Like All Relationships - Social Media Needs QUALITY not QUANTITY

This needs to be said, but it's going to have to be quick because other deadlines are looming..

I have seen a growing, and highly disturbing, trend within the Social Media Marketing world that is driving the engagement and interactive power of Social Media down the wrong road. Companies, interested in obtaining the lead generation or brand building benefits of their Social Media Marketing, put out quality content to their followers - based on headlines and company or industry news or promotions.This includes quality commentary in industry discussions or on other blogs and articles. The key focus in that statement is "QUALITY".

Of the dozens of blogs we manage, the comment volume has increased drastically in the last few months, but the QUALITY of those comments has disappeared. Sites that are not industry related, or fit for work-viewing, notes like "Cool, man" are  NOT what businesses need to gauge their target market's needs and interests. This frivolous commentary  wastes site manager's time and guarantees the offending site a list on the "block" list.

To be specific about this, I'll leave it to say that if you are engaging in Social Media marketing and are really interested in building your brand and enhancing the benefits of SMM engagement for all involved, don't comment  unless you have something worthwhile to say, to the right person or company. Otherwise, interactive content like blog comments become white noise and lose their viability as a marketing tool.

Okay - back to work.

Crossing Borders: How Print is Using Social Media

This is a great article from Mashable that shows the continuation of uses for Social Media Marketing, SMM. Even long-standing print mags have turned to the engagement tools offered by SMM. Take a read and see how it works:


http://mashable.com/2011/02/09/social-media-magazines/

How Do You Meet New People? A Quick Note about "Joining the Conversation" with Social Media

"Join the Conversation". Anyone researching or using Social Media Marketing, SMM, has heard this overused phrase. Even we've been guilty in the past of using it to give direction for the uses of SMM for both B2B and B2C clients. It's white noise by now for all the excessive usage in reference to harnessing the powerful interactivity of Social Media profiles, pages and sites.

That being said, think of the last time you attended a business networking event. As you stood at your tiny cocktail table surveying the room for potential new clients or partners, what was your goal? Would it have been enough just to "Join the Conversation?" What if the conversation was about a topic not related to your goals for the evening, or perhaps the two-some or threes-ome you approach was already acquainted? Maybe one of them was a competitor of yours and was driving the conversation towards their business. How would you proceed?

Simply put, it is not enough to simply "join in" with the ongoing flow of the conversation, either at the networking event or on your Social Media sites. To effectively promote your business, you need to turn the conversation or topic towards the benefits you bring to the (literal or figurative) table. It takes a little finesse - no one likes someone who runs the conversation with "me, me, me, I,I,I" statements. So how can you effectively turn the attention to your business within your SMM sites without blatant promotions? (HINT: These points will work for those face to face networking meetings as well)

1. Answer Questions. Prove your prowess in your industry by answering site member questions on topics with which you have extensive knowledge. Be thorough and direct your answer to the person who asked it, not the general population.
2. Show and Tell: Notice a question that fits a recent presentation you have given or see a trend of information that may be sought by your target market? In lieu of just answering the question on a per person basis, send an invite through groups or connections to attend a webinar to get the answers. (Tip: Brand the presentation with your logo and obtain email addresses for opt-in follow ups as a lead generator.)
3. Listen More than You Talk. Use SMM monitoring tools like group discussion topics, forums and metrics tools like Radian 6 to listen in to your target market's needs, interests and goals. When the time comes for you to give your two cents, you can be sure that you hit the pressure points that matter to your potential clients.

So stop "Joining the Conversation" and make the effort to turn the attention to your brand. A well-thought-out marketing plan and informative engaging content, you will see the benefits. Period.

How Does your Company Use Social Media?

As the budgets for online marketing continue to increase, companies are pouring more time and money into Social Media as an aspect of their marketing plan. Each business owner has a different goal for the SMM aspect of their marketing, what's yours?

