The traditional marketing model was to get as many eyeballs on your product or service’s message as you possibly can and hope a percentage of customers purchase. Yellow pages, radio advertising, direct mail, television commercials, magazine ads, etc.. are examples of these traditional advertising methods. These conventional types of marketing are no longer effective as many consumers have grown to be blind to the ‘one way’ messaging. The message has been overdone and folks no longer trust advertisers. A recently available survey discovered that only 14% of people trust ads while 76% of individuals trust consumer recommendations. Accordingly, more marketers began seeking alternative ways to connect with potential consumers.
Making money online was originally made popular through the use of Websites and optimizing those sites through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques. While still an advisable strategy, SEO has been updated by Web 2 2.0 strategies, such as for example social media marketing. Social media marketing is when companies utilize Web 2 2.0 platforms, such as blogs, social networking sites (like Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Twitter, & YouTube) along with other emerging online marketing tools. The advantage of blogging platforms 2.0 platforms versus traditional means of advertising, and even traditional online marketing, is that it involves ‘two-way communication’, where users are empowered to generate content and businesses are incentivized to talk to their customers.
The days of broadcasting your product or services message out to the masses and longing for a response are gone. People don’t want to purchase from nameless, faceless companies. Not only are consumers paying attention to the ‘man behind the curtain’, but they also need to know what others are saying about your product or service. A recent study concluded that 80% folks Internet using moms were influenced by word-of-mouth from friends and family when making a purchase decision. No other media platform permits small businesses to reap the benefits of consumer word of mouth advertising like social media marketing.
Benefits Of Social Media Marketing
Increased New Customer Acquisitions – The main advantage of social media marketing is that you’ll have the opportunity to connect with networks of potential prospects that you would otherwise struggle to come across utilizing other conventional marketing techniques and also SEO.
Word of Mouth Marketing- Word of mouth marketing has always been the most influential way to generate sales. With social media marketing, it is possible to create raving fans who will voluntarily promote your product and services to their networks of friends. Of course, if your product or service is poor, you may suffer the reverse benefits of this.
Brand Awareness – Branding your business using social media marketing is much simpler, faster, and less costly to achieve compared to the traditional advertising medium and even website marketing.
Customer Retention – Blogging platforms 2.0 platforms are the perfect places to communicate with your customers about new products, special promotions, or just to educate them on your own business. Through consistent, FREE communication, you can keep your company in front of your customer’s eyeballs which will in turn result in repeat business and referrals. Remember, the main element to this kind of communication is usually to be content rich; avoid these avenues to pitch your product or service.
Rapid Results – The effective and successful implementation of a social media plan will create almost immediate results for the business. This increase could be quantified through increased site traffic, increased lead acquisition, and ultimately more sales. Unlike Social Media Brand Management agency or TV ads, where your visitors disappear once the ads go off air, these web 2 2.0 platform benefits will continue long-term provided that the communication and updating of your social media presence is maintained.