Before we delve into why, maybe we should first establish what exactly social media marketing entails. In a nutshell it involves the combined marketing effort of various online social network website models that are designed to suit your needs. All current social network sites serve different purposes and therefore your company or business should target these accordingly. A lot can be said about social media marketing but lets use and example to make this point more poignant.
When used appropriately social networking can yield awesome results like when Barack Obama was running for president. Using a properly structured social media marketing plan and backed by internet marketers that know how to wield this powerful weapon allowed Obama’s campaign to raise over $32 Million dollars in January alone. After this highly successful social media syndication campaign Obama’s team managed to rake in over $50 Million dollars in the month of February without even attending one single fundraiser.
Yes those are huge sums of instagram followers money but to be honest he was backed by a dedicated team all driving towards one goal. With this in mind it goes to show what you can achieve if you’ve got a well thought-out social media marketing plan and employ the right staff member/s to ensure it gets done ethically.
Benefits of Using Social Media Marketing
The biggest benefits of using social networking are low costs vs. big opportunities. The fact that any company can build a list, do market research, get the word out, perform lead generation or market a product at such low costs must surely be a major reason and encouragement to invest time and resources into social media marketing strategies.
A massive 85% of internet marketers have shown that their social marketing efforts have generated significant exposure for their businesses. This tie’s in with the added benefit of gaining the all important eyeballs of potential life-long loyal customers.
The next best benefit is most obviously website traffic which as any online business owner knows is essential to making sales and beneficial business relationships and partnerships.
Marketing Tribes
These days the web is all-a buzz about building tribes and social media syndication of content for the aim of reaching new consumers. It is suggested that you have a look at Seth Godin’s book “Tribes: We need you to Lead Us.” The book focus’s on the topic that people will always instinctively follow or feel the need to belong to a tribe which is in essence an identity. As a marketer you can learn from these principles and adapt these concepts into your business model.
By knowing how to predict consumer actions in this cut-throat business climate will give any company increased leverage over other competitors. Social media marketing isn’t just a “fad” it is here to stay and if you don’t learn how to use these all important social networking tools, your future online may become bleak very soon. This is not a fear tactic but merely the simple truth that consumers follow or take on “tribe” identities and by learning how to leverage on that will mean the difference between eating lovely sauced thick steak or stale bread for dinner.