Social Media - What every business wants

Every business wants to be in Social Media, but not many know why, or how they can successfully take the plunge. Many businesses try, and good on them, but it is a sad thing to see a Facebook page with a thousand fans and nothing being said by the company who started it. Such a waste. Sigh.

But what is Social Media?

Social media has turned the internet into the worlds largest water cooler. It is a meeting place, a virtual mall, a barbecue, where people hang out and talk. It is a complaints forum. It is a commerce commission run and moderated by the public.

Social Media (a term I am still not happy with, but which I like much more than “Web 2.0”) is used to describe all of the new ways in which the internet is used to engage with people. Think of the traditional web site as an online brochure. “Read what we want you to read. Now give us a call, or go away. Thanks for coming.”

Social Media encourages people to post their own comments, or other content such as videos and photos. It is two-way communication through channels like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace, and Flikr.

At its best, it is a self-segmenting collection of your target market. It is word of mouth advertising, which can instantly be picked up and spread around the world.

At its worst, it is a vessel for frustrated and angry customers to vent and spread their negative feelings about your brand.

Both of these aspects should be important to your business. At the very least you should be listening to the conversations taking place, but how much better would it be to direct the conversation, and use it for your own ends?

While the nature of Social Media means that may not always be possible, Skinny Marketing can empower you to be able to take advantage of any opportunities and limit any threats.

Social Media should be a cheap way for you to communicate with your customers, and it will give you much more engagement than traditional above the line methods. However it is important that the strategies behind any forays are sound. This is where Skinny Media specializes.

We will find your target market for you and help develop a launch strategy and a content plan. We can train your staff in the management and moderation of your channels, and then we will back off and leave you to it. We will happily offer advice and support as required, but we have no interest in billing you 4 hours a day to manage ongoing Social Media campaigns. We will show you how to do it yourself, without using too much of your own resourcing.

It is your voice which should be joining the water cooler talk, it should be your staff hanging out at the barbecue with your customers. We will just introduce you to the other people there, and show you the kinds of things they like.

So give us a call (09) 488 7485 or an email today. Let’s have a chat about what you are doing, and what you could be doing.