The “socializing quality” has been the differentiating factor that has always kept man superior to other creatures. Keeping this basic nature of man in mind, social media has evolved on a scale par excellence. Having said that, let’s see the What, How and Why of Social Media Marketing.
What is Social Networking?
Social Media Marketing is a form of Internet marketing seeking to popularize your brand and to reach out to a target audience (general or niche) through a social media. A social media can be of different forms such as internet forums, blogs, e-mails, social networks, social bookmarking sites, groups, weblogs, video sharing sites etc. Social Media Marketing as it’s usually known as is marketing one’s services, products or other things using this medium.
How Social Media Marketing Works?
Social Media Marketing is not about creating a social profile and then forgetting about it. Rather, it is about connecting to the target audience. Once having set up a profile on a forum or blog, instead of bluntly going about promoting your services / product you need to “earn” the trust of your audience. This can be done by actively engaging in the discussions, giving suggestions and helping out people.
Contribution of quality content to blogs, forums, articles etc also wins you a fan following which in itself is a boost to your brand. As the fans spread word about you, your brand reaches many others. Empathizing and walking with the consumers in their shoes would also take you miles ahead of your competitors.
People will start trusting you if they think you have the knowledge and are genuine; they will be repelled if they sense that you are out only to market your product or service. Once you have earned sufficient trust, you can slowly talk about your product & relate it to the conversation. People will definitely notice it.
WHY WE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING?
Here are some of the reasons why Social Media Marketing is becoming such a rage with site owners around the world:
- You can analyze your website traffic as well as the nature of the traffic.
- You can keep a tab on the conversion of sales per visitor.
- Social Media marketing helps your audience know your brand.
- If done properly, Social Media marketing helps in creating a long lasting positive brand association.
- Social Media marketing helps you reach out to a larger customer base, in turn increasing your business opportunities
Social Media Optimization is not the easy kind of promotion but is a challenge. Therefore before launching out a campaign, one should plan out all the strategies as in which mode to use, whom to target etc. Only when this is done should you go ahead with the campaign, because if done badly, Social Media Marketing can be as detrimental as it is profitable. Remember, first impression is the last impression and you can create a great first
impression with a well-planned social media marketing strategy!