FAQ
Social Media Marketing
We know it’s the buzz word at the moment, but we also know that, as with any new thang (because we’ve lived through a few… ), it is chock-full of self proclaimed experts and gurus and lots and lots of spin, so just in case you were under a stone at the start of the century and have had to pretend ever since that you know exactly what people are talking about but are now too embarrassed to ask for clarification, we’ll spare your blushes and actually spell it out for you!
• What is social media marketing?
Social media should not only be seen as an advertising opportunity, which of course it is, but also as an outreach to your client base, your fans and your public. Anyone with a computer and internet access then becomes a potential visitor to your business and potential visitors become potential clients and/or contacts.
Social media encourages contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested in your or your service, as well as those who are just passing. The whole world becomes your audience.
Whereas traditional media is about ‘broadcast’ (content transmitted or distributed to an audience) social media is better seen as a two-way conversation and enables interaction the like of which has never been seen before in a business or marketing context.
By using all forms of Social Media, such as social networks, blogs, microblogs, communities, social bookmarking, video, audio and file sharing, in effect it’s like your brand having a conversation with the whole world and your audience growing to anyone who has access to the World Wide Web.
• Is social media really necessary for B2B companies?
Yes – it is actually one of the most powerful tools you can use as surveys and figures now coming through strongly support the case for B2B organisations having an active and integrated social media presence in the arena. Check our twitter bird’s quotes and watch our video for the recent surveys and be prepared to be amazed! With a complete social media strategy your brand’s potential to be seen, noticed and engaged with, by both new and existing clients, sky rockets impossible using traditional marketing avenues.
• We need to have an overall social media strategy, how will this work?
Social Media is not a replacement for traditional forms of marketing, instead it should be seen as an essential part of your marketing strategy, the missing link of your PR jigsaw. As seasoned professionals we can look at your existing activity and create a bespoke social media campaign that enhances and amplifies your traditional PR and marketing strategy.
• Surely our existing PR or Marketing Comms Agencies can do it for us?
In theory they could, but social media campaigns require constant attention on a daily basis, which is inherently counter intuitive to traditional ways of working within the media, whether that’s PR, advertising, publishing or marketing. Media folk tend to spend a lot of time in meetings and have to spend days out of the office to meet clients, attend conferences, organise events and oversee shoots, etc, which means that online campaigns can lack consistency.
Having an overall marketing plan for both traditional and social media managed for you allows you to concentrate on providing your service without worrying about designating members of your current workforce to ’set up a Facebook page’ or ‘twitter’ on a whim. Most traditional agencies don’t have the select skill sets in house and frankly it’s become far too important to be treated in this casual and ad hoc way.
But don’t take our word for it; just ask your existing agency the one key question – “What are they doing in social media for themselves?”. Because if they can’t do it for themselves how can they do it for you?