Is Your Social Media Marketing Social Or Just Marketing? Social Media Marketing is a hot topic these days, yet most online

marketers and especially offline COMPANIES and retailers have

difficulty GAINING any traction from their social media marketing

activities. One of the biggest issues is forgetting that SMM is an

interactive form of advertising…

This can be especially difficult for offline companies and retailers, as

interactive advertising has never been a part of their advertising or

marketing mix until the last few years.

Before that they ran their radio and TV commercials, placed their print

ads in newspapers and magazines, printed their flyers and mailed them

out. Direct contact with customers and prospects was left to the front line

sales staff while MARKETING departments stayed hands off, distant

from the public. But that’s all changed now, as it’s much safer to have

your head-office marketing team handle social media marketing instead

of a piecemeal presence by various departments or retail locations.

Experienced online MARKETERS may have an advantage as they’ve

been using e-mail, e-zines and blogs for a lot of their advertising

activities, all of which already has an interactive aspect to it. Yet in

practice, many are making the same mistakes the neophytes are – while

this group know what to do, they’re still not putting in a concentrated

effort to master SMM.

The key to success on interactive web properties like Google+,

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest and FriendFeed is the SOCIAL

aspect. Ask any person pushing a product or anyone promoting an

offline business online and they’ll tell you they use social media – but the

truth is they just post there. Next ask them how often they hit the +1 on

Google or ‘Like’ button on Facebook, and especially how often they

comment on other people’s posts and you’ll be met with a blank stare or

a myriad of excuses most times.

To succeed in your social media MARKETING you need to engage

your audience and interact with both your prospects AND

the INDUSTRY leaders in your niche. Both on your own pages and in

the appropriate groups on Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn, be friendly,

be supportive and truly helpful. As a marketer you already realize people

always prefer to deal with people they know, so use your social media

efforts to make real connections and to keep your name and your brand,

top of mind for your prospects. Do the same on Twitter using replies and

retweets, and don’t forget to thank those who retweet your tweets. Use

the ‘comments’ and ‘share’ features on LinkedIn, Pinterest and

FriendFeed the same way.

Be careful with your time, though – social media sites can easily become

a ‘time sponge’ that stops you from getting everything else done. Stop by

them at the start of your workday and spend 15 or 20 minutes catching

up on what went on while you were absent, then shut them down.

Another 10 minutes at lunchtime and 10 minutes at the end of the day &

you’re covered. Unless you’re using the social media sites for customer

service, there’s no reason to leave the sites open all day in various

browser tabs – they’ll just distract you.

In short, think of the sites like your ‘club’ or the golf course – you’re there

to have fun, socialize and hopefully put together some big deals. You

don’t get business at the club or on the course from the people you

ignore, and it’s the same with social media marketing.