SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: Marketing Considerations for Small Business

It’s clear that social media has grown dramatically during the last few years and that with an increase of than 800 million active users, the quantity of Facebook users is easily a lot more than twice the size of the entire population of the United States!

Its growth has been astronomical now, thousands of people are posting more personal and business information online than previously. It’s happening at lightning speed with a large number of posts, tweets and uploads occurring every hour.

Recent research conducted by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) commissioned by Sensis Pty Ltd (May 2011, p. 10) indicates, that “62% of Australian Internet users use a variety of social media marketing sites, with many visiting every day and most at least a few times a week.” It’s no surprise that with the an incredible number of prospective customers from all over the world using these sites, each day, that so many businesses are determined to include social media marketing into their marketing mix. However it also important to get a knowledge of how these sites are being used and what’s involved with maintaining or resourcing your organization presence on these sites. Your online footprint can stick around for years so don’t underestimate how this may affect the perception of your brand on the market place. Spend time upfront thinking about whether social media is right for the business.

1. Seek first to understand – It is crucial that you understand the fundamentals of how is social media marketing actually works and how it’s used. What exactly are people and businesses doing with social media? What gets them results? A few of you may be thinking, how do you do this? Perchance you could consider trying it out for yourself by setting up a personal account, then testing a number of the features, or get a trusted friend to show you their account and guide you through. Alternatively there are so many resources and ‘how to’ items online about social media marketing, that you could run a search on Google or on YouTube on a particular topic of interest watching the video tutorials to get informed.

2. Understand your purpose – What’s your purpose is for using social media? What do Social Media Brand Management agency desire to achieve for your business by using it? It’s really important that you identify your purpose so you can get involved in social media (or any other marketing activity for example). You need to work out why you are taking part. What do you be prepared to achieve? Do you simply want to build brand awareness, engage with your visitors or identify new sales opportunities? Remember to be realistic about what you believe you will be able to attain.

3. If you decide to engage in social media marketing, which sites are best for you personally? – With the plethora of social media marketing sites available, those are best for your business? Think about where your market would socialize online, and think about the period of time and resources you would realistically be able to commit to maintaining and administering your site presence. Those are right for you? You might find that some are a better fit than others.

4. Quality Content – If you decide that social media is right for your business, carefully think about the amount and quality of information you intend to share in the online sphere. Remember it’ll probably stay there for some time, so you need to make sure it accurate and reliable information that is valuable to your market. It must be relevant, otherwise people won’t read it.