Social Media Marketing is all the buzz right now. But what is it and how can you use it? We’re not going to pretend that this subject can be covered in a single article but we’ll start the discussion by actually defining the terms and then later we’ll follow up with further posts to get into the details.
Social: marked by friendly relations or companionship. Pertaining to a group or community. Offering opportunity for interaction. Relating to the way in which people in groups behave and interact.
The derivation of the word is from Latin “socialis” meaning “companion”.
Media:A channel of communication that serve can be used to carry an advertisers’ messages and serve as the vital link between the seller of a product/service and the consumer. The various means of mass communication considered as a whole.
The derivation of the word is also from Latin, “medius”, meaning “middle”.
Marketing: “‘Marketing” is everything a company does to acquire customers and maintain a relationship with them. This covers everything from identifying your target audience and developing & launching campaigns which will advertise, sell and deliver your products to them. This is preferably done creativity using catchy slogans, attractive packaging design, celebrity endorsements and general media exposure. While we’re here, let’s not forget the “small tasks” like writing thank-you letters to customers, playing golf with a prospective client, returning calls promptly and meeting up with a past client for coffee. All of this IS “Marketing”.
The derivation of the word is from Old French “mercari”, meaning “buy” which is from the word “merx” meaning “goods”.
If we look at the roots of all these words and their definitions we start to get the picture.
Social Media Marketing: “Social Media Marketing” is therefore something like, “a form of Marketing which attempts to use and leverage the social bonds amongst people to influence & introduce others to your products, services, ideas, etc.”
The “media” in this case, is the actual social networking platform– Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, MySpace, Blogs, etc.
This makes pretty good sense when you think about it and it might start giving you some ideas about how you’re going to go “social”. Immediate questions arise such as:
- What “media” platform(s) might be the best vehicle for our company.
- In a media/content over-saturated world, why would they care about our message?
- What do they find interesting?
- How do we build deeper connections & value with our clients?
- What can we do to attract & retain interest?
- How do we manage this process effectively?
Those are the starting questions which will inevitably lead into further questions.
Directing People’s Attention
From my experience, people tend to form (real) groups around their own interests. Furthermore, the thin attention span of today’s audience most easily flows towards the following:
- points of “drama”
- sources of entertainment
- educational/helpful sources
Figuring out a way to creatively and quickly add value, educate, make someone laugh or smile or just be plain interesting will play a real part in your future marketing efforts if you’re going to keep up with the times and not be passed over.
Closing Thoughts
If you need to get some help understanding how best to navigate the social media waters, give us a call at 727-562-5161. These platforms are here to stay and are powerful tools to leverage and build stronger relationships with your network of customers and a wider network of their friends and associates.