Social Media Butterflies and Promotion
Yesterday I saw a major feature in my paper about the new must have employee – the “social media butterfly.” Companies are climbing over each other to find smart 20-somethings who can take their social media strategy to the next level.
Funny, it seems like only a year ago “corporate” conference themes were seriously questioning the value of dedicating too much time on social media as the return on investment wasn’t entirely clear and employees were wasting company time on places like Facebook.
Now it seems companies want to be in the very places they shunned 12-18 months ago.
Entrepreneurs on the other hand seem light years ahead of their larger big business cousins. That’s probably because the affordability of launching a social media promotional strategy is a dream come true for cashed strapped new entrepreneurs.
Take for example the recent non-profit promotion to raise funds to beat cancer on twitter. Major social media pundit Sarah Evans and others attending the BlogWorld & New Media expo encouraged twitter users to tweet the hashtag #beatcancer. The goal was to set a world record and raise money in the process. For every tweet featuring the hashtag the initiative’s sponsors donated 1 cent to cancer charities.
Twitter users responded and $70,000 was raised to be split between four charities. This was raised over 2 days. No paid advertising, just the power of social media.
That’s a wonderful outcome for a heartfelt cause close to all of us. Now this isn’t the kind of promotion I would endorse for commercial purposes, but it does illustrate the power of this tool you are typing on or reading at this very moment. As an entrepreneur you have the opportunity to launch targetted and well-received promotional campaigns using a little savvy and understanding of your audience and very little of your hard earned money.
So if you’re on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, great for you. That’s a good beginning. The strategic part is just as important. You’ve only got a certain number of productive hours in the day so it’s to your advantage to create a strategy that helps you to position you and your company favorably in your preferred social media forums.
Here are five simple some points to think about as you develop and implement your social media strategy:
- Be clear and consistent with your brand. Remember your brand is how you are perceived by your target audience and that perception is developed over time based on what you deliver and how you present yourself and your company (both visually and content wise).
- Look for the thought leaders and influencers in your segment of the marketplace. Follow them and engage them in meaningful dialogue – remember to offer information of value and be a contributor to your communities.
- Have a clear outcome in mind. Create your own measurements, for example: 1 hr of Twitter/FB per day and 1 hr of blog posts and forum comments per day, 6 days a week should result in XX% increase in contracts or traffic to your website within 30 days, etc. TIP: you don’t have to do all of this yourself since small businesses can hire (contract) “social media butterflies” as well!
- Don’t spam. This is called “social” media for a reason. People are on social media platforms because they appreciate the value and benefit of being social and will want to get to know you before doing business with you. This isn’t new it is just a new way of networking and should “complement” your in-person efforts to promote your business.
- WATCH THE CLOCK. Social media can be a big time waster which will defeat the whole purpose of why you’re there and put you out of business before you know it.
Isn’t it a great time to be an entrepreneur? There are still challenges everywhere but at least when it comes to promotion you can now afford to compete with some of the leaders in your market, thanks to social media.
How much time are you spending on your social media strategy?
To your success,
Sharon
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