Why Social Media?
Why social media?
May 16, 2015
A brief overview of why social media is a vital part of marketing with some insights into how to prepare and plan effectively.
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Transcript
Why Social Media?
Why?
In the past direct mail and cold calling made up the majority of prospective target interaction by sales. Marketing focused on brand awareness via advertising, trade shows, print media and PR.
Why?
With the arrival of Google in 1998, B2B companies started to focus on search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and email marketing to drive traffic to their website.
Why?
Today, marketing through SEO, PPC, and email are still very much a part of the marketing mix, but social media sites drive a large portion of the B2B interactions on the web.
Why?
If you’re not yet utilising social media, you’re missing the opportunity to connect with a large proportion of your prospects.
Learning from the USA
• 93% of B2B marketers use social marketing to market their business • 74% of marketers reported that social marketing has increased their site traffic • 59% of marketers are using social marketing or 6 hours or more per week • 85% of marketers reported that the number one benefit of social marketing is generating more business exposure
Let’s take a look at some compelling stats from the“ 2012 US Social Marketing Industry Report”
B2B Sales Model
Social Media
E-shots
Webinar
Virtual Events
Blogs
Online Adverts
Mobile Marketing
Connect
On-page SEO
Off-page SEO Online
Video
Slide Share
YouTube
Links Content Marketing
Through the many connections social marketing creates, businesses can begin to move from a company-to-buyer marketing model to a peer-to-peer influence model.
What can social media do?
Successful businesses need to learn to leverage social media – for building relationships, listening to the market, promoting content, and influencing buyers even before they’re identified as potential leads. You have to do more than social media; you have to do social marketing.
You don’t go on a first date and propose, similarly in business
your target audience wants to get to know you before making a
commitment.
Advice
Why it works
Social is the perfect platform for creating those valuable business relationships that promote sharing and engagement.
Active Prospects
Opinions
White Papers
Thought Leadership Debate
Target Audience
Guide
The Don’ts…
Don’t leap straight into social media marketing unless you’ve got a definite plan. You need objectives, goals and ways to measure success and accountability. Don’t use social media exclusively to sell. Know the difference between becoming a thought leader and endless self-promotion. Don’t be afraid to try social media because it doesn’t fit into traditional marketing techniques. Don't be afraid of social media because the ROI will be challenging. There are ways to measure impact if you have a baseline to start with.
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The Don’ts…
Don’t use your social media sites for purely advertising. Your social sites can be utilised to showcase your company culture, such as charity events, which generate subtle brand awareness. Don’t assume every social media site will be relevant for your business, find out where you can find your target audience online Don’t create your social sites and think that’s it. You need to create an online presence, that engages your target audience. Don't wait for your target audience to come to you, find out where they are interacting online, focus on relationship building and share your content, advice tips and knowledge.
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Why engage?
73% of consumers prefer to get their information about an organization in articles rather than advertisements. That means it’s more important than ever to include custom content in your overall marketing mix. Generating compelling searchable content that people want to consume can help drive traffic to your website, attract and retain a dedicated following, and greatly increase brand awareness.
What to discuss
Follow industry experts A great way to get ideas on what content you should be creating is to follow experts and influencers on Twitter. By tracking these tweets, you can determine what people are talking about and create content around those themes. Identify appropriate blogs, which are discussing topical issues. You can usually find independent bloggers within online media and specific industry bodies.
Keep it relevant
Keeping up-to-date Linkedin Today makes it easy to stay up to date with the most popular news, blogs, and articles relevant to your business. Think of it as your interactive real-time morning paper. What shows up in your feed is generated directly from the network you’re connected to, bringing you the most relevant news about the industries and topics based on the industries and sources you find most valuable. Checking in to Linkedin Today can spark a wealth of content ideas based around trends and hot topics relevant to your industry.
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