Social Media Marketing Is Not Direct Marketing

Creative Commons photo by Rosaura Ochoa via Flickr.

Social media for business is difficult. I don't mean difficult to do, because using social media in general is pretty easy. It's a different ball game from a business viewpoint, and learning how to use social media for business can be overwhelming if you don't have any direction. Either they run their business accounts as a personal one (posting too much, being too casual), or they only push their product with no other interactions.

I understand where a business is coming from. The goal of a business is to sell a product. Every move it makes, every step it takes (h/t The Police) is calculated and designed to reach that goal of making the sale. A business should have marketing systems in place that do this; whether T.V. or radio spots, fliers in the mail or email. A social media marketing campaign should help support these other systems.

Support. That is the key word to remember.

I have heard of businesses who do business strictly through social media, but it's a rare occasion and should not be considered the norm. Facebook in particular continues to make the site more business-friendly, adding options for shopping and signing up for newsletters right on the main Page. In essence, it could be used as a website, but I wouldn't recommend it.

People are on social media first and foremost to find other people. No one joins a site with the thought "Wow- I really want to join Twitter so I can follow Pepsi and Nike!" They join social media to follow people, discussions, to learn more (from other people) about something. Adding businesses is secondary, because once they are using it, they see the ease. It's easy to communicate with other businesses in this way, and it's more passive than talking to a customer service person on the phone, yet there is still interaction.

Things to keep in mind when using social media for business:

1. Be social, yet remember you are a business. If you run your business social media like they are personal accounts, you are going to turn people off. Decide based on what your business is how personal you want or should be, and then go from there.

(Some ways to be personal on social media: Photos of the office, highlighting team members, acknowledging birthdays and work anniversaries. I'm also a firm believer in the Throwback Thursday.)

2. Be a place of information. Rather than sell, inform. You know your product better than anyone. You know that everyone would benefit using your product. Show that you know what you're talking about and be on top of trends, reports, and other things pertaining to your industry. Give your thoughts whether you agree or disagree about what you are finding.

3. It's not direct marketing, it's PR. Remember the key word from above: Support. The goal of social media is not making the sale, it's making people want to buy. There's a difference.

Every business is different, and I'm always open to talking more about your business in particular and helping you bring your social media marketing to the next level. Contact me anytime dcutler@danicutler.com. For general tips and tricks, subscribe to my monthly newsletter.

Have fun!






Thanks for reading! If you feel so inclined, you can follow my daily ramblings on Twitter, and get all sorts of information from my Facebook Page! See you around the interwebs!

Why An RSS Reader Is The Most Important Tool For Your Social Media

Photo by TEIA MG via Flickr.

Content, content, content. It's what every blog post you ever read about how to run social media for a business will include. You need content, but it can't all be about your business. Following other social media Pages that are related to your business will certainly help in this regard, but your fans and followers are going to get really bored with seeing the same items shared over and over. Memes are fun, but you don't want to overdo that either. What you need is relevant content that will keep people reading your page, and sharing what you post with others.

The very best way I have found to do this is with an RSS reader. RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, but it is also known as Real Simple Syndication. This makes more sense because that's exactly what it is. Every blog or website you read (news, blogs, podcasts, photo) has an RSS feed. A reader allows you to put your favorite things to read in one place for easy access and... reading!

I'm sure you see where I'm going with this. I am usually flipping through feeds anyway just to catch up on news and my favorite blogs, but now I add on more time to go through feeds I've picked to help me generate content for the social media sites I manage- as well as for my own sites. It's a simple and convenient way to find content and keep your followers engaged!

There are many readers out there, and more have popped up since Google Reader recently shut down. I use two readers. One is Feedly, and the other is Flipboard (which I use on the iPad). Feedly also has phone and tablet apps, but I find I get useful information from both.

It takes a little time up front to set up your account and subscribe to the feeds you want to follow, but once you are up and running, staying on top of the latest information for all of your social media sites is, well, really simple!





Thanks for reading! If you feel so inclined, you can follow my daily ramblings on Twitter, and get all sorts of information from my Facebook Page! See you around the interwebs!