Social Media Best Practice

I read this great article, written by By WILLA PLANK from the Wall Street Journal, which I’d like to emphasize some key points. Read the entire article here.

How else can we say it: Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard of Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn as tools to promote your services and products online. Many businesses already including social media tools in their marketing strategy.

But don’t feel pressured to jump in quickly and create a profile on every site. First, decide if it’s right for your company. As mentioned above, Social Media should be INCLUDED in the marketing strategy, assuming you have one. There is no reason to set up accounts on the social networks, for the sake of it. These social network can be used as a marketing tool, and need to be handled as such.

For instance, a Facebook fan page probably doesn’t make sense for a business-to-business outfit, and companies that target older or retired customers might benefit more from direct-mail campaigns, or even knocks on doors. Work out what fits your business, don’t just dive into it.

If you’ve decided to incorporate social media, remember that YouTube videos, blog posts and status updates are just a part of your entire marketing arsenal. Here are three best ways to use social media.

1.Stand out by trying less-crowded or up-and-coming social-media sites.

Everyone knows about Facebook fan pages. But if you’re a neighborhood business that relies on local clientele, you might want to consider Foursquare, which combine elements of other social-networking sites (Twitter, Facebook or Yelp) to help spread word of establishments and provide rewards to encourage customer loyalty. If you’re strapped for time, at least maintain a blog that provides good content and answers consumer questions.
You could always create your own social network, on a ning platform.

2.Don’t expect instant sales, but make sure to get actual results.

Social media is more about brand outreach. Make sure you have a reasonable goal and a well-thought out strategy to achieve that end. First, listen to what is being said about your business and competitors on Google alerts, RSS queries, Twitter, Yelp and BackType.

Make sure you have your profile account names on all print communications you distribute, such as flyers and menus. Identify your biggest fans, and figure out how to organize them or point them out in some way. Reach out to other bloggers in your industry. Have them contribute to your blog, and create cross-marketing activities

3. Don’t forget social media is a tool to strengthen offline relationships.

Many small businesses already have personal ties to customers in their communities, and these tools are designed to enhance those relationships, not replace them. For instance, you can use social-media tools such as YouTube to give customers a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your company, or display more of your personality than you can through an ad. Create videos to show the personal side of your business, your people, your premises – people attract to REAL people, not to companies.

Use social media as a tool to “meet” potential clients or business partners, but make sure you follow up with an in-person meeting or phone conversation. Tweetups are very common everywhere. Find out what is happening in your area, and join the conversation. Show up (or send employees), and if there isn’t one in close proximity – create one! It’s fun, and very beneficial for everyone involved.

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How to create an effective WOM campaign?

Word of Mouth is known to be the most effective form of advertising. In the last few years a new term was coined  – Viral Marketing. Viral marketing is largely known as an online strategy, when companies produce an email, or a video, and encourage people will share it with their friends. Maybe “encourage” is not the right word – the readers/viewers feel they NEED to share this  – it is either hilarious, shocking, or evokes other strong emotion, which compel people to share it with others.

Microsoft, like many other companies, use this technique to keep their brand awareness high. After over 3 decades, MS has a very strong brand. They don’t need to create awareness, just maintain it, and just notify consumers of the new product offering – to drive their OEM sales, primarily.

Recently Microsoft circulated a video, which is just amazing to watch: shows a man in a neoprene suit on a DIY waterslide, flying 115 feet and then landing safely in a kiddie pool. It’s accumulated more than 1.4 million views since it got uploaded to YouTube last week, and reactions were all over the place, ranging from dropped jaws to sheer amazement to a more cynical, “Nah, this can’t be real.”

To the doubters – no, it is not real. What is Microsoft selling? The new MS Project 2007. WHAT???
This is how it works.
MS carefully crafted a video, which has nothing to do with MS, or Project for that matter. There is an obscure web address at the end of the 44 second video, which you need to memorize and type in your browser window – not an easy “click through”.

All this doesn’t matter, though. What matters is that MS created a video, which shows something remarkable, (real on not real does not matter), which viewers will say ‘”WOW”, and “you HAVE to see this…”

Then Microsoft tracks how many people viewed (it is a German website – so only people who understand German, will be likely to visit the website anyway), and tell their OEM partners that they can’t ignore the demand for the product, as the retailers are getting bombarded by consumers, asking for that new product.

How do we know it is effective? check out this review, and read the subsequent comments. And the fact you’re reading this post….

Conclusion:

Create something remarkable, to get people talking about you. It will pay!

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