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Is Social Media Marketing Right For My Business?

September 2, 2010 By InternetMarketingStrategyforMen Leave a Comment

When radio stations first went on the air, people were introduced to a new media for their entertainment, such as movies, magazines, television and the Internet. It did not take long for companies to realize the potential of what is now called “traditional media marketing” to generate brand exposure. For at least half of the past decade, people have been using social networking sites and reading blogs for entertainment. Recently, companies started realizing the unique potential of advertising in social media. In fact, not too long ago, “social media marketing” became a coined phrase according to Google Trends. In 2009, the phrase’s popularity has already grown 4 times faster than it did all of last year.

There is something different about social media marketing though; communicating through social media is extremely cost-efficient and the process involves far fewer steps than other forms of advertising. Both a commercial on television and a blog written by your company have the potential to reach audiences globally at the same time. At the speed that social media marketing is becoming a social norm for companies, in the near future, it will be common for most companies to be involved in some sort of social media. Today, if a company is operating without an e-mail address or a Web site, they seem out of touch. Soon we can expect the same for companies who choose not to participate in social media. There are many pros and cons to social media. The following is a list of pros and cons to help your company determine if social media is right for you. The pros

Social media marketing helps improve the relevancy and organic search engine results of your company’s brand. Your company can reach target audiences that traditional marketing cannot. Social media marketing has become one of the simplest ways to humanize your company, while at the same time generating brand loyalty. Creates client interaction, making it easier to tailor your products and services to your customers by listening to their needs and concerns. Offers another way to learn more about your target audience and gain new target audience prospects. Social media marketing is extremely cost-efficient (even when outsourced to a marketing agency) when compared to traditional media marketing. Adds transparency to your company, offering consumers an open perspective of your business.

The Cons

Social Media Marketing demands commitment; once you have an audience, it is up to you to cultivate them and keep them interested. With the aspect of transparency, anything you publish is open to the public. Without the ability to repress reader’s comments you are open for potential scrutiny. ROI is delayed most of the time. Social media is viral, but it still takes time. This is something that should be thought of as a long term marketing effort when deciding if your company should engage in social media.

With all of that being said, simply publishing a Facebook Fan Page and posting a few random tweets about your company isn’t going to get your company the viral exposure for which you’d hope. Before beginning your social media marketing campaign, you need to formulate a plan, choose your target audience, decide what each social network will address and set your goals. One of your goals should be to spread knowledge about your company and your industry, the kind of knowledge that your followers will feel inclined to spread to their friends. For examples of social media efforts you can view Agency Creative’s social media links below:
http://www.facebook.com/AgencyCreative
http://www.twitter.com/AgencyCreative

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Online Marketing – 9 Out Of 10 Business Have Little Or No Idea How To Do It.

September 2, 2010 By InternetMarketingStrategyforMen Leave a Comment

The internet is growing by leaps and bounds globally, yet most businesses (nine out of ten) especially offline businesses are totally ignorant or not proficient about online marketing.

How crucial is it to know about Online Marketing? Consider the following:

• 50% of all offline purchases are now preceded by an online search based on a Pew Study.
• Online Marketing is the fastest growing form of advertising, period.
• If your business is not marketing online, you’re already loosing thousands to your competition.
• 9 out of 10 businesses have little or no idea how to market online.
• The learning curve in online marketing is huge and can cost you a fortune if you don’t know

Companies that are providing Online Marketing Training Solutions are now filling this tremendous need.

”The business world desperately needs to catch up to consumers in terms of the use of the internet”, Craig Garcia, one of the founders of Promo Black Box and President of EDC Gold) stated recently during one of the Promo Black Box live webinars he hosts with Bob Cerfail, President of In Touch Media Group four times a week.

Even companies like Microsoft was blindsided by the internet and realized that their own long term survival depends on butting heads with the likes of MSN, Yahoo, Google, and Ask.com in the online marketing arena.

”And it’s not just about Search either, just think about all the social networks. Who would have thought that You Tube and Myspace and other social network sites were a place for corporations to advertise on? Even I had to join the party says Peter Grundner and I’m amazed at the results”

The Question becomes. Can a company that does not take online marketing serious survive? The answer is a clear NO. Take the Pew Study that suggests that 50% of even offline purchases are preceded by an online search, so even companies that serve a local market will be affected greatly.

The use of the internet will only grow and consumers will lead the way to take advantage of all of the unique advantages that the World Wide Web has to offer. For any business to survive it must follow their lead now.

