Social media is impacting the way organisations do business massively.
If we just look at some of the changes, they include the movement of:
- Television to YouTube
- Hard copy books to Kindle
- CDs to iTunes
- Websites to Mobile Technology
Online marketing has increased massively and the starting point for many organisations and individuals right now is to go to the internet to find information that will help them make a decision, validate the credibility of a company or person or check out reviews.
What this means is that companies have to accept change. They also need to change the way they market if they are using old, ineffective forms of marketing.
Organisations have to accept that social media is here to stay and that it will be involved in some way or other in the decision-making process.
Companies have to ensure that their websites have new information constantly, in the form of articles or video to entice customers to return. More importantly Google is all about new information and this will all help in getting their sites seen.
We have also become a visual society, so organisations need to ensure that there are plenty of photos and video. Boring text just does not hack it any more.
Organisations should also be connecting with clients and potential clients via social media. They firstly need to determine which would be the most relevant media for their audience and then post regularly. Facebook may be great for a wedding planner, but not as effective for a law firm.
There are many organisations that have realised the positive impact of social media are using it effectively:
- HR departments connecting with potential employees and streamlining the recruitment process
- Sales teams using LinkedIn and advanced Google searches to generate leads and track clients
- Marketing teams cleverly using all forms of social media to build their brands and get their message seen and read.
- Operations using tools to connect with their global offices and suppliers
Personally, my plans on evolving my social media strategies this year include:
- Think Google – in everything I do. I will always ensure that any new information I publish will be incorporated into the Google family which includes: YouTube, Blogger, Google+ and Feedburner (and of course Google Analytics to measure the traffic on my website)
- Develop a strategy to constantly monitor what is being said about my business and respond quickly
- Create new content on an ongoing basis and sharing it through every social media platform that my clients and potential clients will be using
- Using the power of article marketing. Creating at least an article a week that is correctly tagged and posting it firstly to Blogger, and then promoting it with Google+. After that it will be posted onto my website, newsletter, LinkedIn and sent out to local magazines. This strategy has proved so successful that when British Airways and Avios recently announced a 75% cut in air miles, my article appeared at number one on searches for ‘British Airways’ and ‘Avios’
- Create at least two videos a month. Correctly tagged and with great content, this is my best form of search engine optimisation at the moment
- Using the vast amount of low-cost, no cost tools out there to promote my products, business and brand.