USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MARKETING

Much has been made about “social media” or websites that offer users the chance to interact with one another.

OF the various ones out there, the two that stand heads and shoulders above the rest are Twitter and Facebook.
   The former is a micro-blogging service while the latter is a social networking site. Neither one was designed for marketing purposes but they can be used quite effectively for such ends.
   Twitter basically allows you to create tiny posts the size of 140 characters – about the size of a single SMS.
   Members are able to subscribe to postings by others members. In short, you can “follow” other Twitter members’ postings. Similarly, other Twitter members can choose to “follow” you.
   As you acquire more followers, you can start interacting with them, creating a social media effect with your Twitter postings.

   Facebook, meanwhile, is the pre-eminent social networking site but thanks to a special tool called “Facebook Pages”, companies can now use it for marketing purposes as well.
   A Facebook Page is different from a typical Facebook homepage, which is meant for members to do social networking. In contrast, a Facebook Page is meant to allow a company to reach out to their target audience (or “fans”, as Facebook calls it).
   Although a Facebook Page has a slightly more static feel to it than a typical Facebook homepage, there is a social element to Facebook Pages. When a company’s fans interact with the company’s Facebook Page, the things they do are automatically generated into social stories on their homepages’ News Feed, which their friends will probably notice whenever they log onto Facebook.
   These friends may not have ever heard of the company before but once they see these social stories generated by the company’s fans, they will discover the company’s Facebook Page. The more engaged the company’s fans are, the more social stories they will generate and the more traffic the Facebook Page will get. You could say it’s a kind of viral marketing feature.
   One really good thing about Facebook Pages is that unlike Facebook homepages, which can only be viewed by Facebook members, these can be viewed by the wider Internet audience (i.e. non-members of Facebook can also view your Facebook Page, although they are not able to interact with it).
   Twittering and Facebooking is a great way for companies to promote their offerings and events to the young, urban and web-savvy.
   One friendly reminder: While the medium is important, the message is even more so. So, get someone in your company who understands these things and put them in charge of your social media marketing initiative. Or engage a consultant who understands such things. If you set up a Twitter or Facebook account and don’t make full use of the social effect of these sites, you might as well not do it.



By Oon Yeoh