But where can a business turn for help in catching up? There are a plethora of e-books, all promising to be your ultimate solution, but frankly, most of rather watch a video.

The great thing about online publishers and teaching sites is that, like the Internet itself, they are nimble and can tweak content continually to ensure delivery of the latest secrets such as Promo Black Box webinars,” says Peter Grundner, founder of How2SucceedOnline.net and agent for Promo Black Box. “Whether you’re a ‘visual’ or ‘auditory’ learner, live webinars with a good teacher are the best way to absorb the information – and absorb it rapidly.”

Webinars are unique in that you hear a person explaining various points, but at the same time you see their computer screen and can watch as he navigates around to different websites, circles various problems or placements, and highlights current advertisers’ mistakes and victories.

The article is brought to you by P&T Enterprises.
For more information please visit how2succeedonline.net and mypromoblackbox.net

Peter Grundner, a top advertising and marketing professional for over 20 years and founder of http://www.how2succeedonline.net & http://www.myedconline.com

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What is the True Value of Social Media Marketing?

September 1, 2010 By InternetMarketingStrategyforMen Leave a Comment

What exactly is social media marketing?

” SMM combines the goals of internet marketing with social media sites such as Digg, Flickr, MySpace, YouTube and many others. The SMM goals will be different for every business or organization, however most will involve some form of viral marketing to build idea or brand awareness, increase visibility, and possibly sell a product or service. SMM may also include online reputation management. Most online communities don’t welcome traditional direct or hard sell techniques so an effective SMM campaign will require more finesse to execute properly. SMM campaigns must be targeted to the community you want to reach with a message that appeals to them. Some common ways of achieving this are with authoritative information, entertainment, humor or controversy. “ -Wikipedia 2007

Social media marketing can be thought of an indirect method of marketing your business.  It is a powerful process which utilizes the principles of traditional marketing to programs with social ends that ultimately promotes your business through social media channels. Social media marketing is the new wave of online marketing and might be considered an indirect method of marketing.  Traditional marketing focuses on immediate sales and gets right to the point.  This is who we are, this is what we do, this is why you should buy our product or service, now buy it. The length of traditional sales cycles vary within industries but the goal is always the same – close that sale.  Social media marketing has the same goal but the means to the end are very different.  It is generally frowned upon to try to do sell your product or service on industry forum sites, for example.  Those forums are in place for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and networking.  Most forums have a separate advertising section where businesses can pay for advertising. The idea behind participating in forums is to establish yourself as your industry expert.  Sharing your knowledge and learning from those in the same industry or your target market results in exposure for you and your business.  If you provide helpful information, make constructive comments and ask appropriate questions, you will be offering value to potential customers and they will, eventually, come to look for more value from you.  Naturally, your ultimate value is in the product or service you are trying to sell.  The inherent problem with social media marketing is that it takes a lot of time and effort to achieve the eventual desired result – that being the sale.  Many business owners either don’t have the time to devote to something that does not provide immediate desired results (the delayed gratification theory) or they are resisting utilizing the powerful social media marketing available options specifically because of its indirect approach to sales and the time it takes to see results.

Social media marketing is really no different than social networking off the internet.  When you attend a trade show or a company event, you are networking in a social environment with the desired result being to increase your customer base.  Companies that sponsor golf outings, company picnics and other social events, often invite employees, customers and potential customers.  What do these three groups of people do at these events?  They socialize and network.  Although some may develop friendships at such events, the main reason for and ultimate goal of such events is to increase the bottom line – meaning the company’s profits.  The Internet offers massive sources for networking through blogs, forums, communities and of course the immense number of social networking sites like Facebook, Bebo, Dzone, Gather, Ryze, Squidoo, Tagged, Xing and many,  many more.  The networking concept is the same; the platforms are exponentially greater and different.  The vast number of sites can be overwhelming (http://traffikd.com/social-media-websites/), so it is a good idea to focus your social networking on sites that are specific to your industry as well as some of the larger, widely used generic sites like Facebook, Plaxo, Linkedin, etc.  I prefer to use the sites that are more business-oriented like Linkedin and Plaxo – but that is a personal preference.  To me, my Facebook profile has information and photos that are more appropriate for friends and family than business associates, but there are those who don’t agree.  Again, that is a matter of personal preference. 

