Twitter. Facebook. YouTube. LinkedIn. Delicious. These are all examples of social media. But what is social media?
According to About.com, “social media is a type of online media that expedites conversation as opposed to traditional media, which delivers content but doesn’t allow readers/viewers/listeners to participate in the creation or development of the content.”
Social media refers to a broad range of social sharing sites to social networks. Thanks to social media, it’s easy to share your ideas, photos, videos, likes and dislikes, with the world at large – and they share what they think of them. People can find friends, business contacts and become part of a community or a number of different communities. It gives you what TV never could – a chance to be engaged and engage others.
Because of this, social media is of particular interest to businesses.
Due to its novelty, businesses often struggle with social media because they jump into the next big thing without enough analysis of what they should focus on.
- Should your business create a blog?
- Should your business send out Tweets?
- Should you participate in Facebook with a personal profile or fan page?
The answer to each question depends on your industry, your customers, your resources and your goals.
Has Social Media Really Changed Everything?
If you studied marketing, you’ll likely have heard about the 4 Ps of marketing – creating a product, determining the right price, finding a place to sell it and promoting it.
Today’s approach to marketing relies more on the 4 Cs of marketing. Generating relevant, informative content that is delivered in a context that makes it useful for people interested in making connections with people, products and brands they can build a community around. So it looks a little like this:
Content + Context + Connection + Community = Social Media Marketing
Our Approach to Social Media
We believe that you can effectively participate in social media strategically. And we’ll help you do it. Below are some of the solutions we apply in social media.
Integrate
We help integrate your social media activity with your other marketing initiatives.
Amplify
Use social media activity to create awareness and amplify your content elsewhere.
Repurpose
Using content in one form and re-formatting it for use in another form.
Generate Leads
Overcome the “no selling allowed” culture by using a two-step (or sometimes three-step) advertising approach to generate leads.
Depending on your goals and your business, we can help you understand, manage and create a plan to effectively use social media to accomplish your marketing goals. Contact us.
