At a recent gathering of the Society of Professional Communicators in Worcester, Harry Gold, CEO and managing partner of the Boston-based marketing firm Overdrive Interactive said that although a tug of war has begun between social network giants, our real life is least affected by it as what matters is the quality not quantity of friends online. he further said that friends are but a segment of the social network marketing campaign. You can have a long list of friends or followers but they are of no use for your business if they do not switch from follower to Customer.
Social media more is more about adding marketing and advertising into into everything you do, says Gold. Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites should be linked to your business in every small or big way.
According to Gold, those little icons that appear on our screen which he called “chiclets” that connect us to social media sites have increased for sometime now. You will find them on every other website and Tv programmes these days. These chiclets in the opinion of Gold are the key features that hook your brand up with sites that help your business flourish by connecting to innumerable audience free of cost. Gold called these sites “The unsung heroes of social media.” Social media is most importantly about promotion of your business or product and a way for business owners to connect to probable customers.
Gold while explaining promotion through social networking sites mentioned the assignment his company did for motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson. They created a 2010 Harley catalog for which the customers presented photos of themselves and the Harley Group. A large number of pictures were submitted and assorted at the cover of the catalog and those made a part of the cover could find and share their photos with friends via www.harley-davidson-mosaic.com. Hard copies were also made available in the market. This promotion strengthened the relationship between Harley and its customers and proved to be lucrative for the Harley Product.
Perhaps your company can borrow a page from the Harley catalog and ask customers to submit photos suitable for your booklet which you then put up online where people can view it and share it with friends on Facebook. This uncomplicated procedure can do wonders to the promotion of your business.
Gold did confess that social networks cannot substitute conventional advertising techniques but now is the day and age to integrate advertising through social media sites to your promotion techniques.
Promotion through social media networks may not generate immediate results but if your intention is to create long-term relationship with your clients and get in touch with new ones in a shorter period of time, infusing social media advertising is the wise thing to do.