For discussion purposes, let’s consider traditional (or direct) marketing to be a one way communication channel and social media marketing to be a two-way communication channel. In traditional marketing, a business might send you a direct mailer, an email, or you might see an advertisement in a magazine.  These types of marketing campaigns cost the business a whole lot of money and don’t always result in large volumes of sales.  Now consider participating in two-way conversations on forums, blogs and other social networking sites.  You, as a representative of your business, are engaging in “conversations” with your prospective clients and hopefully providing valuable content (content is King in social media marketing).  Over time, you and your business will become more visible (as you increase your online presence), your reputation and value will increase and in time, your prospective clients will know who you are, the value in what you are selling and where to find you. 

I always like to put myself in the other person’s shoes to understand where they are coming from.  I don’t purchase anything before going on the Internet to find everything I can about the product or service I am considering buying.  I read the reviews as well as what is being said about the competitive product or service. This being said, why would I expect anyone else to not do the same?  If you think about social media marketing in these terms, its value, albeit a time-consuming process, may become more apparent to you.

It is important to keep in mind that social networks consist of loyal and engaging large audiences. Social media marketing can greatly benefit any business as it compliments your brand (an incredibly important topic in its own right), business and online profile.  However, social media marketing takes time and serious dedication but the ultimate return you will receive will be well worth the time spent.

Whether or not a business owner embraces the value of social media marketing, there is no escaping the fact that the Internet is the new frontier for marketing.  Social media has taken on a life of its own and if you have not jumped on the bandwagon, you are missing the boat.  Social media marketing can greatly benefit any business as it compliments your brand, business and online profile. 

Julie Weishaar is a highly qualified marketing professional with 10+ years in marketing communications, branding, event planning, public relations and Internet marketing.

http://www.newhorizons123.com

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Who Should Manage Your Social Media Marketing?

August 31, 2010 By InternetMarketingStrategyforMen Leave a Comment

In the light of the soaring popularity of Facebook and Twitter with consumers, most businesses know they had better get involved. In fact, we have moved past the early days of questions challenging the validity of social media as a marketing medium — it’s for real folks. Now the question on everyone’s mind is “Who.”

As in, “Who should manage our social media marketing?”

And almost before they have finished the question, 10-20 “social media experts” will chime in with the answer (while possibly raising their hands):

“Ooohhh, ooohhh, pick me! Let me do it!”

In fact that is just the kind of thing giving social media consulting a bad name right now. Just as there were a lot of hacks in Web site design 10 years ago and a lot of overnight SEO experts 5 years ago, today there seems to be a proliferation of “Social Media Consultants.”  A recent USA Today poll revealed that there are more Social Media Consultants in the United States than there are Republicans. And last weekend I was driving through rural Ohio and saw an interesting image: http://is.gd/5imkV. A small bait shop operating out of a trailer and offering “storm doors, live bait and social media consulting.”

In an effort to help wade through the many options of social media consulting, I spoke with some respected social media folks and got their take on the question: “Who Should Manage Your Social Media?” Are you hoping for a simple answer? Sorry, there are 4 firmly entrenched camps on this one.

1. Your Public Relations Firm Should -

I have a bit of a bias here. In the 90s, I left Bowling Green with my newly minted Public Relations degree and started working at a dot com startup in the energy industry. I thought it would be a good idea to pitch people on Geocities who wrote about energy topics to get them to cover what we were doing at Energy.com. No one called it social media marketing then, it was just applying public relations and media relations skills to the Internet. I have had both Internet marketing gurus and public relations experts tell me that your PR firm should not be in social media and that the two tactics are fundamentally different.

I disagree.

In both media relations and social media communications, your PR firm is working to influence an influencer to say good things to an audience. I asked a highly regarded social media influencer and PR pro about this. Here is what they told me:

“Working with an established agency for social media strategy makes sense because of the talent, expertise and resources we can bring to the table. For example, we have tools and relationships with vendors that a solo practitioner or smaller agency simply wouldn’t have access to. We also surround each client with the best minds for the job, bringing together a good mix of senior and junior staffers for ongoing brainstorms. An agency with a strong reputation for great ideas, client service and results-driven, award-winning campaigns is also in the best position to attract, recruit and retain the very best talent from around the country. Ultimately, whether you’re talking about traditional PR or social media and PR2.0, it’s all about the people.”

2. Your SEO Firm Should -

After all, it all is about online traffic and search engine rankings, right? At least, that is what a lot of SEOs will tell you. And to a large degree this holds water. A strong social media presence means credible and diverse in bound links, which is great for search rankings. That being said, I do find that some SEO companies view social media with the same analytical eye they use in writing title tags and miss the human aspect. I would argue that social media is about human relations and has a secondary benefit with search engines, not the other way around.

