Social Media: Marketing Considerations for Small Business

It’s clear that social media marketing has grown dramatically during the last few years and that with more than 800 million active users, the quantity of Facebook users is easily more than twice the size of the complete population of the United States!

Personal Development has been astronomical and today, thousands of people are posting more personal and business information online than ever before. It’s happening at lightning speed with a large number of posts, tweets and uploads occurring every hour.

Recent research conducted by the Australian Interactive Media Industry Association (AIMIA) commissioned by Sensis Pty Ltd (May 2011, p. 10) indicates, that “62% of Australian Internet users use a variety of social media sites, with many visiting each day and most at least a few times a week.” It’s no real surprise that with the millions of prospective customers from all over the world using these sites, every day, that so many businesses have decided to include social media marketing into their marketing mix. However it also important to get an understanding of how these sites are increasingly being used and what’s involved in maintaining or resourcing your organization presence on these sites. Your online footprint can stick around for a long period so don’t underestimate how this may affect the perception of your brand in the market place. Spend time upfront thinking about whether social media is right for the business.

1. Seek first to comprehend – It is very important that you understand the basics of how is social media really works and how it’s used. What are people and businesses doing with social media marketing? What gets them results? Some of you may be thinking, how do you do this? Perchance you could consider trying it out for yourself by setting up an individual account, then testing some of the features, or get yourself a trusted friend to show you their account and guide you through. Alternatively there are so many resources and ‘how to’ items online about social media marketing, you could run a explore Google or on YouTube on a specific topic of interest and watch the video tutorials to obtain informed.

2. Understand your purpose – What’s your purpose is for using social media marketing? What do you hope to achieve for your business by using it? It’s really essential that you identify your purpose for getting involved in social media marketing (or any marketing activity for that matter). You need to work out why you are engaging. What do you be prepared to achieve? Do you simply want to build brand awareness, build relationships your customers or identify new sales opportunities? Remember to be realistic about what you believe you will be able to achieve.

3. If you decide to take part in social media marketing, which sites are best for you personally? – With the plethora of social media sites available, those are best for your business? Consider where your market would socialize online, and think about the period of time and resources you would realistically be able to invest in maintaining and administering your site presence. Those are right for you? You will probably find that some are a better fit than others.

4. Quality Content – In the event that you decide that social media is right for your business, carefully think about the amount and quality of information you want to share in the web sphere. Remember it’ll probably stay there for years, so you need to make sure it accurate and reliable information that’s valuable to your market. It must be relevant, otherwise people won’t read it.