Developing Your Social Marketing Strategy

There are literally hundreds of Social Networking Sites that all claim to be the best for market your business, but how do we chose which one will work best?

From Facebook to Twitter, Delicious, Chalkboard, My Space they all claim the same thing – Global Marketing.
Developing and online brand does not mean that you need to ensure that your business or establishment is featured on every possible blog, forum, social network and website. Your time and money is better spent reaching your targeted audience.

Before you develop your Social Marketing strategy, you need to create a compelling and unique brand identity. In order to do this, you need to consider these three questions:

• What are you offering?
  Does your business or establishment offer a service, or sell goods. Do you rely on return clients? Can your clients rely on you for advice? Can you teach the general public about your line of work? Do you run specials offers and giveaways?

• What makes you unique?
  Why should customers come to you? What can you offer that your competitors do not?
  Are your products of high quality? Are your prices dirt cheap? Do you have a following or do you rely on a constant flow of new clients

• Who are you targeting?
  What type of people use your business? Are your clients high income earners who live in specific areas or are you targeting the young individuals who spread the word to their friends?
  Where do your clients live? What other services do they use? What companies do they work for?
  All of the above will help you develop an online brand and decide where you should concentrate your online marketing.

I have personally found that Twitter is a wonderful tool for developing an online brand to a global audience, especially when you have something informative to say. People will follow your tweets if they are interested in what you have to say.

Facebook is fantastic for developing online relationships. They offer direct marketing with Groups, and allow you to post your specials, products and news.
You can chat with potential clients and send messages to existing clients. “You haven’t paid”, or “Hi John, how was your holiday? Thanks for the great review; may we load it up on our website?”

Please be careful when it comes to direct marketing with your Groups. People will grow tired of your messages if they are sent to often. Once a week is fine and please make sure your message is of value to your group members.

Facebook adverts, if done correctly, can contribute to a large portion of your site visits. These adverts will need to be monitored, and if they are not working well, stop the adverts and move on to another avenue.