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B2B Marketing

Social Media Marketing- A Sneak Peak

While the words ‘social media’ are becoming more common as websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn become a part of daily life for many people, social media marketing refers to the use of the popularity of social media to help generate brand or company awareness and therefore profit as a result.

Social media marketing relies on individuals to post information about a specific company or business through a link or post that appears to be personal in nature and therefore more likely to go viral from person to person. The key point about social media marketing is that it must appear to be personal in nature in order to be truly effective. Banner ads and bland, non-targeted advertising is not nearly as effective in terms of racing through social media.

About Social Media and Marketing

The reason why this works so well is that social media is based around the concept of individuals sharing their lives and their thoughts with other people they know and trust. Information from the original member is considered more individual and personal to others who receive the forwarded post from that person than if an impersonal company or business provided it.

Companies that use this information and this skill wisely can get free marketing and good publicity. For example, if a business or company offers to donate a certain amount of money of a sale of a product or an item and then encourages Facebook or Pinterest “followers” to forward on information about this sale to others, those members are more likely to do so because there are two benefits to doing so – obtaining a desired item or product and contributing towards charity at the same time.

Using Social Media

Social media marketing is effective both in small and large scope. For example, both political parties used social media marketing in 2008 to spread the word about their candidate and their views to people who subscribed to their Facebook or Twitter page.

Nevertheless, the benefactor of the social media content campaign does not have to be as large scale as a presidential political campaign. Small local businesses can use social media effectively to promote their business, notify others of daily deals or special sales.

In other words, content that makes viewers feel special works well. Benefiting society in some way also tends to garner results. Blatant advertising, however, does not.

Companies can use Twitter.com to send information about specific products or sales to individuals who follow the businesses’ Twitter page. Likewise, Facebook allows businesses to create a business profile and for people to “Like” that page.

Note, however, that companies should not use social media content carelessly, because just as members are likely to forward a link to something they like, they are just as likely to forward a link to encourage others to boycott against things to which they object.

In other words, companies using social media should do so carefully and using targeted, audience-aware information and well-reviewed content for the best results.


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