subject: Social Media As a Promotion Tool [print this page] Social Media As a Promotion Tool Social Media As a Promotion Tool
One of the most important roles any business owner undertakes when marketing their business is communication.
It is an essential task in any business marketing strategy to communicate with customers, potential customers, suppliers, competitors and the list goes on. Many businesses use advertising, newsletters, brochures, phone and email to communicate with their audiences, but social media is a very effective method to keep building those relationships.
There are a myriad of social media platforms to use, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr or online communities like Ning. It would be impossible to keep a viable online presence at every available social networking site, so just choose a few that you know the people you need to communicate with use. For me that is Twitter and Facebook.
Through these online platforms you can build a social media strategy to boost your business. Just think about the possibilities - millions of people use social media every day, and more and more are joining up. These are your potential customers and their numbers are swelling are incredible rates.
So how do you find these potential customers and what strategies can you use to market your business to them effectively so they become customers?
Relationship building
Social media is all about building relationships by connecting with people and creating and sharing content. Instead of thinking about social media as a lead generation or sales tool, think of it more as a way of your customers learning about you and your business at their own pace. Social media paves the way that may eventually lead to sales, but first the foundation of a solid relationship and brand awareness must be built.
We all know the importance of good customer service to keep people coming back to our business, but the relationships we're creating go beyond customer service. Most of the people you talk to online you are unlikely to meet, but a relationship built online has the potential to be just as powerful as those built offline.
Share online
The key to building social media relationships for business is representing your brand, yes, but also sharing a bit about yourself too. Think of it as putting your personal face on your business in a way that is more dynamic than a static website or media release. You achieve this by being real, letting your passion and creativity show and interaction. My rule of thumb is to tell people what I'm currently working on, talk about what is happening in my business and share a bit about myself. I find this mix of information gives people what they need to develop trust in me and decide if we could work together, but also builds brand awareness.
Social media provides a level playing field for businesses of all sizes. Many small and micro business owners are using online platforms particularly well because they connect directly with their target market. They have found great value in social networking as customer relationship building exercise, as well as an immediate channel for customer service and free market research. When done correctly, effective social networking produces loyal customers who become your legion of word-of-mouth marketers.
Johanna Baker-Dowdell is a freelance writer and public relations consultant. She owns and manages Strawberry Communications, a consultancy th
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