What is Social Media Marketing? An Overview

In the weeks to come, I’ll open up my playbook and share tips & social media marketing strategies. In this first installment my social media marketing blog, I want to begin with an overview of what is possible for businesses utilizing social media marketing on social networks.

Social Media: What is it?

Before getting down & dirty in terminology; let’s quickly review what social media is. In the stone ages of the internet (you know, the late 90s!) websites tended to broadcast information to users. Yes – there was a lot of information available, and almost anyone could create it — but there wasn’t much interaction between those broadcasting information and those at the receiving end. This naturally resulted in the internet being used by businesses to communicate with their customers in a way that was pretty similar to the way they communicated with them offline. As a result websites mirrored billboards, brochures, and commercials.

Fast-forward to today and the advent of web 2.0. Open-source developments, and the exponential growth of internet technology and accessibility has allowed for the creation of two-way platforms. This means that merely broadcasting a message to your customers and potential customers just won’t cut it anymore. Interactive marketing is the name of the game. While some may view this as a challenge – in reality, it’s a tremendous opportunity to connect with your customers! Consult with a social media marketing company and learn about the endless possibilities available to your company for interactive marketing!

Social Media Marketing in Small Bites: Social Networks

While the width and breadth of social media marketing (and the possibilities it creates) is tremendous — let’s begin by breaking-down the top-two social networking sites for businesses wishing to reach a large audience : Facebook and Twitter.  These are two social networks with demographics that are appropriate for most businesses; and also social networks that provide a platform that is suitable for interacting with customers.

Facebook for Business:

Facebook continues its assault on the internet-as-we-knew it. The rapid growth of the site as seen it transition smoothly from mostly college-age users; to the point where most new users are 35 and up! Globally, more than 6 billion minutes a day are spent on the social networking site. 6 Billion! That’s pretty incredible.

More and more businesses are getting savvy to the fact that Facebook is somewhere they need to be! If you’re not there – chances are pretty good your competitor is. A social media marketing agency can walk you through the possibilities for engaging with a huge (and highly-targetable by demographic) audience on Facebook. Some Facebook for business solutions include: Facebook business pages, Facebook advertising, and specialty application development.

Twitter for Business:

Twitter is another social network phenomenon. It’s growth thus far in 2009? 1,300%! Twitter is essentially a micro-blogging site in which people communicate with each other in 140 character bursts of information. Many businesses are entering into the Twitter arena. But very few businesses are doing in right. In part this has to do with the unique user-culture that has emerged on Twitter – businesses that log on and blast away with promotional materials are quickly ostracized. The way to success for businesses on Twitter is by adopting the communication techniques of the community. A social media marketing company in Houston can help you map a strategy that will yield results.

Social Media Marketing: More to Come!

Stay-tuned right here for more in-depth social media marketing tips and insights. If you have any questions you’d like me to tackle; please leave a comment below.

Ready to Learn More about Social Media Marketing?

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Social Media Marketing & Your Business’s Message