3. A Specialized Consultant Should -

In Columbus, Ohio there is a guy named Bob. He works for a used car salesman. Recently, Bob was laid off from the car lot, heard a story on NPR about Facebook and is now a social media consultant? Beware of Bob.

With a careful eye and some background research, you’ll find there are some great consultants focusing on social media who have proven their worth. In Columbus, Ohio there is a guy named Lewis Howes who is the man when it comes to LinkedIn. You would have no trouble finding a whole lot of people who would endorse his work. I asked Lewis why his clients like him so much, he explained:

“The reason individuals should work with a specialized consultant with regards to using LinkedIn is because the opportunity cost for learning how to effectively use the networking tool to achieve your professional goals is much greater when one spends hours watching video tutorials, reading blogs, and going through the etiquette mistakes of not knowing how to contact others, or become actively involved.  Using a specialized consultant will be more beneficial because they can work with you on a personal level and provide specific instructions on how to achieve your goals.  An individual also usually charges less than a larger firm, and is usually more personal.”

My advice in working with an individual consultant? Check references and look at their past employment history. Having 1,000 followers on Twitter doesn’t mean a person can help your company build a social media communications plan.

4. You Should -

A growing number of people in the Internet marketing world are stressing the idea that the best person to manage the social media interaction and marketing efforts for your company and brand is YOU.

Grassroots social media efforts work well for brands with limited budgets, those who may have complex business models, or those with rules and regulations that prevent them from implementing and executing large scale strategies and tactics.  It boils down to having the right people within your organization who are passionate about building relationships and educated about doing so in the online space.  After all, your customers are doing business with your people first and foremost, not your logo.  

These employees are going to intimately know your business inside and out as well as who your customers are and what they expect from you.  Consider the ramp up time and monetary resources it would take to bring a large PR agency or independent consultant on board to learn about your business and your customers.  To put it into perspective, think about what it takes to do this with a brand new employee.  It’s a very similar process.

Bill Balderaz is the president and founder of Webbed Marketing, an Internet marketing and social media marketing firm with more than 40 clients world-wide, including several Fortune 500 companies. Prior to founding Webbed Marketing, Bill worked with some of the largest publishers in the world, including Standard and Poors, McGraw-Hill and Thomson Gale.

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Go Mobile! Take Your Social Media Marketing Efforts to a Higher Level

August 30, 2010 By InternetMarketingStrategyforMen Leave a Comment

By now, most businesses know how vital social media marketing is for their bottom line. From keeping a pulse on your customers’ experience to branding your company to promoting your products and services, social media marketing allows you to do so much for so little.

Yet, one of the main complaints businesses cite about staying on top of their social media marketing efforts is the time involved to do so. They feel that someone has to be tied to the computer 24/7 to make the effort effective. Fortunately, with today’s mobile applications and technology, social media marketing is being reborn as a mobile experience – a mobile social media marketing initiative, so to speak.

As more people realize and embrace the fact that social media marketing is a real time experience rather than a “wait till I get to my computer” experience, they’re taking advantage of the processing power today’s mobile phones have to offer. So while real time does mean you have to have your computer with you at all times, that computer is now your cell phone, not your laptop or desktop.

Why should businesses focus on mobile social media marketing? Consider this: Right now around the world, 1.1 billion people use the internet, 1.4 billion people watch television, and 2.2 billion people use mobile phones. So if we look at the power of social media going mobile, we quickly see that it has the potential to be more powerful than television watching, simply because it’s interactive and with you at all times.

The Driving Forces

Both technology and people are driving the prevalence of mobile social media. One of the basic human needs since the dawn of time is to connect with others. Additionally, today’s increased processing power, bandwidth, and storage available on mobile devices enables people to have better audio and video capability on their phones. This means people can communicate with their phone more effectively, in a way that goes beyond your basic phone call. And any time technology allows you to communicate and connect better, you have a revolution. From smoke signals to telegraphs to telephones to cell phones to the mobile social media, all are evolutions that cause revolutions.

Other driving factors include globalization and localization. Globalization means you can now connect to the world with your phone. You don’t need a laptop or a television to see news feeds from around the world. At the same time, it’s local. You have access to local events and happenings. With permission, you can see where your friends or employees are at any given time. So your phone can deliver much more than just weather forecasts; you can also know what’s going on around you at all times.

