Social Media: The most promising marketing tool

Social media is simply enormous. It is not just one entity, but a conglomerate of different networks that connect people and web content to one another. More than just a way of sharing entertainment with the world, social media is a valuable marketing tool that, when done correctly, can increase your own company’s presence as well as the brand you want to sell. There are four main reasons to use social media as a marketing tool. We are talking about communication, education, collaboration and entertainment. Let us look at each of these in more detail.

Communication

Using social media is all about communicating with customers and establishing a relationship with them. Remember, communication cannot happen unless you initiate the conversation. Simply having a site up and running will do you no good unless you make people aware of it. Use social media and reach out to your customers. Social networking sites allow you to be a proactive communicator, and they allow customers to easily find you.

Education

In online marketing, you want users to know who you are and what it is you do. You also want them to know what it is you are selling and why exactly your customer needs to buy it. Educate them about all of this by using social media sites and tools. Since social media allows more direct communication with users, you should use the opportunity to create effective content to educate them. For example, to do so you can use video, blogging, or pictures.

Collaboration

The ability to use different formats to collaborate with each other is what separates the internet as a marketing medium from other media like print or television. If you have a weekly blog that you maintain, you can embed videos on the page to complement the written material. Perhaps you have a popular article that can be shared on social media networks with the click of a link button. Social media is about connections, but it is the collaboration that makes these connections work.

Entertainment

Depending on the type of company image you want to promote or the product you are trying to sell, this may come as a secondary item of interest. Creating something such as a video or blog that is meant to entertain does have its benefits. Entertainment can create interest in your company or the product you are trying to sell. But first, think about the kind of reputation you want people to know you for. You are going to want to keep an appropriate tone and image, so keep these things in mind if entertainment is an option for your Internet marketing strategy.

Remember, these are not necessarily rules to follow, but guidelines to look at when thinking about how to best design your Internet marketing strategy. You will have to design your strategy and utilize different tools based on your company and the product you are attempting to sell. What is appropriate for one company may not necessarily be appropriate for another company.

You can learn more about the different aspects of internet marketing by reading “Developing an Internet Marketing Strategy” written by The Internet Marketing Academy.