Social media marketing

Social networks have exploded on to the Internet recent years. Some have already had their time, remember the excitement over Friends Reunited (of course that was before social media existed as a phemonemum) and MySpace (still there but haemorraging users), but 2 giants have emerged as the clear winners for the time being at least: Twitter and Facebook.

The question is, what does this mean for marketers?

Understanding social networks

Social media is a communication channel and, like any communication channel, it can be used to take a marketing message to an audience. That much is clear, but what message can it take effectively to which audience?

The key to success in marketing is to understand which audience you are talking to, what they are doing when you are talking to them and to target your message accordingly.

Implementing social media

Strategy

While there is something to be said for just dipping your toe in the water, the most common mistake in social media marketing is to start without knowing why you are doing it. This usually results in directionless activity often based around one individual, which achieves little and stalls quickly.

A strategy will give your efforts direction, as well as something to judge them against.

It needn't be a complex strategy; it could even be to run a test, as long as you know what (and why) you are testing.

Campaign development

Social media tools are openly available; anyone can use them. To be effective, however, you need to understand which tools to use for what purpose and to be able to use them effectively and easily.

Setting up the right tools, with clearly defined objectives and rules, will give you a much greater change of success.

Content

Whatever your approach to social media, content is the key to success. You need to engage your audience if you want them to stay around for a few minutes, let alone if you want them to "like" or "recommend" you.

Our approach

We are focusing our work on the 2 largest social media platforms, Facebook and Twitter.

Our approach is to base your social media acitivity around your web content, using it to naturally extend your message. This avoids unnecessary duplication of both content and effort and gives your audience a clear route to follow.

Integration

We all know that in this multi-channel world our marketing needs to be integrated. This is particulary true within the online arena, where the distance between your channels is one click.

We have integrated our Content Management System you add content to your Facbeook pages as easily and flexibly as adding content to your website. Once the content is in place, you can leverage the social network to take your message to marketing.

Content

Our specialists can generate effective content for your social media activity, whether it's Tweets, copy, features, audio or video.

Ever in the Bristol area?

If you would like to meet up to have an informal chat about what social media can do for your business and how it might be achieved, please drop us a line: info@barnesgraham.com / 0117 230 8428. We're always up for a coffee, especially if it's in Bristol (although of course we're happy to travel it that's better for you)!