Join the Social Media Marketing Revolution!!

Are you a small startup company, about to join the Social media marketing world? Then you are at the right place.

Small businesses need to have a customer oriented strategy in order to compete with the bigwigs. Their survival is highly dependent on how well they can understand and adapt to the customer needs. Having a customer focused service and model will enable these companies to succeed. 

Social Media is one of the marketing channels, which will help company build relationships with their customers, create competitive advantage, and establish industry credibility. Social media has evolved. Initially it was perceived as ”Facebook and twitter are for kids and companies do not use it”. I remember, few years back when I was working for a hospitality company, I had shared the idea of creating a company page on facebook, my manager felt facebook was not for companies. Times have changed. Many successful companies like Walmart, Dell, started using social media strategy for B2C. People thought social media works for B2C, it may not work for B2B. Well, not anymore, companies like Cisco, IBM use social media for B2B.

There are various social media tools which companies can use like websites, blogs, LinkedIn, facebook, twitter, youtube to communicate with the customers.

Steps to use Social media:

•       Identify what are the company’s objectives for using social media.
•        Know who your customers are. Find out what is it that the customers want. 
•        Play the role of thought leader, solutions provider. It should provide  content which is useful and interesting. If you provide the content that the customers find relevant and useful, use can potentially get a business or a lead.

  In many companies, B2B decision makers use social media somewhere in their buying process and yet, they struggle to show results. Sometimes, there is confusion over whether social media is a marketing or PR activity or customer service.

Some of important points which should be considered before B2B companies jump into social media marketing.

•        Social media should be used for interaction and knowledge sharing. A selling approach is not only ineffective, but it can also damage a company's image.
•        Social media takes time to show results. It takes time to develop relationships.
•        Social media requires time and effort. Twitter should chirp all the time. Regular post should be added in the blog.
•        Blogs, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media tools should be used to build a network of influencers who will endorse and provide credibility to your content and pull customers.
•        You can't control every conversation about your company in social media, but you can help shape them, address issues and provide a platform for customers to share their experiences.

Reference/source: http://internetmedialabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Social-Media-Takes-Time.jpg
http://blogs.thenews.com.pk/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/social_media.jpg