The Case for Mobile Social Media

Because the phone was designed for two-way communication and social media marketing is a two-way dialogue, it’s a natural extension to have cell phone applications for mobile social media – programs for your cell phone that allow you to view and post to various social media sites.

With mobile social media, we’re no longer just sharing information; we’re disseminating knowledge in an organized way, getting feedback, and gaining additional knowledge to help us grow. Between text messages, tweets, blogs, and other social media posts, we’re seeing a shift in how people discover, read, and share news, information, and content. We’re learning information in real time before the evening news or morning paper reports it.

If your company is using social media marketing but has not yet gone mobile with it, you must do so right away. Here’s why:

It expands your internet footprint. You can only monitor and respond to so many Facebook, Twitter, and other social media posts from your desk. However, when you can post from your phone, you can say what’s on your mind whenever you want. As such, you expand your internet footprint and make it easier for prospects to find you. It improves your search engine rankings. Each post you put out on the social media networks points back to you or your company. That increases your listings on search engine results. So where you might have been listed 1,000 times, you’re now listed 3,000 times. It establishes you as the expert. When you can post your information and ideas at any time, it will happen more often, which builds your reputation and credibility. It improves communication and feedback. Many companies are monitoring people’s tweets on Twitter and posts on Facebook. If they notice people who have problems with their company, products, or services, they find out about it right away and make changes in real time. This, in turn, builds positive relationships with customers. It drives a steady stream of prospects to your business. All of the social media sites are becoming business friendly, enabling you to create a business-oriented presence. As they’re becoming more business friendly, they’re going to be very mobile friendly. It’s the next iteration. It fuels content generation. Because you’re micro-blogging and doing Facebook entries, you’re creating content and getting it out there. And since content is king these days, you definitely need a way to keep your information flowing into your prospects’ and customers’ hands. It supports decision-making. You can make better decisions if you’re monitoring what’s going on in social media about your industry, marketplace, etc. And when you get these updates directly to your phone, you don’t have to wait until Monday morning when you get to your office to make a big decision. You can make it and implement it in real time.

Go Mobile Today

In short, the mobile era takes all the benefits of social media marketing and puts them in your hands at all times. It also frees you from your computer so you have more time for other activities.

As the business world evolves, our ways of communicating with prospects and customers must evolve too. Remember, it used to be about distributing content; now it’s about getting people’s attention and engaging with them. It used to be about gaining shelf space; now it’s about gaining mind share. It used to be about mass marketing; now it’s about niche marketing. It used to be about trying to control your customers; now it’s about using influence and reputation to generate desired results. When you incorporate your mobile device as a key way to achieve your business objectives and attain these benefits, you open your company up to a whole new world of sales and profits.

Daniel Burrus is one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and business strategists, and is the author of six books, including the highly acclaimed Technotrends, which has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He is the founder and CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in science and technology-driven trends to help clients better understand how technological, social and business forces are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities.

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Social Media Marketing Now Required for Business Growth

August 29, 2010 By InternetMarketingStrategyforMen Leave a Comment

Social media interaction can mean different things to businesses.  Some choose to use the platform for customer service and to announce news.  Others want to focus on things like:  building brand loyalty, networking, getting feedback, or deepening relationships.  While the ultimate (social marketing) goal is to do more business, social media is not about directly selling a product or service.

Whatever focus the business chooses for social media, it is all about engagement:  online conversations with people who are interested in some way about the product or service the business represents.  What is important is to learn how to communicate with people inside the places they hang out online.

From Twitter to Facebook or youtube, to bookmarking communities or industry specific groups, there are many places to find prospective customers.  The key point to understand is that social media is about being social, engaging in conversation, and providing value.

Today, people want to find more information about products and services they are considering to buy because there is more of it available to access than ever before.  They want to talk to other people in social sites they belong to about products or services they are interested in and get feedback from these people they trust, and they even want to connect directly with company personnel.

All of this is available today because of social media.  CEO’s are blogging and have Twitter accounts.  Companies have staff participating in conversation in social sites, some all day long.  In fact, every day that a company or business does not participate in social media, is another day that their competition, national or local, gets ahead of them.

It is not enough to have a web site.  A social media presence is becoming a requirement.  Part of the decision to start a social media system must include a commitment to be active with it.  It won’t be effective if it is set up and forgotten.

