Social media is here to stay folks.
The platforms may change, processes may change, but it’s definitely not going anywhere.
Unless of course we experience a sudden worldwide blackout, REVOLUTION style. (Tell me you get the reference!)
But I digress.
Some people, unfortunately for them, still tend to look at social media as a waste of time, or as merely a toy for young people.
Some rehabilitation is clearly in order.
Let’s all say it together now-
“Social media is so much more than a toy… it’s a valuable business marketing tool many companies and brands are using with smashing success, and therefore it is absolutely worthy of my attention!”
There… that wasn’t so hard now was it?
I feel better now, how about you?
Your online presence is a vital piece of the marketing puzzle and goes beyond just having a website.
Social media is one of the many keys to making your website and your business work smarter and better in today’s highly digital world.
Companies that embrace technology (including social media), have a firmer foundation to spring from in getting and staying ahead of their competitors. Provided it’s used properly of course.
There are always no-no’s to any strategy and with social media, there is often an entirely new etiquette and language to learn with each different social platform.
This is why a marketing agency could potentially be your saving grace if you don’t have the ability to handle your social shenanigans on your own.
Why Go Social?
Because I said so!
OK fine… because you’re a smart, savvy entrepreneur that aches to make a lasting impression on the cyber community and go down in cyber history ebooks someday.
How’s that?
Moving on, let’s talk about the top sites I believe you should be utilizing if possible, and a smidge on why…
Every professional should have a LinkedIn business account.
The site is a solid breeding ground for better than average business connections, hands down.
However, most people on LinkedIn are handling their own accounts vs. having a marketing person handle them for them, so should you choose to utilize LinkedIn yourself, keep that in mind.
To sum it up, if you are trying to connect with an owner, CEO, or other top brass (your vendor, a prospective vendor or client, etc) LinkedIn gets you around the gatekeeper and straight to the source.
Twitters is a bit like the online version of having a live radio broadcast at your place of business.
Kind of.
It’s really all in how you use it. Twitter is more immediate and in some cases it’s as good as sending a text with a call to action directly to your prospects.
However, unlike LinkedIn, it’s relatively easy to have a marketing agency (such as MediaWhiz for instance) – handle this and a few other social media accounts for you.
FaceBook
Like LinkedIn, having a FaceBook business or “Fan” page is important.
They are pretty easy to create, which unfortunately can lead to a lot of “ghost town” fan pages floating about the web that have been abandoned and not maintained.
For a fan page to be effective, you absolutely need to maintain and work them. Again, an account such as this is another one that can easily be handled by a marketing agency if you don’t have the time or the resources to do it yourself.
The upshot of marketing agencies is that they understand the nuances of social media and how to market effectively within that medium. They also have the time.
Pinterest
If you have ever worked toward bettering your Search Engine Optimization (SEO) then you understand how images can help increase your search rankings and your ability to be found.
When using images, much like blog posts have tags, they too have tags. They are called “Alt” tags.
When people do an image search your website has a better chance of turning up when you optimize your image tags.
In addition, people using Pinterest often may “re-pin” your images.
The nifty part about that, is with Pinterest it’s not unheard of to quickly and organically reach hundreds, or even thousands of people all linking back to your website.
It’s one of the reasons it became such a popular platform so quickly.
Going “viral” is “word of mouth” at its best!
So Why Use a Marketing Agency?
Why not just do it yourself? Isn’t the whole point to be social and accessible?
Well yes, however social media is rapidly changing the way the online business world works. It’s really not just about being social anymore.
Social media is being used for so much more, like customer service, PR and brand management, lead generation… who knows what’s next?
The caveat is that social media marketing only works when you understand how to do it.
And the second caveat is that it can be hella time consuming and easily be done abysmally wrong.
Unfortunately things done wrong can often spread faster across the social sphere than the things done right.
That’s just human nature combined with nature of the beast.
Marketing your business using social media means interacting with your social connections, fans, followers, etc.
It doesn’t mean just advertising to them like you’re taking out a daily ad in your local classifieds. There is a reason it’s called “social”.
Reputable marketing agencies and other media professionals can be an excellent resource when you don’t have a clue what you’re doing.
They also work for you, so you can pick and choose what duties you assign them. Some things (like your LinkedIn account) could and should be easily managed by you.
Others however can take a lot of time to effectively create and maintain content as well as interact frequently enough to make an impact.
This can be a considerable task and if your time is better spent on other aspects of running your business, you might consider going the marketing agency route.
Over to You
How are your social media efforts handled? Do you do everything yourself? Throw up your hands in exasperation and say to hell with it?
Or have you dipped your toes into letting a marketing agency handle it for you? I’m curious to know! Drop your thoughts in the comment section below and feel free to share this post with the gen pop.
#BGB’ers aren’t elitists ya know! #EqualDorkLoveforAll