Social Media Management - Facebook Marketing and Twitter Marketing

Whether you are actively using social media marketing as part of your business’s marketing strategy, it is here now having an impact. The numbers of people already using social media is staggering and its growth is astronomical. In 2009, for example, the population of Facebook surpassed the USA. More than 500 million people now use Facebook. In 2009 its population more than doubled. Having a Facebook marketing and a Twitter marketing strategy is essential. Large corporations know this and over half have implemented social media management strategies. Pepsi Cola, for example, pulled out of the Super Bowl for the first time in 23 years, and put their advertising dollars into social media marketing. Does your company have a social media management strategy in place?

Why is Social Media so powerful? We all know how effective word of mouth marketing is. Social media networks are like word of mouth marketing on steroids. Whether you are aware of it or not, people may be talking about your establishment, either building up your reputation or tearing it down. You need to be proactive and make certain you are taking advantage of the power of social media. It is time to set up a Facebook marketing strategy and a Twitter marketing strategy now.

One way to do this is by having an active Twitter presence and a Facebook Fan Page. Both are free to set up and use, but require a consistent strategy. You must be part of the Social Buzz about your industry and business. Interacting with potential and present customers through status updates and participating in conversations is essential.

An essential part of your strategy must be, not only participating in and engaging audiences, but monitoring the buzz. Through monitoring public conversations on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, you gain invaluable information, not only about the reputation of your company or brand, but about your competitors as well. Monitoring social networks is one of the best, quickest and cheapest ways of keeping a pulse on your industry. And, if you find that false information is being spread that can potentially damage your brand or company’s reputation, you can represent your company in a positive, authentic way and build credibility and a positive image.

When you find that there are complaints, by monitoring social media networks, you can quickly respond, steering people to your customer service and other marketing programs where it is easier to track and manage individual customer and prospect interactions.

When done correctly, actively engaging in and monitoring social networking sites can help you or your brand become more visible and known to prospective customers. This, in turn, can generate leads. The difficulty of social media marketing, however, is that it takes a lot of time and energy to keep ahead of all the different social networking platforms. While using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are free, it take much time and knowhow to carry out a proper marketing strategy.

Social media marketing is very different than traditional marketing. It is all about engaging, befriending, and community building. Knowing the correct mix of content and engagement is crucial. If you only use Twitter to talk about your product, for example, without engaging socially with the people you are talking to, you will not be accepted into the community mindset. Whether you do it in house, or hire a Social Media Manager, you must have the time, resources and people allocated to your social media marketing.

The face of Social Media Marketing and its influence on traditional marketing is changing daily. The companies who will be successful will be those who understand and take advantage of these changes. It is time you have a Social Media Marketing and Management Strategy in place. Do it now before your competitors catch wind of its power and beat you to the punch.