Building a strong brand through Social Media Marketing

In order for us to understand how to build a strong brand, we need to first define some terms. The website businessdictionary.com defines marketing as the process through which goods and services are relayed from concept to customer. This process involves different elements that will affect our marketing efforts, although some of these elements are not directly under the marketing department. For instance the production process, from source of raw materials, through the production line and methods used all the way up to distribution channels, will affect our price. As marketers engage with potential customers, they make certain promises which are affected by all these other elements. Pricing has a direct influence on market perceptions. Our endeavor to attract more customers propels us to advertise. Dictionary.com defines advertising as, "....the practice of calling public attention to one's product.....". This brings us to our third definition, branding; which is defined by Small Business Encyclopedia as, "The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products."

From the definitions above; branding and advertising are part of the marketing process. When we only push advertisements through Social Media, we would have dismally failed our Social Media Marketing strategy. Our efforts should inculcate our uniqueness making it rather difficult to ignore Inbound Marketing as part of our Social Media strategy. When we showcase how we do things internally and preach about our core values, that naturally strengthens our brand. Social Media Marketing should be more than an exercise to canvass for sales.

Any marketing strategy should address the 4 p's of marketing.
Product - discussing the product is literally addressing Content Marketing issues
Price - when we look at price determination we are directed to Inbound Marketing
Place - alludes to distribution channels and this will also be part of our Inbound Marketing
Promotion - this will cover our advertisements. Note that how we cover these four elements influences our brand.

These are the agreed marketing elements and an effective Social Media Marketing Strategy will incorporate all of them. Emphasis on some of the elements at the expense of others, will dilute our marketing efforts and weaken our brand. Paid advertisements will only be effective if we have a strong brand within Social Media Forums. It is not how much we spend on paid advertisements that might generate us more sales, we might actually need to spend more on Content and Inbound Marketing in order to build a stronger brand. Social Proof has a key role in building our brand. Therefore, all the content that we share, must have an engaging effect. When we have a lot of engagement through liking of our content, sharing of our content and direct queries and inquiries including suggestions our brand will have a positive effect on our potential market. This effect will also reduce our advertising spend.

How has your Social Media Marketing efforts affected your brand? Should you need any assistance with your Social Media Strategy do not hesitate to contact us or you can drop your numbers here and we will get back to you.

Why it is crucial to have a strategy guiding your efforts in Social Media Marketing

Advertising in Social Media can be low cost without compromising quality. That is great news. In fact it is possible to run free campaigns. I recently saw an interview of a Marketing Manager for a low cost airline who was saying they were only running their marketing campaigns on Social Media as part of their strategy to reduce costs. However the key to success is having a sound strategy for your efforts. Dropping advertisements, sharing blog posts or running campaigns without a strategy that spells out target audiences, means of reaching out, desired results, intelligent data analysis and program evaluation is futile and might actually produce negative results.

I have been working with a client who is an Immigration Attorney. They opened a Facebook business page and their immediate action was to flight advertisements. Obviously they attracted a lot of traffic to their page. Unfortunately most of the respondents where not exactly their target market. Of a bigger challenge was the fact that some of those that were commenting were actually querying the authenticity of  these attorneys. A mere advertisement did not quite achieve the desired results. Their efforts equally lacked social proof - a cardinal component for success in Social Media Marketing. I also found lacking in their efforts the human element in their communication. One of the proprietors in this project is on a LinkdIn, they have a Twitter account, but these are not active nor are they linked to the business Facebook page. It has been proven that clients easily engage with a personality.

Another interesting experience I had was with a client who is running an accounting firm. They also ran advertisements on Facebook but they are linked to their personal account. The challenge that I found with their work was that they were not taking advantage of content marketing to share relevant information with their target market. A technical and legislated service offering like accounting, naturally requires a lot of information sharing. Information shared could be from other technocrats, service providers and regulatory authorities. Source of relevant information is not much of an issue, what is important is to show that you have adequate knowledge about that information. As you share advice and relevant information, showcase your expertise to assist your potential clients utilize the information to their most advantage.

