Social Media Marketing: Protecting Your Image, Your Brand

It is difficult not to notice the posts or comments on the many digital platforms that are out there nowadays from those trying to push or preserve their brand identity. Whether it is through Facebook, Twitter, forums or text messages, users of social media do not realize the effects that their words can have on their audience.

While a short and personable comment by a well known and charming designer can have a very positive ROC (Return on Conversation), comments by others may not. Instead comments can backfire. Let's face it, we are not all as charming as Christopher Bailey of Burberry or as interesting as Gianna Frida of Gucci.

So how then can we build our brand or our image through social media? Here, it all depends on what you truly believe makes your brand, product or service better.  What is it about your product or service that you believe is superior to the competition? Maybe it is the after sale service you provide or maybe it is the attention to every detail and showing the client that he / she is important. Perhaps the quality is based on your gentle approach and not your aggressive behavior to get the sale. Maybe your company and staff are avid supporters of a charity that you feel strongly about.

Not many people realize that in social media marketing, "how you are read" is even more important than "what is read."  Poor grammar, aggressive remarks will not do anything to help build your brand. There is nothing worse than reading something that obviously was neither edited nor proofread before publishing. Conversations between you and others regarding appointments, etc are boring and do not help in building your brand. Unless you are a famous designer setting up an appointment for a catwalk, stay away from publicly posting these types of comments.

If you have nothing interesting to say, than don't post anything. Put yourself in your audience's shoes and what would be interesting for them to read. Is there an item on sale today? Is there a new, cool product you are working on? Did you read an article on something that could spark a discussion about a complimentary product or service? Can your audience benefit from your comment or post?

Social media marketing, if used properly, can offer enormous benefits for your brand that will ultimately lead to sales. Good luck.

CAN YOU CARRY OUT YOUR OWN SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ACTIVITIES?

Whether you have a small business or a large company, the question most asked nowadays is if you or your staff can carry out your own social media marketing activities or do you need to hire a consultant.

The answer is largely dependent on what you want to get out of social media marketing and what you can put into it, in terms of time and money.

As anything else, the more time and attention you devote to something, the greater the chances of it growing and developing. You know your product or service more than anyone else but can you devote a lot of time to digital marketing activities?  How much time? I would say you should be able to devote at least 1-2 quality hours daily. This means time devoted to research (staying informed of what is new in your sector, product but also in terms of viral marketing), writing valuable content, contributing to forums or groups and associations and answering questions. It is not easy nor is it fast. It requires hard work and consistency. It requires putting together a strategy with goals, implementing your strategy, measuring what you are doing  and then tweaking and retweaking until you are getting the results you want.
Without a doubt, if you do decide to hire a consultant or agency, you will still have a major role especially because you know your product more than anyone else. You will be working with your consultant and giving him/her the input he/she needs to carry through.  Make sure that the consultant is not just offering you a list of things to be done.  Every product and service is different and the consultant has to understand this. Most importantly, ensure  that the consultant is doing the research to know who your audience is and where your audience is. Good luck.

Social Media Marketing - Finding Your Audience

The first step in social media marketing is identifying your product or service. If you have done your homework and a business plan, you should already have a clear definition of what you are selling, whether it be legal services, shoe repairs, leather handbags or cooking classes. If you cannot put in simple words what your business is, then you need to go back and work on your business plan. This is key to continuing.

The next step and all so equally important is defining who your audience, consumer, potential customer is. It sounds like a clichè but you really have to think outside the box and research this point fully. For instance, you may have an eyeglass store in a small town and think your potential customer is the average person who needs eye glasses. Well this may not be the case. In fact if you do your research, you will find out that when people get their prescriptions filled by eye doctors, they usually ask the eye doctor to recommend where to buy the glasses. So in this case your leads are coming from eye doctors and not the average person who walks into your store.

Another example could be a cooking school who wants to promote its gourmet cooking classes for children. This cooking school's audience is not the children but their parents and not just any parents but parents from a specific income level that can afford these type of classes. One would waste resources of time and money trying to engage all children or all parents in this instance. A better step would be to find through blogs and forums for instance parents who enroll their children in other classes (sports, music, dance, etc) in your area.

Why is it so important to know exactly who your audience is? If you don't know exactly who it is, you will not be able to locate the audience in social media communities. The average Joe does not "hang out" in the same social media communities as Dr.X, the eye doctor.Once you know who these people are and where they are, you can create content that is specific to that target audience.

What Is Social Media Marketing?

More and more people are asking  "What Is Social Media Marketing? What is all the excitement about? What happened to traditional Marketing activities and how are they changing? What can I do with my business to really promote my product or service? What can I do right now for my business?

Social Media defined from Wikipedia encyclopedia:

"Social media are media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses web-based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogues. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein also define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content." Businesses also refer to social media as consumer-generated media (CGM). A common thread running through all definitions of social media is a blending of technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value."

The buzz around social media marketing is based on the fact that it is the consumer's influence that is either promoting or killing the product or service.  It is no longer a PR firm, a banner or blatant advertisement.  Traditional marketing activities have changed.

The main problem with social media marketing from a business perspective is that it can be incredibly time-consuming and the ROI is difficult to measure. It is based on Return on Conversation. Social media marketing campaigns are not one time deals. They need to be nurtured over time.  Even small businesses and organizations however can truly benefit from social media.

The first suggestion I give anyone who wants to start with social media activities is to begin to listen and research where their audience is. Get comfortable with social networks that have to do with your product.  Visit forums and message boards. Read blogs. Read tweets. Join groups. Have an active and real interest in these. Do your research.  Look at what your competitors are doing. Look at what companies of your complimentary services or products are doing. Are they on Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin? Are they tweeting? Do they have blogs? What are they saying and better yet, what are their clients saying or complaining about?

The second suggestion I give  is to really keep a clean, detailed and updated databank of your clients. Your satisfied customers will be your first step to outreaching to new potential clients. They will provide the word of mouth you will need as a jumpstart.