Social Media

Is Social Media worthwhile for business or just a way to kill time, play games and spy on your old friends?

That depends on whether or not your business needs an audience to gain customers.

Social Media’s audience has billions of users spending more and more time every single day in it. Would you like your message to get some space there?

A new dynamic has emerged on the web in the way businesses interact with their customers. While having a presence online has become near mandatory for most businesses, savvy businesses are tapping social networks to drive new clients, engage with prospective ones and increase sales to existing customers. They are seeing rapid growth in their market share as they establish trust and an opportunity to repeatedly interact with their base, all using these social media networks.

You’ll recognize their names. Coke, Nike, Victoria’s Secret, Target, Lowes and tens of thousands of other businesses are establishing their presence in these networks, interacting and driving awareness and loyalty to their companies and products.

Why?

Simple.

Volume and interaction.

Facebook alone now has more than 1 billion (yes, with a B) users. Those users spend more than 55 minutes per day on that site. Facebook has surpassed Google in total web traffic. It’s fastest growing user groups are 45 and older.

If your website was a fishing pole, Facebook alone would be the mother of all fishing holes. We like to say,

“Fish where the fish are."

In other words, go where your customers are. Leverage that volume to bring new awareness to your business and products. The opportunity to interact, accelerate the delivery of your message and build brand loyalty and trust has never been so convenient or inexpensive.

Marketing campaigns that would have taken years to build awareness and loyalty are shrinking down into months and weeks. Market research for new offerings is now as simple typing in a post and listening to the feedback…from your clients! It’s electronic delivery on steroids, mixed with continuing conversation (feedback) and rolled into one giant beehive of activity. It’s like being at the world’s largest tradeshow that never closes and has an endless amount of traffic coming by your booth. You just have to setup your space then you can begin luring them in.

What’s the difference between Social Media and having a website?

To put it into simplistic terms, one space is where you control the conversation while the other is where you listen to it. Where your website may be carefully crafted to steer the information you want made available about your products and services, Social is freeform conversation mixed with platforms that you have very little say on the layout or added content. It takes tremendous skill to navigate those waters successfully, on all the various platforms, to steer the conversation while continuing to keep the audience engaged. But from a business perspective, with Social’s growth comes some staggering opportunities to reach new clients, reconnect with old ones and communicate with your existing ones at unprecedented speed, utilizing completely new methods to spread the word about your business and products.

Some of the platform names are recognizable, site like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Youtube, Linkedin and there are hundreds more that you’ve probably never heard of. You may have thought they were just for listening to music, posting homemade video, reconnecting with old classmates or sharing photo and news with family or friends.

The truth is, savvy businesses are tapping these resources to gain whole new levels of exposure in mind boggling, rapid fashion. They are making instant offers to their clients, hundreds or thousands at a time, with a few taps of the keyboard. They are getting feedback instantly that allows them to adjust offerings and campaigns in the blink of an eye.

It’s where the audience is. It’s where they are spending their free time each day (and a lot of work hours).

In fact, there are some businesses that exist only in the Social Media realm, selling goods and services straight out of places like Facebook, Linkedin, etc. with no webspace of their own.

(We call them the gamblers, the quickhitters or gold rushers looking to grab what they can, as fast as they can, with no intentions of a long term strategy for business. Why would we say that? It’s fairly simple. With such rapid, massive growth comes rapid, massive changes. What works great and looks great today may be broken or even gone tomorrow morning, with no notice. You are at the mercy of startups that don’t care if your business folds, they are only concerned with fending off their competitors and attracting investors. If they make a misstep and all your eggs are in their basket, you go with them.)

We employ strategies designed to give you a stable presence online to interact with your clients and customers while using these online meteors to attract and drive more customers to your solid home on the web. Those sites may come and go, but you won’t be at their mercy when things change. You simply adjust where you market and keep rolling along with your independent business presence. The best of both worlds!

Our offerings include:

  • Build and management
  • Content creation
  • Traffic generation
  • Social sway
  • Graphical packages for spaces like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Youtube
  • Extended web function for Facebook business pages
  • Marketing/Ad Generation in those spaces

and of course, SEO strategies designed to leverage the popularity of those places to bring “Search Engine Love” to your independent storefront or presence on the web. We can help you understand how to tap these rich resources while dramatically improving the visibility of your business or brand.

If you’d like to know more, contact us and find out what Social Media can specifically do for your business and we’ll see you soon!