I am currently working on a Marketing Strategy for a client in the Construction Industry but offering a unique service. Initially the client was not convinced that their services can be marketed through Social Media Forums. But after noting that most of their clients are on Social Media Forums, they have since acknowledged the possibility of running a successful marketing program through these forums. The uniqueness of their product and regulations in their industry are a lucrative environment for content marketing. What is clear from most of these experiences is that enlisting the services of a consultant will help you identify the best methods to pursue. Marketing efforts need to be treat differently from mere information dissemination. A specialist will also help you come up with appropriate evaluation methods which are cardinal for the measure of Return on Investment.

Are you realising your desired results with your Social Media Marketing efforts? Maybe you have not yet considered Social Media Marketing. Get in touch and lets see how best we can assist.

3 Ways a Social Media Marketing Strategy can Propel Success in a Township Economy

The World Bank Group conducted a study entitled The Economics of South African Townships. It was published in August 2014 in their website http://worldbank.org This document details the potential of business opportunities in the Townships and Informal Settlements of South Africa. The Apartheid political system that marginalized natives, which was only done away with 21 years ago, left more than 60% of unemployed citizens inhabiting in these environments. Most of these settlements have limited services and are located far from commercial districts. Whilst property developers and large retailers are moving into some of these areas which are accessible; there is still huge potential for small scale entrepreneurs. Government at both National and Provincial levels have recognized this potential and are pursuing various Township Economy promoting initiatives. The private sector through programs like business incubation and capital support are also playing their part in the development of this sector. It is a fact that this scenario will bring in fierce competition between the already established businesses and the newcomers.

1. You can use Social Media Marketing as a Market Penetrating Strategy
Small entrepreneurial projects are usually similar. For any business to stand out, there is need for an effective market penetration strategy. Most conventional advertising mediums, be it print or electronic, cost an arm and a leg for a basic advert. Its critical to note that these advertisement may not necessarily reach most of the targeted audience for a small business in the Townships and Informal Settlements.  Some potential customers do not own Radio or Television sets and a newspaper or magazine is considered luxury. But now there is Social Media. There is no household that does not have at least one occupant who owns a smart phone and are online most of the day time into early evening hours. Almost all these individuals are on more than one Social Media Forum that offers Marketing services. A smart entrepreneur will utilize the services of Social Media Marketing to build a sustainable competitive advantage. It is important to understand what campaigns will tickle your prospecting customers. Planning can not be over emphasized.

2. You can use Social Media as an affordable Advertising Medium
Social Media Marketing campaigns can be quite affordable with the possibility of producing them in-house. One would need to master the use of some applications and tools which are available online, some for free whilst those requiring subscriptions do not cost much. Some form of informal training could help boost one's mastery. In Social Media Marketing we share content that is produced in a manner that attracts attention and encourages readers to also share. The content describes us and our services or products and when our content is shared, its like we get a free ride through the activities of our customers to reach potential market. Most of the material that has gone viral, is original work that has not been edited. Creating and broadcasting of this content can create business opportunities.

3. You can use Social Media to acquire loyal Brand Ambassadors and Marketing Data
Cardinal to success in our Social Media activities is the process of attracting and growing followers. It is essential that we have a number of organic followers before we consider boosting our activities. I would not advise buying of any followers because they may not be within out target market. The process of identifying Who we are targeting; What we will share with them; How we will reach them and When we want to reach them; is another business opportunity in the Township Economy for another small entrepreneur. The data that we will gather can lead to us to other profitable ventures if we analyse it properly. Data analysis could actually be another business potential for other entrepreneurs within the Township economy. Since Social Media Activities are available to us at no extra infrastructure, besides our smartphones; these activities are a mine rich with enormous business potential.

What other potential business opportunities have you identified within the Township or Informal Settlement Economy that one can pursue through Social Media Activities? You can share with your valued comments. Should you be interested in participating in this lucrative venture, we are more than willing to assist.