Social media also includes blogs that are active with new posts and comments.  Blogs, and forums also, exist for every market or industry and are great places that businesses can go to engage with people who have similar interests and to use them as a tool to gather a social following for their business.

This is accomplished by participating in the conversation in these blogs and forums, being helpful by providing answers to questions and being part of the conversation.  Each reply that is made contains a link back to the business website where people can go and begin to track what the business is doing.

When trying to understand the scope of social media, there are three types of destination sites:  content sharing, content publishing, and social networking.  Note the first two are centered around developing and syndicating the content, and the third involves people talking about the content.  Valuable content is the only kind that will be rewarded with referrals and loyalty.

Businesses have taken notice of the explosive growth and influence of social media.  There are daily success stories (just Google to find them).  By participating in social engagement with the goal to ‘give’ and not to ‘sell’, companies and brands who are active with social media efforts are reporting very successful results.

Let’s get back to the original question posted:  Why should a business have a social media marketing system in place?  One of the most prominent reasons would be that, even though social media is not about selling, it does give a business the opportunity to reach a target audience that are potential buyers or re-buyers of their product or service.

Another important consideration is in regard to the other way that people look for a business online:  through the search engines.  Part of social media involves maintaining a website that gets updated with new content often.  Search engines reward that.  Also, search engines Google are now giving the social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, bookmarking sites and others, first page listings.

A social media system should also be integrated with the business’s overall marketing and communication strategies because they can promote each other.  Offline advertising can point viewers to the online presence, and the social ‘word of mouth’ component in communities online can spread quickly and become very powerful in many places both online and offline.

The bottom line is that social media marketing has benefits that can no longer be ignored.  First page listings of a business website, or its blog or social site, in Google and other search engines can bring lots of new visitors to a business website.  Social engagement within a social media system is already proven, and is the marketing of the present and the future.

It is worth repeating the fact that social media is primarily about engaging with people through content the business provides (written, audio, video), giving value to the conversations taking place online, and not contain a sales pitch.  Content that educates, enlightens, or entertains, will lead people to what the business represents.

Giving someone a reason to want to hear more from the business (valuable content), making it easy for them to find the business, building their trust and loyalty, and ‘caring’ – can deliver massive success to a social media marketing system.

We can help you participate in social media by evaluating your business website along with your goals for engaging with prospects and customers online.  A social media marketing system will be developed for your business by a team that knows and understands how social media can help you grow.  To learn more, visit http://yourwebsitemarketingservice.com.

YourWebSiteMarketingService.com

We can help you participate in social media by evaluating your business website along with your goals for engaging with prospects and customers online. A social media marketing system will be developed for your business by a team that knows and understands how social media can help you grow. To learn more, visit http://yourwebsitemarketingservice.com.

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Effective small business social media marketing strategies

August 28, 2010 By InternetMarketingStrategyforMen Leave a Comment

Social media marketing has proved its worth for all kinds of businesses around the world. Social media marketing is done with the help of social networks like Orkut, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. The social media marketing is one discipline of marketing which is gaining popularity amongst media marketers around the world with every passing day. The various advantages of social media marketing strategies have made them even more popular amongst the small businesses.

The very first advantage of a social media marketing strategy which attracts small businesses towards it is its budget-friendly nature. Social media marketing strategies are cost-effective and suit the budgets of all kinds of businesses. Social media marketing campaign is cheap to prepare and very cost-effective to execute. Some of the social media marketing tools are available even free of cost, and the others are available for a price much less than any of the traditional media mark©”? Autols. This ad?/a> of so%CQ?fww.r3Fng.ia marketing strategies has made them extremely? N?idt amongst the small businesses with li?oughvertising budget across the globe.

The second advantage that makes social media marketing a crucial ingredient for advertising campaign is its extensive reach. The social media marketing is capable of targeting a wide base of target audience in one go. It means that a social media marketing campaign can reach millions of users on the social networks with the click of the mouse. The social media marketer can convey the message of the advertiser within the spur of the moment. Therefore, the small businesses can promote their products oer services on a very large scale with the help of social media marketing strategies.

Small businesses usually face a major drawback of trackability of media marketing campaigns. Because of their limited budget, small businesses do not have much scope for tracking the responses of the customers. But with social media marketing strategies, the problem of trackability is solved within almost no time. The small businesses can track the responses of their customers with the help of certain software in just a few moments. Therefore, effective social media marketing strategies are very effective with small businesses.

WebTotal delivers creative and innovative internet marketing solutions that provide real and measurable business outcome in partnership with our clients.