Lead Generation
Profiles on sites liked LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook allows brands to reach out to highly targeted members of those communities. Based on the communication sent, leads can be generated for a sales team to follow up on and increase the existing client base.

• Key Point: Be very specific with your prospect list, down to the exact companies, locations and titles of site members with which you wish to connect to ensure the highest percentage of success.

Brand Awareness
One obvious intention behind creating multiple profiles and pages within the Social-media sphere is to build the awareness of a brand. New businesses and established companies alike can all benefit from opening their brand to a new client audience. With the interactivity allowed by Social Media, connections within these sites have the ability to get a closer look at the driving points behind the brands they like, enhancing the possibility that a purchase lies n the future.

• Key Point: Metrics are a crucial aspect to measuring the success of brand building through Social Media. There are both free and paid options - see which ones offer the details your business needs.

Bottom Line Sales
Let's be honest. Most businesses are in it for the money. Increasing sales and profit margins tends to be a driving factor for any aspect of ant marketing or advertising campaign. Social Media marketing allows for e commerce options through Facebook or Twitter - links to sales and specials, promotions and actual e-commerce pages on a Facebook profile can help sales build as a Social Media network grows.

• Key Point: Look into having an e-commerce page designed by a professional to boost response rates and when considering promotions, look at the potential for sales and consider higher-cost promotions for enhanced graphics, and powerful metrics to gauge driving factors.

Market Research
Crowdsourced research offers a less expensive and faster turnaround than the more traditional market research services and Social Media monitoring is a large aspect of crowdsourcing. Using SMM as a listening tool to A) better understand your target marker and B) gauge what is driving their responses can help you drive your marketing plan to greater successes.

• Key Point: For any sized company, market research is an often-overlooked yet vital aspect to any marketing plan. Take advantage of SMM to listen and learn about your target market before investing your budget into any type of marketing.

No matter what you use Social Media for in your marketing plan, the ability to engage your audience on a more personal level is something any brand can benefit from. Employ a skilled SMM marketing company to obtain the best results for your business.

Social Media is only a Part of the Puzzle

New year, new beginning. Here at WriteMinded, LLC we've changed our tactics with the marketing packages we present to clients to represent the chanegs in marketing, namely the increases in mobile useage by target clients and the resurgance of email marketing, to obtain a full-scale marketing package that includes some of the old, some of the new and a little of the off the wall to reach out to target segments wherever they may live online.

Social Media Marketing tools like Facebook, Linked In and Twitter, as well as niche sites like Active Rain or Plaxo are valuable and powerful tools for any company to put to work in their marketing plan. Unfortunately, in the last few years, the rumors have circled around SMM as a stand-alone tool that can boost sales and guarantee traffic increases. This is simply not the case.

Just like there is no magic pill for weight loss, there is no ONE web marketing tool that can stand alone to continually launch a company's business forward. There are fluctuations in site usage and marketing stipulations that must be followed with SMM that can hinder organic growth and responses. Therefore, the one point to remember when employing Social Media Marketing tools to the benefit of your business is that they perform best in tandem with other more traditional marketing tools.

Consider a Facebook account where you use a promotion to raise awareness of your brand. A strong tool in ots own right, consider that the promo can be set up to farm contact emails from the promo registrants that can then be turned into an opt-in email marketing list for follow up communications from your business. Think of the awareness and interest you can drive with a biweekly email blast.

Mobile marketing is driving changes in the web marketing world as executives become more attached to their smart phones and the applications become more business oriented. That email marketing you set up with the Facebook contacts can be formatted to fit and function in a mobile environment, so your target market gets your updates even on the go.

To keep it simple, absolutely employ Social Media into your web marketing plan. However, don't expect it to be a magic bullet and don't rely on it as a stand alone option. Regular networking and posts can build brand trust and awareness, it's up to you to leverage those initial connections and conversations into bottom line sales, and that's where a blend of traditional web marketing and SMM can really make a difference for your business in 2011.