Social Media - A Marketing Strategy or Advertising Medium

Last month I read an article about Social Media Marketing. The reaction from the comments were quite interesting. The author was pointing out the reality of the noise that Social Media Marketing is making on the conventional marketing arena. Some of the respondents were saying that they had not yet seen any marketing activities within Social Media forums. I was left wondering whether what they had not seen were Advertisements or the Marketing Strategies. Maybe the question to ask is whether Social Media is a Marketing Strategy or it is an Advertising Medium. A Marketing Strategy should be able to give us a competitive age whilst increasing our sales. Whereas an Advertising Medium is just a vehicle that carries our advertisements. Therefore our Marketing Strategy on Social Media should also make us utilize the Social Media forums as an Advertising Medium. However in Social Media Marketing we do not bombard our customers with Advertisements. It is possible, for one to be active in Social Media Marketing without running any visible advertisements. In Social Media Marketing we attract prospecting clients by telling them more about us - Inbound Marketing. We do not push our products to them with no added value.

With Inbound Marketing we seek a two way communication and customer feedback is cardinal. Marketing efforts are meant to add value and this could be through education or any other engaging activity like competitions or any form of entertainment. In Social Media Forums, participants share information, pictures, videos and the most interesting items attract dialogue. An astute Social Media Marketing Strategist should be able to follow the same methodology. Our campaigns can support the activities of our customers with an endeavor to craft a Social Relationship. What will keep customers engaged and loyal is if they feel that they are being valued. This is achieved through prompt responses to their input. Some may not be online all the time. Whilst it could be the best achievement to have everyone possible respond to your activities, this is highly impossible because we are tickled by different things and our moods are not always similar.

This brings us to another cardinal aspect in Social Media Marketing. We ought to have a target market, and within that market a target audience. Our target market will listen to us, but our audience will hear us and respond thereby completing the communication cycle. Whenever you have anything to say, you pick up the relevant audience to share with. If you just shoot in the dark, yes, you might have one or too of your targeted audience getting you, but you may not have a 100%  strike rate. This is the advantage with Social Media Marketing. It is possible to segment your audience to your exact target. If you are in apparel business, every individual needs to clothe themselves, but there is specific apparel influenced by weather patterns, gender, culture and so on. With a Marketing campaign or an Advertisement in Social Media Forums, you can target a specific audience and you will be assured of a response. This remains factual even for business to business communication. You can be on Social Media Forums and not be able to see a single advertisement if you are not the target audience of a particular campaign.

Have you done a Social Media Marketing Strategy and does it include any Advertisements on Social Media Forums? We would like to hear your experiences.  Feel free to get in touch if you need any assistance in this regard.

Social Media, the only media for some....

The advent of broadband with affordable internet, home wi-fi and smartphones, has left the average person with more options for media and entertainment. There are some who no longer own television sets whilst other long stopped buying newspapers and magazines.  Connectivity options, have made it possible for many to be online most of the time. Both formal and informal communication has migrated to online channels which are available as long as one is connected to the internet. Social and professional groups also keep us online all the time.

Online media has more advantages over conventional media because information is shared in real time. It is a fact that time is money and any peace of news received at the earliest possible time, will always carry with it potential for either outperforming competition or introduction of a new innovation. It is therefore cardinal for any entrepreneur to have a presence in the Social Media corridors. Timely information can also be cardinal for personal reasons, which could be safety, economic or even academic. Some institutions, private or public are also using Social Media forums for communication.

On the entertainment front, music is easily downloadable online and cost far much less than what is on the conventional music stores. Some music houses are only producing online versions of their work. There are also a number of online television and radio stations. Watching one's favorite movie, is now easier with so many movie channels and stores that are online. A number of Tv series and even some sopies are also now available online. All these online activities, make it not so necessary to own a radio or television set.

Clearly this has left the traditional advertising agencies under survival threat. Whilst other have migrated to the Social Media channels, there are some that still do not see the need for it. For anybody planning to run a marketing campaign, it is a fact that if they ignore Social Media, there will miss out reaching a sizable potential market.  It is therefore cardinal for any business to have a Social Media Marketing strategy.  An indisputable fact though, is that there are some traditional individuals, who are still loyal to the conventional media channels. It makes it important therefore to run the campaigns on both channels. Whilst adverts on the conventional channels, can cost an arm and a leg, with the right assistance, the cost for a campaign on Social Media will never break the bank account. An understanding of your audience will then help to know how much effort to spend on which channel. How have you migrated your marketing campaigns from conventional to Social Media? We would like to hear from you and don't forget to share this article so that others may be informed.