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Social Media Marketing: What Is It?

August 27, 2010 By InternetMarketingStrategyforMen Leave a Comment

Social media marketing is marketing through social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Flickr, and YouTube. Social media marketing has the ability to interact much more personally and dynamically than traditional marketing.
 
Social media marketing is used to promote products and services. It can also do a great deal of good if it is used appropriately to boost brand awareness and overall visibility on the internet. Enhancing and retaining a business’ reputation can effectively be done through social media marketing.
 
Social media is the term for a collective group of web properties whose content is mostly published by users. It has 3 essential aspects:
Creating a buzz or news worthy events that attract attention. The buzz is the part that makes social media marketing succeed. The message is replicated through user contact, not through paid advertising.
Building ways for fans of a company or brand to promote that company or brand in multiple online media venues.
Having conversations. Social media marketing is not controlled by the organization; users are allowed to participate and hold discussions.

In addition to marketing through social media sites, there are many specialized social sites that might be the perfect venue for specific products. Social media sites give the marketer a place to spread the word and to interact with customers as well as allowing customers to interact with each other.
 
That can be a great jumping off point to go viral and establish a grassroots effort. Viral marketing is an effective internet technique that is very closely tied to social media marketing. It is a promotional concept where people fans voluntarily add to the marketing campaign by spreading your message simply because they believe in your goods and services.
 
Social media brings people together. The sites are separated into groups, according to people’s interests and the way in which they use the social site/tool. The social media groups might have the same subject focus as your business and may be used to facilitate the process of getting visitors interested in your goods and services and subsequently turning the visitors into potential customers, and eventually, customers.
 
The purpose of social media marketing is not only to draw traffic and attention to your website, it is also to promote and spread ideas among your target audiences. You can use social media marketing to stimulate feelings and goodwill connected to a specific event, business, or website.
 
Social media marketing is a methodologic and strategic strategy of establishing your reputation, brand, and influence within communities of supporters, readers, and potential customers.
 
Is it worth spending so much time on social media marketing? Definitely.  Your success on the Internet is primarily based on one thing, the visibility of your website. Increasing the visibility of your website using social media marketing and SEO will give you more exposure and build your well-known Internet identity more effectively than just merely advertising your website.
 
Will social media marketing improve your search engine ranking? Absolutely. Social media marketing increases the accessibility to your website. Linking to relevant websites or higher ranked pages will not only bring more visitors but also improve the quality of visitors who visit your website.
 
Your social media marketing strategy, when planned perfectly, will overwhelmingly increase your visibility and exposure on the internet.

Michael Cohn is the founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of CompuKol Communications, a consulting company specializing in developing communication strategies for small businesses that require expertise in promoting a unique business voice and vision on the Internet.

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Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies for Pharmaceutical Market

