The traditional marketing model was to obtain as many eyeballs on your own product or service’s message as possible and hope that a percentage of customers purchase. Yellow pages, radio advertising, direct mail, television commercials, magazine ads, etc.. are types of these traditional advertising methods. These conventional types of marketing are no more 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 found that only 14% of individuals trust ads while 76% of people trust consumer recommendations. Accordingly, more marketers began seeking alternative methods to connect with potential consumers.
Making money online was originally made popular by utilizing Websites and optimizing those sites through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques. While still a worthwhile strategy, SEO has been updated by Blogging platforms 2.0 strategies, such as for example social media marketing. Social media marketing is when companies utilize Blogging platforms 2.0 platforms, such as blogs, social media sites (like Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, Twitter, & YouTube) and other emerging online marketing tools. The benefit 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 create content and businesses are incentivized to communicate with their customers.
The days of broadcasting your product or services message out to the masses and hoping for a response are gone. People don’t want to purchase from nameless, faceless companies. Not merely are consumers paying attention to the ‘man behind the curtain’, however they also wish to know what others are saying about your service or product. Luxury Travel Experiences concluded that 80% of US Internet using moms were influenced by word-of-mouth from family and friends when coming up with a purchase decision. No other media platform allows for small businesses to benefit from consumer word of mouth advertising like social media marketing.
Benefits Of Social Media Marketing
Increased New Customer Acquisitions – The benefit of social media marketing is that you’ll have the opportunity for connecting with networks of potential customers that you would otherwise struggle to come across utilizing other conventional marketing techniques and even SEO.
Word of Mouth Marketing- Referral marketing has always been the most influential way to generate sales. With social media, it is possible to create raving fans who’ll 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 as well as website marketing.
Customer Retention – Web 2 2.0 platforms are the perfect places to talk to your customers about new products, special promotions, or merely to educate them on your business. Through consistent, FREE communication, you can keep your company before your customer’s eyeballs that may in turn lead to repeat business and referrals. Remember, the key to this kind of communication is to be content rich; don’t use these avenues to pitch your product or service.
Rapid Results – The effective and successful implementation of a social media marketing plan will create almost immediate results for your business. This increase could be quantified through increased site traffic, increased lead acquisition, and ultimately increased sales. Unlike radio or TV ads, where your customers disappear once the ads set off air, these web 2 2.0 platform benefits will continue long-term provided that the communication and updating of your social media marketing presence is maintained.