Being on line means you are already using social media sites. The question is should you be using social media as part of your marketing strategy? My experience in developing business with social media being part of the marketing strategy, confirms that social media is a “must have” part of your marketing strategy.
What Is Social Media?
Social media are locations where people build communities based on interest. Just like a physical community where there is a wide range of interests and value systems, you will find diversity in sites categorized as social media. Considering the diversity of interests, it is very important to define the audience you are attracting or your target market.
What Are The Best Social Media Sites For Building Business Revenue and Profits ?
The answer to that question depends on your target audience. For example, if you are an engineering firm, you are more likely to find your target audience on Linked In rather thank on MySpace. However, since MySpace has over 200 million subscribers, your target audience is likely there as well. In this example, LinkedIn may be more suitable for finding your target audience near term but MySpace should not be ignored.
We set up profiles for our businesses and our client companies on most major social media sites. We give each site the focus warranted by the target market. When you are attracting targeted prospective customers, you are then working consistent with your profit goals.
Ultimately you must be able to convert that traffic to profitable revenue. Conversion has nothing to do with social media and everything to do with follow up systems. In other words, conversion has everything to do with your sales funnel.
The Social Media Funnel
I started using the word cloud to describe the population of people using social media. I have seen other people use that term as well and feel it is a good description. Tools within each social media site are used to attract people from the cloud to your group, following, blog, landing page or some other feature specifically associated with your offer. However, drawing people to from the social media cloud is not the place to begin conversion. That is the place to begin building a relationship.
The Social Media Cloud to Customer Process
There is no one program for bringing people to your business which is where you have an opportunity to market your offer. Each social media site operates differently. We have spent thousand of hours testing various ways to use the major social media sites. We have a very good understanding of what works from the results we achieve.
We also have confirmed that there is significant time involved in setting this up properly and executing the daily tasks required to build and grow an effective network. The time is significant even with an effective process of in place of focusing on the most efficient tasks and using the leverage of automation and delegation. In addition, the landscape is dynamic which means that you must be alert for social media site changes that affect processes in place.
The time and processes required to build and maintain an effective network for attracting targeted people to your conversion cycle from the social media cloud is extensive. If you are intent on doing this yourself then focus your attention on two or three main sites. Realistically since building a social media network means doing certain tasks daily, focusing on more than two or three sites without an entire department or outsourcing this work is impractical.
The Benefits of Social Media Marketing
The first benefit of social media marketing is that the cloud is huge so your customers are there. Next, the more consistent you are in building your network, the easier it becomes to grow your network since there is a viral aspect. We see evidence of people building rather large followings and groups and enjoying the esteem that comes with the related popularity. That is certain one valid goal.
Our goal is monetization of the value we offer. We are a business and to remain in business, we must make a profit. The level of business success is measured by revenue and profit trends. For clients, we hold ourselves accountable for delivering a 100% return on investment in 30 to 90 days.
To be a client you must have a business that has a sales conversion cycle that is already working for a clearly defined target market. To achieve those results we measure and track all data from the network developed from the cloud all the way through conversion into a sale. Analysis is key if your focus is making money.
Foundation for Success
I have written articles about this, conducted training about this and led client projects focused on this. The this I am referring to is build traffic and convert it. With the numerous social media marketing opportunities, it is easy to take your eye of the ball of sales. When a customer says I’ll take it, that is a very valuable event. You then are responsible for delivering the value of what the customer has purchased and having in place the right customer service support structure for what you are selling.
If there are weaknesses in what you sell and in your support network, all the work you do in social media, Internet marketing, PPC, direct mail, direct sales and more is largely wasted. On the flip side of that, if the revenue cycle of your business is solid you will achieve a high return on you marketing dollar investment.
Next
In the next article in this series we will take a closer look at some of the features, benefits and pitfalls of specific social media sites. In the meantime, every day you spend thinking about this or trying to figure it out on your own, is a day where you are not optimizing your sales that are possible with social media. We suggest you get started now.
Email Me, Steve Pohlit to schedule A No Obligation Consultation On Building Your Business Profits. Need more customers? Let’s discuss how to use cutting edge Social Media Marketing in the revenue building cycle of your business to drive your profits sky high.
Sharing with all my readers the energy of peace, happiness and abundance
Steve Pohlit, The Profit Expert
FREE Report:
How To Increase Business Profits by 30% or More in 90 Days or Less
Fantastic Article
Alot of information to disgest
The importance of building relationships,solid systems in place
one step at a time
Smiles
Lisa
Steve,
You make some great points in this article. Many people attempt to fly solo in a world that requires cooperation among many to take advantage of the opportunities. Getting help from others is not only wise, it’s almost completely necessary for success.
Aloha,
Brian Campbell
Really good article, i have spent a lot of time focusing on just one social media, site (that being twitter). However i know there is value in sites like myspace and facebook in conjunction with this, i am just struggling to work out how to best take advantage of them.
Hi,
I understand that social media is and will become very big… and this lead me to one question about to simplify the use of social icons, such as Twitter, Facebook, furl and so on… There is something that is called Only wire, do you have experience from this? I am not sure how it
work, so I hope you know…
Great Thanks… 🙂
Ulla H
Hello,
Great article i have three social community websites at the moment. My main home site is the one where i can be found mainly. But my biggest problem is how to compete with the giants such as facebook and Myspace.
Members join sites and sometimes never log in ,its a way to get themselves known in the web to sell their niche product or to find what it is they are looking for. I will like to read more from you.
Kindest Regards
John
I started reading this article with great interest, but quit after the 4th paragraph. “Audiance” is spelled wrong several times in paragraphs 2 and 3. “Warrented” is spelled wrong in paragraph 4… First impressions count, and spelling matters to me.
The info is far more important than the spelling. Better to get the info out there than waste time spelling checking. Good article.
Ben Hart
http://www.BenHartMarketing.com