August 25, 2010 By InternetMarketingStrategyforMen Leave a Comment

Increasing number of web users’ world wide (1.8 billion), development and popularity of web based community sites (Twitter, Facebook), tools and information centers (branded & unbranded sponsored communities) are changing approach towards Pharma and healthcare marketing and information sharing. In pharma industry social media has emerged as an effective tool for marketing, consumer engagement, monitoring & analyzing user generated content and building & changing brand perception. Social media is emerging as a strategic shift in organizations communication and operation model. Top pharmaceutical market players have started integrating social media in to their marketing mix. The effective social media marketing strategies that can help generate business exposure, market research data, relationship building and thus can prove as an important initiative to boom sales and overall business in the long term.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
1.1. Key Take Away
1.2. Report Description
1.3. Stakeholders
1.4. Research Methodology
2. Summary
3. Market Overview
3.1. Emerging Role of Internet in healthcare
3.1.1. Web 1 tools to Web 2 tools
3.1.2. Social Media Evolution
3.1.3. Conventional Media vs. Social Media
3.2. Social Media and New Technologies
3.3. Social media as a strategic shift in communication choices
3.4. ROI Analysis of using Social Media
4. Key Social Media (SM) Tools
4.1. Types of social media platforms
4.1.1. Twitter
4.1.2. Facebook
4.1.3. You tube
4.1.4. Blogs
4.1.5. Brand sponsored communities
4.1.6. Forums
4.1.7. Podcasts
4.1.8. Others
4.2. Comparative study
5. Effective Social Media Strategies / Tactics
5.1. Determine the right social media mix
5.1.1. Identify the social platform based on the target audience and goals
5.1.2. Use multiple tools
5.2. Enlarge the targeted segment
5.2.1. Reach the right people both in small and large social platforms
5.2.2. Generate more traffic to social platform
5.2.3. Trigger the conversation to analyze the business opportunity
5.3. Integrate the consumer in to business
5.3.1. Involvement in product testing
5.3.2. Effective Listening and  Monitoring of Online Social Media
5.3.3. Respond to consumers needs and preferences
5.4. Building & Engaging Consumer Communities
5.4.1. Create the collaborative tools such as forums, online surveys for the consumers
5.4.2. Disclose the identity to gain trust
5.4.3. Responding quickly to criticism and answer the comments
5.5. Build and Change brand perception when required
5.5.1. Replay offline campaigns on the social platforms
5.5.2. Announce the upcoming events and trigger the conversations
5.5.3. Engage users to buzz
5.5.4. Online Video distribution related to the product description
5.5.5. Build trust with consumers before providing influential information
5.6. Polices related to communication on social platform
5.6.1. Determine the speakers communicating on the social platforms on the behalf of product and service provider
5.6.2. Post the relevant content at the right time
5.6.3. Balance engaging communication vs. advertising communication
6. Benefits and Risk Analysis of Social Media in Healthcare Industry
6.1. Benefit Analysis
6.1.1. Marketing and Sales
6.1.1.1. SEO/SEMC vs. Social Media
6.1.1.2. Conventional Marketing vs. Social Media
6.1.1.3. Business exposure and generation
6.1.2. Consumer Relationship Management
6.1.2.1. Consumer Communication
6.1.2.2. Public Relations
6.1.2.3. Consumer feedback and satisfaction
6.1.3. Recruitment
6.1.4. Clinical Trials
6.1.5. Treatment and Rx Decisions
6.1.6. Enhancing Health Awareness
6.2. Risk Analysis
6.2.1. Intellectual Property Concerns
6.2.2. Privacy and Security Issues
6.2.3. Accountability
6.2.4. Content Validation
6.2.5. Regulatory and legal risk management
6.2.6. Criticism Management
7. Impact Analysis of Social Media on Healthcare Stakeholders
7.1. Stakeholder analysis
7.1.1. Pharmaceutical Companies
7.1.2. Biotech Companies
7.1.3. Life Sciences Companies
7.1.4. Health Insurance Providers
7.1.5. Health related Government bodies
7.1.6. Hospitals
7.1.7. Health professionals
7.1.8. Patients/Consumers/Consumers
7.2. Effective strategies for different stakeholders
8. Geographical Analysis of use Social Media in Healthcare Industry
8.1. US
8.1.1. Total Internet Connections and users
8.1.2. Social Platform traffic
8.1.3. Infrastructure development
8.1.4. Regulatory environment
8.2. Europe
8.2.1. Total Internet Connections and users
8.2.2. Social Platform traffic
8.2.3. Infrastructure development
8.2.4. Regulatory environment
8.3. Asia
8.3.1. Total Internet Connections and users
8.3.2. Social Platform traffic
8.3.3. Infrastructure development
8.3.4. Regulatory environment
9. Future Impact of Social media on healthcare/pharmaceutical industry
9.1. Increase in social engagement of healthcare professionals and companies with the consumers
9.2. Consumer engagement in business development
9.3. Reinvention of  marketing and sales strategies
9.4. Innovation in products and services
9.5. Dwindling sales force
9.6. Enhance business operational efficiencies

10. Case Studies
10.1. J&J
10.2. GSK
10.3. Bayer
10.4. Sanofi-Aventis
10.5. Novartis
10.6. Astra-Zeneca US
10.7. BMS
10.8. Roche
10.9. Pfizer
10.10. Boehringer Ingelheim
10.11. Merck
10.12. UCB
10.13. Novo Nordisk
10.14. Life Technologies
10.15. R&D Systems
10.16. FDA
10.17. CDC
10.18. Kaiser Permanente
11. Company profiles of key market players in social media
11.1. Siren Interactive
11.2. Saatchi and Saatchi Wellness
11.3. Transmission Content + Creative
11.4. Intouch Solutions Inc.
11.5. Fleishman-Hillard Digital
11.6. Others

MarketsandMarkets is a research and consulting firm that publishes 120 market research reports per year. MarketsandMarkets announce to have Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies for Pharmaceutical Market Research Report in its store. Browse all our market research reports at MarketsandMarkets.com

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