shape opinions about your product or service
  • Community creation enables you to build discussion forums where consumers can suggest product ideas and receive customer support.
  • Conversion of strategy execution into desired outcomes (e.g., increased brand awareness, website traffic, sales, etc.)
In the event you have not established a target market, here are some resources that will provide more information on how define your target market:


5 comments:

  1. Melissa:

    Solid checklist. First you listen then you converse (a.k.a. engagement) - I am amazed how few people/companies really understand or leave an information link in a discussion group, you comment, they leave you hanging. Fans post on company's FB pages, the company leaves you hanging. Defeats the whole purpose of conversing/engaging.

    Jimmy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jimmy -

    Thanks for the feedback! I definitely agree that it is essential to respond to users if you are going to take the time to post something on FB pages or on any other platform.

    Melissa

    ReplyDelete
  3. Social Media Marketing provide business growth,high ROI and Quality Values to Business also.

    ReplyDelete
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