SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING: Marketing Considerations for Small Business

It’s clear that social media has grown dramatically over the last few years and that with an increase of than 800 million active users, the amount of Facebook users is easily more than twice the size of the entire population of america!

Its growth has been astronomical and today, millions of people are posting more personal and business information online than previously. 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 surfers use a variety of social media sites, with many visiting each day and most at least several times a week.” It’s no real surprise that with the an incredible number of prospective customers from all over the world using these sites, each day, that so many businesses have decided to include social media marketing into their marketing mix. However Premium Vacation Packages to get a knowledge of how these sites are 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 can affect the perception of one’s brand in the market place. Spend some time upfront thinking about whether social media marketing is right for the business.

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

2. Understand your purpose – What is your purpose is for using social media? What do you desire to achieve for your business by using it? It’s really important that you identify your purpose for getting involved in social media marketing (or any other marketing activity for example). You need to workout why you are taking part. What do you expect to achieve? Do you simply want to build brand awareness, engage with 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 engage in social media marketing, which sites are best for you personally? – With the plethora of social media marketing sites available, those are best for the business? Consider where your market would socialize online, and take into account the amount of time and resources you’ll realistically be able to commit to maintaining and administering your site presence. Those are right for you? You will probably find that some certainly are a better fit than others.

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