Rethink your social marketing

With YouTube in the top 5 UK sites, Facebook, the most searched for brand in the UK and Twitter, 38th most popular site in UK after entering the top 100 in , it is enough to calculate how much business you are missing out on. HitWise reported that in April 2009 we had the first signs of retailers receiving less traffic from paid search and more from social media sites.

Most companies are rushing into the bandwagon of Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and Facebook, exposing themselves in front of an audience, without strategic decisions about the message, the user profile, or the community rules. Product, price, place, promotion, the good old 4P’s.

Setting up a profile, uploading video or some pictures, posting something on Twitter, all don’t require much skill. Like print publishing, a one-way communication channel with low level interaction. The first sign would be limited direct visits back to your site.

This is because social media are a highly interactive two-way medium. Success depends and is measured by the level of user engagement. To achieve this, you need the right tone, an appropriate message, added value element as well as strong content. Add Terms and Conditions to the list, with many companies getting banned on various channels by accidentally violating the rules and it is starting to get a little more complicated.

The social media space is young and there is possibility for experimentation. But don’t turn your customers into lab rats. The most up-coming form of advertising and whilst still in the early stages it is great value too. Getting serious about social media marketing should be top of the list for any online marketing departments and as a promotion channel for SME’s.

If you cannot cater for all the needs of your social media campaigns, get some help. Retain ownership, but hire external expertise to help define a strategy, set-up, launch, optimise and advise along the way.

Don’t ignore social media marketing, they are here to stay.