Well, you have heard a lot about Social media and your competition is out there using it, so how do you start yourself? The first question is of course: Do you need to use social media to market your company, product or service? Social media is not a magical new tool that will solve all your problems. If your product is not good, then social media will not fix it. Also, do not make the mistake to try to use social media for a quick and simple solution. Social media is a potentially strong tool to market your product, but it still needs a high investment in people/work and money.
What not to do!
A lot of companies out there think that creating a Facebook page is the way to effectively use social media. You just need to visit some of these pages to see that is incorrect. If a company or product page on facebook only has 200 followers after half a year or more, then obviously they are doing something wrong.
Most marketing managers are not comfortable with the fact that using social media means they have to listen to their customers and so they keep throwing their marketing message at them and sending eMail newsletters wit a “no-reply” address. If for some reason you cannot, or are not allowed to receive messages from your customers, then social media might not be your piece of bread, which brings us to what you should do if you want to engage in social media.
What you should do
The big challenge for companies is that they have to give away control. Social media is all about giving the customer control, listening to what the customer wants and reacting to those needs. Most people who are using social media websites want to hear what their peers think, not what a company wants to tell them. That means marketing managers will have to accept a lot of bad talk about their products and company. That is part of the new reality. However, the trick is to use this communication to find out what people need and to give it to them. To do this you need to start like any other marketing project, with an objective, a target group, market research and measurable expected results.
