Social Media Marketing

Hesitation of Marketers on Social Media Marketing

2009-07-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

Based on a report by the Forrester Research, advertisers spend somewhat a little time on social media marketing regardless of the current hype on Twitter and Facebook. The data shows that 75% of marketers have budgets lesser than $100,000 for social media campaigns for the next year. The firm resolved that social media is still beyond the mainstream of marketing and is still in the experimental status. This is regardless of the fact that social media marketing requires lesser funding than traditional advertisement efforts.

So why are marketers still hesitant in employing social media marketing for their marketing efforts?

1. Social media’s impact is yet to be quantified.
The popularity of social media is undeniable and it can evidently move information faster than imagined before. But since marketing functions with accepted measurement standards, which social media can’t provide at its present condition, marketers are limited to make use of social media on “as-needed” basis. Marketers require actual data of customers moved through the marketing funnel with social media efforts. Dedicated strategies and programs are necessary to advertise brands successfully as other marketing vehicles have done.

2. Social media is a relatively new marketing strategy and pulling budget for it requires justification.
Marketers are having difficulties justifying their move to pull out some budget from other marketing efforts to social media projects. The management generally requires hard facts of effectivity and efficiency of certain efforts before approving financial support. This, however, is not much of a problem anymore with 53% of the marketers saying that they are expecting an increase in social media spending.

3. Marketers are still clamoring to be educated on social media marketing.
The newness of this strategy is yet to be explored by other marketers who have remained loyal to traditional advertising. Once these marketers and their companies fully understand and appreciate how social media works, they will surely find it a great tool in enabling them to reach their target audience, far more better than they used to with traditional marketing.

The moment these concerns are properly addressed, marketers will surely run to social media for a boost in their marketing efforts and we will all be amazed at how socially driven are we human beings.

The Extent of Use of Social Media Marketing

2009-07-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

Social media marketing is definitely in the buzz these days. The extent of the popularity of the internet and its capacity to reach the traditionally unreachable corners has made the use of social media to market businesses very accessible. The popularity of social media marketing can best be checked with the marketers themselves.

A study was conducted on marketers to find out their extent of use of social media to market their businesses. It shows that out of the 700 marketers surveyed, 88% signified that they are using social media in marketing their businesses. Of those that use social media for marketing, more than 90% are business owners and only 81% employees opt to do so. 92.8 percent that use social media are aged 30 to 39 years.

Social Media Marketing Exposure
Most (72%) of the marketers say that they have just started using social media marketing to promote their businesses. 30.2 percent of those that are just starting to use social media for their businesses are sole proprietors. Those that have most exposure on social media marketing are owners of businesses with 2 to 100 employees. A total of 29.3% of them are already employing social media marketing for several years. And most of those who are just starting to use social media marketing are aged 60 to 69 years old.

It is evident the, that even though there is a certain hype in terms of social media marketing, much is still to be discovered by most marketers since the exposure to the new business strategy is not yet maximized. There remains a very vast opportunity for everyone in social media marketing.

Discovering Social Media Marketing

2009-07-22T06:46:00.000-07:00

Social media marketing is considered to be the latest source of good fortune for the marketing industry. This is because the interaction of online communities, which does not cost much for the marketers and the business sector as a whole, generate exposure, opportunity and sales that has never been experienced by the business sector. This latest innovation then is being explored by marketers, scholars and even by simple individuals like me who were able to notice the amazing interplay of the social nature of people to the practice of marketing in the vast and unchartered World Wide Web.

Social media marketing is also interchangeably known as social network marketing, social level marketing and social influence marketing. It is a marketing strategy that employs social influencers, social media platforms, online communities for marketing, publication relations and customer service. It is highly effective because it is able to accommodate the nature of people to socialize and it feeds on the desire of individuals to share their experiences, thoughts and even their aspirations. Social media marketing is actually more of a consumer-generated publicity than an advertiser-driven one. It totally turned the tide in favor of the consumers.

To illustrate the changes in the consumer and their demand for an equivalent conversion on the part of the advertisers, watch this video:

Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube are the top social media marketing tools. Discover why with this video:

The videos clearly show the changes that has transpired in marketing and the power of social media in reaching out to other individuals who, traditionally, were beyond your reach and those who were barely known. It clearly depicts the capacity of social media to break barriers among individuals. And now, the challenge is for us to find out how to do so.

Marketing Industry and the Internet

2009-07-20T05:55:00.000-07:00

The technological developments that the internet has undergone drastically changed the way information is shared and transmitted. It has even reached the point of affecting the marketing industry, opening itself up to social media marketing, and leaving print advertising as just one of the other means of introducing a product or a service to the public. The World Wide Web initiated a new type of marketing strategy in the form of internet marketing.

Conventional Advertising

Print and audio advertising had always been the most stable means of promoting a product or service in the business sector. These conventional means pronounce all the positive sides and effects of the product or service to entice people to try it. These were the only means that people depend on for ideas and alternatives of what to patronize.

Contemporary Marketing

The marketing landscape was changed by the increasing accessibility of information from the internet. It has made various information easily available and accessible to the public providing people with an array of choices.

Innovation in Marketing

Social marketing is the latest innovation in online marketing that enables people to transmit and transfer information to an infinite number of users. Because of this capacity, the information about a product or a service does not lie from business owners or marketing experts alone. The general public gained an opportunity to share their thoughts and experiences on products and services. The product and service descriptions then, have become greatly personalized and highly experiential. This benefits not only the consumers but also the businesses. Not to mention that this process is not that costly. Internet marketing has minimal cost compared to print and audio advertising resulting to financial savings.

Wider Reach, Greater Impact

The business sector as well as other organizations can actually gain much from social online marketing solutions. It allows these companies to market themselves and increase following as well as funding. It also makes relevant information easily accessible to localities and individuals that were traditionally inaccessible with print and audio marketing. This then leads to an increase in the scope of information dissemination that will inadvertently increase sales and marketability of products and services.

Social Awareness

Social media does have positive effects in businesses and organizations. However, the openness of the internet to the points of view of people also means that even the negative comments or feedback are published online. Businesses and organizations should be very aware then to conduct their transactions with integrity and in a socially beneficial manner to avoid negative feedback. Any unfavorable information that gets through the internet can stay in the internet indefinitely until it is proven malicious and erroneous.