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How Social Media Can Strengthen your Marketing Strategy

 

Social media is a fresh, dynamic way to communicate directly with prospects and customers, increase your business’ visibility and listen to what is being said about your company.  However, social media by itself cannot substitute for a marketing or public relations strategy, control customer dialogue or guarantee sales.  Before you implement a social media program, evaluate your business goals to determine if social media engagement is for you.

According to a Nielsen report, time spent on social media sites increased by 82% from 2008 to 2009.  A Facebook Fan Page or a Twitter account is a great way to reach and engage the networks’ massive audiences.  Use a social network to announce company happenings, promotions and product innovations.  Leverage social sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Bebo, etc. to enhance your current marketing mix.

According to recent research, 20% of tweets and 70% of blogs mention brands or product names.   Social media acts as a modern, global public forum where products and brands are openly being discussed, both positively and negatively.  Take advantage of the public discussions about your business’ products or services to hone your marketing message.  Discover brand evangelists and harness social networking sites to build a following and participate in the discussion.

A negligent customer service incident, a misquote of an executive or leaked proprietary information can spread like wildfire on the Internet, possibly resulting in a crisis.  A damaged reputation can hinder growth, no matter the industry.  Utilize social media’s ability to connect your business with target audiences quickly.  When a crisis strikes, these types of sites can allow for a statement to be made immediately and in real time.  Take for example an event held in Tempe Arizona, where cars were towed by the city from a private lot during an event.  

An outpouring of frustration regarding the city of Tempe’s car towing debacle spread via Twitter immediately after the scheduled event.  The story landed on mainstream TV newscasts the next day.  The city responded via Twitter without delay, instead of waiting for an official printed statement in the local newspapers.  It resulted in many of the upset tweeters and bloggers reacting positively to the city’s swift action and lessened the damage to Tempe’s reputation.

Capitalize on the popular trend of sharing links through tweets, blogs, Facebook updates and more.  Benefit from the search engine optimization (SEO) enhancements to increase your organic (non-paid) page ranking.  A tweet or Facebook update may not deliver droves of qualified prospects to your website, but every shared inbound link helps lift your listing to top positions.  Internet users trust organic listings.  Typically, higher search rankings generate more visitors to your website.  Social media can increase the amount of traffic to your website, thus improving your business’ overall search visibility.

via blog.waltdenny.com

Here is my latest post on the agency blog. What should you expect from your social media efforts?

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