Social Media Marketing to Attract Customers

by sweta on July 9th, 2010 5

Social media isn’t a very new concept and we all are well aware of the headline popularity of this online phenomenon of building and gardening relations. The demographic of the social network continues to broaden. Its no more confined to a small network of friends sharing their chitchats. It is one stepping stone towards successful entrepreneurship as it hides perk of business opportunities to exploit. In relations to the promotion of business, social networking often receives positive returns of your valuable time and efforts.

Social media has grown exponentially in recent years and there is no sign that the growth is slowing down portraying business prospects just a mouse click away. Social Media marketing is one effective tool that many brands have now adopted impressively with others joining in to invest time, effort and manpower for their brand establishment and promotion. But its not always about what others do. Strategizing your marketing operations using social media is lot more than tweeting and updating status. Its just like blending the right proportion of ingredients to enjoy your favorite dish where an extra pinch of salt may spoil the whole flavor. So let us check out how Social media marketing can be used to attract customers as its sets out new dimensions of reaching out to public in most efficient ways.

Your profile is your introduction:

Building a good profile is the first and foremost step into the world of social media. Creating an account and then starting filling in your tweets or updates for marketing your brand will just echo within the boundaries of your profile. First engage around, connect with people and then begin your journey. Don’t try to be fake, not all people can be fooled. Give them a human face to interact with. Sound interesting and be original.

Decide your goal:

Social media connects people with similar interests but different motives. There are those for awareness and knowledge while the others leverage the platform for brand advocacy or increased sales. Decide your category and be focused towards the goal. See where you stand. Its indeed important to stay mindful as Social media platform is an ocean of opportunities that will be lost if not anchored on time.

Targeting the Media interests:

There are a number of people on social networks that fall in different age groups, have variable interests and behavior patterns. Freebies and giveaways, discounts attract almost everybody while young people are more likely to engage into contests.

Make yourself known in your promotion palace:

Let people know who you are, what your product or company has for the customers, if you are a writer post in your blogs. Its about spreading a word of your existence. This does not mean bombarding the updates with your advertisements. Connect to other people matching your interests. How to go about it, read on.

Create a personality in you brand:

Social media as I always say is a medium to voice out the opinions and connecting the like minded together. You are the gateway to your business and project the image of what services you offer. Be expressive but don’t be outrageously bold in flattering your product. Be humble yet effective. If you want people to follow you don’t just talk about the latest product news, but share your personality with them.

The right promotion strategy:

Social media is open for all business whether big or small. Example is the major auto brand BMW using Facebook fan pages to market their brand or Barack Obama using twitter for his political campaign. You just have to have the right plan. Use your social media networks to make offers that lure the customers. That may include giving out free report, free item of interest, buy one get one offer , newsletter, free consultations and so on. You may also create curiosity by hinting the upcoming attraction.

Engage in conversation and chit chats:

Join communities that match your interests. Drop in your views at different discussion forums to be noticed. Be proactive. Encourage people to make their contributions onto your sites. Make friends, be friends and then nurture your relationships. Best conversations only work both ways. And don’t be too business minded and sound like a workaholic. Drift your conservations to lighter topics sometimes. Why not share jokes or funny incidents with friends. Building relationships is what counts here.

Customer Service:

All talking at your side might not interest your customers. Why not listen to what they want? This will indeed help you judge user expectations. Whether on a YouTube channel or a fan page on facebook or your Twitter account, encourage feedback and suggestions. Have public polls to know customer’s perspectives.

Every social networking site has its own style and attitude:

You cannot follow same tactics on different networking sites. Take a note of the following aspects:

LinkedIn is more targeted for professionals. Recommendations from your peers plays prime role in building your effective profile. You cannot send bulk invitations to people and have to be pretty watchful. Then starting blabbering about your products directly may give an impression of desperate marketing personal. Rather engage into a conversation that relates to your business, participate in discussions actively and try to influence people and let them invite you. Don’t be pushy.
Twitter is rather less formal. But people will only take you seriously after you have descent amount of followers. Keep the ads less frequent and me more interactive personally. Also the number of APIs and services like Buzzom, the process gets all the more simpler yet fruitful.
Moving onto Orkut, there is all the more to experiment. There are innumerable numbers of communities that you may join and create thus encouraging your friends to participate as well. Very few restrictions will always let you try out more.
Facebook has its fan pages and groups that will cater your marketing requirements. Its really interesting how its categorizes the needs into local business, brand product or promotion of a public figure. The groups are rather less business oriented but more of awareness campaigns. Well that might serve your purpose as well. Its you who decides what you want.
YouTube is all about videos. Keeping them interesting and updated, or launching your channels, promoting conversations and discussions, these are some ways YouTube can be used for attracting customers.

Consistency is the key to succeed:

Right from the beginning so far, the only buzz word here is Connect. After all Social Media is basically connection centric and your strong relations are what that boost your online presence. If you think you now have enough contacts on your social networks and don’t need to continue the rigorous approach that you may have followed so far and could risk leaving your accounts abandoned sometimes, beware. You might land up starting from scratch. The momentum must be balanced. Its too simple actually as relationships and conversations are a give and take affair.

Image Source: uksmallbusinesswebsites.co.uk Shannon’s blog mechatronic-design.com adviper

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Comments

Jerick Thomas

test

July 30, 20102:14 am

albert nine

I like this opportunity it make very easy to earn money to be rich.I think every body should go through this once they will definitely feel unique. Lots of thanks for the article

October 3, 20109:57 pm

Jonnet Solomon

Social media marketing is the best approach now a days for becoming live to the internet world if it is deal in a proper manner…..Lots of thanks for the article

November 21, 20106:28 am