subject: Using Social Networks for Free Online Publicity - How Social Networks Are Changing Marketing [print this page] Free online publicity should be an important part of any web marketing campaign but managing one comes with some challenges. The first challenge is deciding how to spend your most precious resource: time. A second challenge lies in trying to maintain a consistent message across multiple platforms while still reaching your target audience.
Not All Your Customers Use the Same Services
This is the first pure fact any web publicist has to come to terms with in running campaigns. You can guarantee that if you have as few as just ten customers that they will never all agree which cell phone service is the best, or which social media site is the best, or even which web browser is best. As a product or service provider, it is up to your company to master the basic techniques of the web services most of your customers use - and make business justification decisions about the less popular services. Although it is not necessarily the preferred plan of action, you do have to be prepared to have discussions with business clients that use services other than those you have chosen to support.
Inevitably there will be customers not included in your plan via their preferred means of communication. You will be in the unenviable position of explaining your decisions. Try to opt instead for directing the conversation to alternative free/lower cost communications methods and/or free trials of any pay or premium services you do decide to support.
Putting Out a Consistent Message in a Free Online Publicity Campaign Saves Time
It may not be immediately intuitive, but it is easier and more effective to get a consistent message across multiple media types than to try to deliver multiple messages across one or two media outlets. The key to getting a consistent message out across multiple media outlets is spending a significant amount of time setting up your free online publicity network.
Using Social Networks for Free Online Publicity - How Social Networks Are Changing Marketing
