Social media marketing is a term that describes use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Flickr, Wikipedia, Orkut and YouTube.

In the context of internet marketing, social media refers to a collective group of web properties whose content is primarily published by users, not direct employees of the property (e.g., the vast majority of video on YouTube is published by non-YouTube employees).

The Concept

Social media marketing has three important aspects:-

1. Creating buzz or newsworthy events, videos, tweets, or blog entries that attract attention, and become viral in nature. Buzz is what makes social media marketing work. It replicates a message through user to user contact, rather than the traditional method of purchasing of an ad or promoting a press release. The message does not necessarily have to be about the product. Many successful viral campaigns have gathered steam through an amusing or compelling message, with the company logo or tagline included incidentally.
2. Building ways that enable fans of a brand or company to promote a message themselves in multiple online social media venues. Fan pages in Twitter, MySpace of Facebook follow this model.
3. It is based around online conversations. Social media marketing is not controlled by the organization. Instead it encourages user participation and dialogue. A badly designed social media marketing campaign can potentially backfire on the organization that created it. To be successful SMM campaigns must fully engage and respect the users.

According to Lloyd Salmons, first chairman of the Internet Advertising Bureau social media council “Social media isn’t just about big networks like Facebook and MySpace, it’s about brands having conversations.”

Source Wikipedia

Some Facts & Figures

Social networking sites are the most popular online destinations globally (based on the amount of time people spent there in December), with games and instant messaging coming in second and third, respectively. (Side note: As gaming becomes more popular on sites like Facebook, it will be interesting to see how this affects time spent.)

In December, Facebook was the most popular social networking site globally, with 67% of social media fans logging in. In addition, time spent on Facebook has been on the rise; globally, people spend close to six hours per month on the network.

In the U.S., people continue to spend more time on social networks, but year-over-year growth for Facebook and Twitter individually outpaced overall growth for the category at large.

Twitter was the fastest-growing social networking site in December 2009, during which it had 18.1 million unique visitors. That’s up from 2.7 million unique visitors in December 2008.

Top US Social Media Sites and Usage 2009

Source mashable.com

And this doesn’t include YouTube !

Facebook Facts & Figures

• More than 350 million active users
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• More than 35 million users update their status each day
• More than 55 million status updates posted each day
• More than 2.5 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
• More than 3.5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
• More than 3.5 million events created each month
• More than 1.6 million active Pages on Facebook
• More than 700,000 local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
• Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans
• Average user has 130 friends on the site
• Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
• Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
• Average user clicks the Like button on 9 pieces of content each month
• Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month
• Average user becomes a fan of 2 Pages each month
• Average user is invited to 3 events per month
• Average user is a member of 12 groups

More people clicked through to Facebook than Google on Christmas day 2009.

So ya don’t think that your prime potential customers use facebook because they are a more mature audience ? Think again !!!

Facebook Users by Generation 2009

Why Should Your Business Use Social Media ?

An overnight success ten years in the making, social media is as transformative as it is evolutionary.

At last, 2010 is expected to be the year that social media goes mainstream for business.

Here are some reasons you might consider investing some time in Social Media;-

1. Better interaction with your clients
2. More personal interaction with your clients
3. To better serve your clients
4. The same for your suppliers
5. To have input to what is being said about your brand online
6. To better understand the trends in your industry
7. To learn from the gurus and the leaders in your industry
8. To promote your brand online (be careful – the salesman at the BBQ !)
9. To make ‘special offers’ to existing clients & potential new clients
10. To introduce your products and services to potential new clients

Full social media integration often happens in stages — it’s an evolutionary process for companies and consumers alike.

Here are the some common stages that businesses experience as they travel the road to full social media integration.

Stage 1: Observe and Report

Listen and learn. This is the entry point for businesses to better understand the behaviour of an interactive marketplace.

Stage 2: Setting the Stage + Dress Rehearsal

Once the initial intelligence is gathered, businesses will set the stage for social media participation.

Create official presences across one or more social networks, usually Twitter and possibly Facebook (Fan Pages), YouTube, and Flickr. Early on, this is often experimental, and less about strategic engagement.

Stage 3: Socializing Media

The next stage in the evolution of a new media business is the proverbial step towards “joining the conversation.”

