The Social Media Revolution is Taking Place RIGHT NOW…Whether You Are Ready or Not!
Facebook has over 700 MILLION active users! Do you understand how powerful that is?! Think about this for a second…It’s been long-said that there is no form of advertisement stronger than word of mouth. Only problem is, word of mouth was also one of the slowest forms of advertisement. Now, with Facebook and other social networking sites, it’s like word of mouth gets recorded and sent to over 700 million people all across the world each and every day! Word of mouth on steroids maybe?
How many times have you seen one of your friends post something on another friends wall, or a tweet amongst followers?…these types of interactions were next to impossible to witness just a few short years ago without physically being there. Now, hundreds and sometimes thousands of people can witness the same messages, over and over again. Does that sound familiar to any of my fellow marketers?
What the Social Media Revolution Means to Marketing
Most companies were reluctant to take their marketing efforts online, I believe simply due to a lack of knowledge. The people running these companies probably didn’t spend much time on social networking sites, or on the internet for that matter. I’m guessing they just dismissed social networking as a fad, something the “kids” do. Those who understood the power of social networking knew that taking their marketing efforts online was imperative.
There is no faster way of getting information out to customers, or feedback from them, than social networking. Let’s take the case of Netflix for example. Netflix, the world’s largest online DVD rental service, recently announced they were raising prices by nearly 60%. Within minutes, thousands of tweets with the hash tag #Netflix could be seen flooding Twitter time line’s. Customers, furious by the price hikes voiced their discontent making headlines across news platforms everywhere.
How many times have you ever filled out one of those “Tell us how we’re doing” slips at a store? I’m going to assume probably not a single time. Twitter has become a virtual opinion “drop box” of sorts. Businesses get instant feedback from customers, good or bad in the case of Netflix. This is extremely powerful because it gives business a chance to resolve issues quicker than ever. It’s kind of like conducting a 24 hour focus group, free of cost! Just one of the many marketing benefits of the social media revolution!
The Social Media Revolution has Allowed Businesses to Laser Target their Niche Markets
We may not understand all the technical aspects of it, but next time you update your status on Facebook, take note of the sponsored ad that is showing. Chances are it is directly related to what you posted. This is because the engineers at Facebook have figured out how to make it so that ads are pertinent to the user. I mean it make’s no sense to advertise pet products to someone without pet right?
This is also true for geographic location, age, and even gender. Micro targeted ads are more powerful than any other form of advertisement ever created, point blank period. Although this practice of micro targeting customers has recently raised questions of privacy, I don’t see it going away any time soon.
Don’t miss the boat because you were too stuck in the old way of doing things to adapt to this new way of marketing. Whether you own your own business or you’re involved in some sort of network marketing company, social networking is integral to your success. Now, this doesn’t mean some of the old ways of doing business aren’t still relevant, because they definitely are, but integrating social networking into your current marketing strategy has the power to catapult your business to new heights. The potential to reach millions of untapped customers should in itself be enough of an incentive to take your business online.
The Social Media Revolution has allowed businesses to:
- Laser target niche markets
- Reach an untapped customer base
- Leverage their time
- Advertise nearly free of charge
- Dramatically decrease customer feedback times
- Improve awareness
- Better understand the needs of consumers
What NOT to do While Marketing Online
- Do NOT spam! I cannot stress this enough. Blindly blasting links on Facebook and Twitter will probably annoy people more than interest them in your product or service. Find Groups to join on Facebook, search Tweets with certain hash tags, and message people directly. Build a relationship with them first, introduce yourself, tell them you’re new to the group, get to know them a bit, and THEN invite them to check out whatever it is you have to offer. People are much more likely to be interested when they like you.
- Do not spend all day reaching out to people. Leveraging your time through the use of YouTube videos, websites, and articles is a much more efficient way of reaching people. Try to personally reach between 5-10 new people a day, but don’t waste your whole day on Facebook chat and think it’s going to get you any further along.
- Do not spend hours messing around with things that do not add to your bottom line. What does this mean? If it doesn’t potentially make you $$$, LEAVE IT ALONE! I see too many people spend hours uploading pictures on Facebook, messing with their back offices, etc..If you’re wasting time, your wasting money.
- Do not disappear for extended periods of time. This doesn’t mean sit on Facebook and Twitter all day…it means don’t just make an appearance every few weeks. There are even tools out there that you can set to update all of your social networking sites for you. People don’t respond favorably to extended periods of absence. They’ll stop checking your blog, unfollow you on Twitter, and eventually lose interest.
Those are just a few of the most important things I would strongly recommend you don’t do while marketing online. Online marketing has the potential for many great things, but it can also do more damage than good if you aren’t careful. Embrace the change, adapt, or find yourself standing alone in the dust! The social media revolution has changed the way we all market and do business forever.
