Social Media - Use It Wisely

There's no doubt that social media has reached an ultimate high in building relationships between businesses and consumers. Social media has moved from an optional marketing tool to a must-have for all businesses. But it takes a bit of work to make it effective in your plan for success. There's a few things businesses need to understand when integrating social media into their marketing strategy. 

Clear Objectives Knowing which direction you want the brand to take in regards to targeting groups is a key step. With so many available social media sites nowadays, consumers are smarter than ever. Different sites, attract different kinds of people. But there's no need to limit your choices, as long as there's a content strategy of what will be used to engage consumers. 


Consistency There has to be a commonness shared with all media channels chosen for a business. If using print or video ads, there should be an indication to a social media site that will elaborate more on the brand. Driving traffic to a business's Facebook fan page or acquiring followers on Twitter, helps the consumer get a better understanding of the type of industry that's being marketed and what other consumers trust this brand. Consumers need to be constantly reminded of that brand, getting your name out there by being all over the internet in as many ways as possible is the most beneficial to the business, while of course keeping the message consistent.


Building Hype By using the power of social media to promote brand launches, you're able to build a lasting  hype about the brand. Inviting consumers to take part of virtual contests, or inviting them to special events creates excitement about the brand before and after the launch.


Investing Although social media is perceived as being "free", there's still a good amount of investing that has to take place. First with time and in some cases money, depending on the individual business need. For social media marketing to be successful, there's usually a team that dedicates all of their time to monitoring social media. While in smaller businesses, they should dedicate anywhere from 5-10 hours a week.


Measuring ROI How else would you know if your social media marketing tactics are working? In terms of consumer engagement, brand loyalty and profits there should be a measuring system to determine what works and what doesn't. 


These keys concepts are a good start to integrating social media into a brand's marketing strategy. In today's digital world we have to stay on top of the latest trends to make brands stand out among others and increase profits. Marketing is essential to a booming, successful business and social media is marketing's gem in our generation. It must be used wisely. 




http://www.hellobloggerz.com/business/social-media-integration-into-marketing-plan


http://www.toponeseo.com/how-to-integrate-social-media-into-your-marketing-plan/

How E-marketing Charms Its Way Into Your Buying Decisions

E-marketing has become a major movement among many businesses and industries, and has had a huge impact on how consumers go through the buying decision process. Buyers are influenced by social media sites, search engines, and basically anywhere on the internet that allows you to make a purchase of some kind. In my personal experience, iTunes gets me every time. I usually plan on buying about a couple of albums or so, but then they have this entire section where there's recommendations just for me. They even list about 10 songs that they think I'll want to buy based on my purchases in the past. Suddenly, I'm back in the problem recognition stage and I want more music. This kind of e-marketing influences more than just the first stage of the buying process. There's also the alternative evaluation and purchase decision. When you're presented with so many options, you then have to decide which item you want to buy right away. You can save some choices for later, or eliminate them altogether. Once you've come to a decision, you proceed with your actual purchase. iTunes is an example of how online stores make the best use of e-marketing to influence the buying decision process.

Facebook and Twitter contribute to the major breakthrough of e-marketing, by allowing businesses to connect directly with consumers (B2C). It builds relationships, by getting more and more consumers to visit their fan pages and spread the word of their business. But what about business to business (B2B) companies, can they still use social media as a marketing support? According to the Top Rank Marketing Blog there's a few tips that will help B2B corps succeed with e-marketing. The tip that I found most interesting is "Cross Promote Content". It encourages B2B corps to re-use promotional content that's been created elsewhere by posting it on Facebook. Not all audiences engage with every marketing effort, so the more it's put out there the greater the chances of boosting their business relationships. With Facebook fan pages and gaining followers on Twitter, industries give consumers more options in the information search stage and the alternative evaluation stage. Social media has become a huge part of the decision buying process. 

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5438201_consumer-buying-decision-process.html

http://www.toprankblog.com/2011/02/5-b2b-facebook-marketing/

https://fiu.blackboard.com/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2718_1%26url%3D