As companies take the stage, they will eventually pay attention to the reaction of the audience in order to respond and improve content, define future engagements, and humanize communication.

Stage 4: Finding a Voice and a Sense of Purpose

By not only listening, but hearing and observing the responses and mannerisms of those who define our markets, we can surface pain points, source ideas, foster innovation, earn inspiration, learn, and feel a little empathy in order to integrate a sense of purpose into our socialized media programs.

Stage 5: Turning Words Into Actions

Actions speak louder than words. Businesses must act. Once the door to social consciousness is opened, bring the spirit of your company through it to affect change.

Stage 6: Humanizing the Brand and Defining the Experience

No longer will we focus on controlling the message from conception to documentation to distribution. We lose control as our messages are introduced into the real world. Our story migrates from consumer to consumer. This chain forms a powerful connection that reveals true reactions, perception, and perspectives.

Stage 7: Community

Community is an investment in the cultivation and fusion of affinity, interaction, advocacy and loyalty. Learned earlier in the stages of new media adoption, community isn’t established with the creation of a social profile. Community is earned and fortified through shared experiences. It takes commitment.

Stage 8: Social Darwinism

Listening and responding is only as effective as its ability to inspire transformation, improvement, and adaptation from the inside out. Survival does not hinge solely on a company’s social media strategy. The social element is but one part of an overall integrated strategy. It’s how we learn and adapt that ensures our place within the evolution of our markets.

Source mashable.com

Google & Real Time Search

Do you get any business from your website ?

What is your position in the Search Engine Results Pages on a Google search for a particular “keyword phrase” that relates to your business ?

Did you know that approximately 60% of clicks go to those businesses listed on page 1 for a relevant keyword search ?

What Is Google Trying to Achieve ?

To increase the number of people using its services by providing them with the best possible (most relevant) results for their keyword search.

Why – because Google sells advertising space and makes an awful lot of money from doing this.

Google reported revenues of $6.67 billion (USD) for the quarter ended December 31, 2009, an increase of 17% compared to the fourth quarter of 2008.

What Are Google’s Latest Initiatives – Where is Google Heading in Terms of Search?

Google is focussing on real time search.

YouTube videos are already placing near the top in search results.

Realtime = relevance = better search results

Realtime is sourced from Social media amongst other places.

Google and Twitter have already signed an agreement.

Content Is King !

The “static” brochure website is dead !

Google rewards relevant, interesting and frequently updated content because it fits the profile of what people want to view.

As a small business owner who wants to gain their fare share of business from an increasingly connected marketplace you need to consider the following;-

Engage with your clients past, present or future (this also drives referrals)

Listen to what they are saying

Help them when they have problems

Make it really easy to find your brand online

Keep them up to date with what is happening in your business and in your industry in a manner THAT MEETS THEIR NEEDS NOT YOURS !

Offer them special enticements via social media portals or via your website. This drives customer loyalty.

Conclusion

The 1950s through to the early 2000s saw a domination of the market by big corporations.

This domination was leveraged through each existing and emerging media channel.

“Dead Tree Media” is dying (no matter what Rupert Murdoch might like to believe).

TV will succumb to IPTV and Internet connected media devices.

We will watch whatever we want to watch from anywhere around the world and we will no longer have to be “spoonfed” by local TV stations and newspapers with specific agendas (political, commercial or otherwise).

The Apple iPad Tablet will be a huge winner (to released Jan 27 in the US by Apple – it will be as big as the iPod and iPhone) !

I will go so far as to say that it will revolutionise the way we interact with the online world & the media. It is also another new channel for us to use as a promotion tool for our products and services.

This is the best chance in the last 50 years for small business to compete with the big guys.

We will do so by better service and the enhancement of our reputation through social media.

Social Media is here to stay. Get with the program or be left behind by those that are prepared to make the effort !

Download a Hard Copy of This Presentation

You can also Download or print a hardcopy of Onlineassist4u Social Media Marketing Overview Jan 2010 by clicking on this link.

Note: We have attempted to credit the source wherever we have quoted another organisation. The people we have quoted are excellent and deserve the small amount of time it would take you to check them out. So do it, you will not be disappointed !

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