maturing social media marketing tools like social networking, blogging and crowd outsourcing still have to be measured against proven marketing metrics.
Few companies have grasped this opportunity to explore these maturing tools according to the latest social media bench marking analysis and report. Research analytics showcases 7% of companies are already producing fantastic return on their investment (ROI) on social media projects. These companies are still developing business plan to invest liberally in social media with the strong belief that social media is potential medium to eventually produce ROI.
Businesses are finding strength with new social media marketing and thus looking forward to lure benefits exploring the potential to reach large audience just at one shot. With the current global recession and economic slump, there is no wonder to say that new media marketing techniques have come as the rescuer for many businesses’ marketing efforts. Businesses have started realizing that they do not afford to spend $2 million on any traditional advertising campaign. Rather they do intend to spend $50,000 to spend on any internet sweepstakes.
How Businesses uses Social Media?
With an opportunity in front of businesses to get access to numerous global individuals that they may not able to reach out otherwise simultaneously saving tremendous amount of cost and money on advertising campaigns. More and more companies are now using social networking for various purposes. Businesses have shifted targeting individual company website to collaborative sites. With this trend, businesses as well as consumers both are benefited to the society at large. Besides taking social media as marketing tool, companies are now spending more time on internet to understand consumers’ behavior on internet and social forums.
Market researchers now attempts to gather information generate in natural context on internet by giving control in the hands of consumers and society at large. On other hand, consumers get their voices heard through forums, blogs and social networking sites. It is win-win situation for both businesses and consumers bridging gap between consumers and businesses allowing business to offer better products services to their consumers. Apart from this, businesses can save funds on conventional marketing campaigns and spend those funds offering freebies and giveaways as a part of additional advantage.
Social media sites have potential to create global collaboration, which help them to discuss any problem or concern virtually and make the best business decision. This is a much enhanced and efficient way for companies to make business decisions instead of calling everyone personally and conducting conference.
Few examples of Lure success with social media
Social Media is no limited to just Facebook, Twitter or Bing but there are other social media platforms and methods that are cost effective or even freely available on internet. Small or local businesses can create Facebook pages and groups where they can announce and promote events, grand opening, product launch and special discounts with the huge potential to spread virally –essentially highly effective “Word of mouth” option via internet. In all new media advertising and marketing strategies brings winning situation no matter how large is your business.
Lot of companies has started introducing new products on social media. They first demo their new launches in a virtual world, ask feedback from prospective customers. The most success come, when business are able to communicate and get feedback from its customers in each and every step of its product development for the new experiencing products. This will minimize cost of product development against experiencing the feel of new product market in the real world.
The well-known US car company Chrysler, recently signed deal with “New Media Strategies (NMS), the pioneer in the online intelligence and social media engagement industries for over ten years,” announcing NMS Chrysler’s “social media marketing agency of record.”
Facebook announced “Big Prize Giveaway” application to their fans. Consumers may take benefit by allowing users entering to draw free prizes such as laptops, iPhones and gift cards that companies have paid for or provided in exchange for product placement, advertisements, traditional sponsorship and custom promotion.
Social media is also used as job recruiting platform. It makes hunting for jobs very easier. A popular social media site LinkedIn, has a network of eight million professionals across the world that one is able to reach and email each other. Now Facebook has been new weapon for employers as they use Facebook to check appropriateness while recruiting the new Employees. In a sense, social media is a community that brings together everyone involved.
What are social media strategies to increase success criteria?
The most primary and obvious area of success is increased website traffic,improved search engine rankings, product reputation, boosting brand and lead generation and sales revenue. While actually measuring the success of social media strategy, the first challenge before any business is to identify, segment or differentiate their user base. Why? This is just because may be not all of your “friends” are interested in your products or services. The efforts required,effectiveness and enterprise usage of various social media activities matters a lot.
Building and maintaining blogger relationships is described as the most effective technique, however it requires maximum efforts with no too much enterprise usage. The next most effective social media strategy is micro-blogging on social media like Twitter. The investment required for applying all these strategies major rely on human resources than IT. Let us see few effective tips that can help making your internet marketing projects successful especially for businesses that are in favor of using social media as marketing tool.
4 Effective Tips to embrace social media as marketing tool
Benchmark marketing objective
Like any other marketing project, set clear business objectives for your social media efforts rather than just doing it for your own sake. Improve brand visibility and open a dialogue with prospective customers or hard to reach target audience.
Identify and differentiate your users accurately
Starting with social media campaign requires to carefully differentiating concerned users of the products or services that they are going to promote. Forrester, a market researcher provides ladder to know social network participation. According to one of his marketing project named Forrester’s Groundswell project, it differentiate users from inactive. At the bottom stay the users who are merely inactive with social media and at the top stay the creators who publish their own blogs. It measures the involvement of users participating at least once in a month. Inactive rather spectators of social media are involved just reading blogs, listen podcast or watching videos are almost 70% in US while creators who publish blogs are 24% in US which is rising with the maturity of social media.
Be committed and act aptly
When you launch social media project collaborating your customers as crowd sourcing then make sure that your respond aptly to your prospective customers queries and suggestions. You need to draw enthusiasm among your customers as a matter of crowd sourcing.
Avoid security risk
Free exchange of information is almost nearest to heart for the users of social media. Ensure that software and staff is properly secured in its use. Be aware that any of them accidentally do not share secrets with competitors or customers.
Apart from this, ensure that you follow best practices for social media so that your company or brand earns long term respect. While blogging use full disclosure practices that are supported by Social Media Business Council.
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