Follow Me
The explosion in social media popularity gives you a variety of fascinating ways to promote your company. But you must learn how to deploy these methods correctly to be successful.
September 2009 By Katie ShortIn times of economic struggle, businesses often seek innovative and cost-effective ways to market their products and services to their customers.
Conveniently, social media is especially useful in this regard; not only are the services free, but their popularity is exploding. Social media services like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, which are revolutionizing how Americans consume and share news and information and build social communities, are quickly becoming the latest cost-effective, innovative ways for businesses to inform and engage customers.
In the custom installation industry, a growing number of manufacturers are looking to social media platforms to build and enhance their brand awareness and reach out to their dealer and customer bases. As many marketing budgets unfortunately are being slashed as part of cost-cutting efforts, social media in its many forms is emerging as a viable and affordable alternative.
What Is Social Media?
Social media essentially allows any individual, organization or business to become a content provider, transforming anyone with access to the Internet from readers into publishers and participants. Social media represents a shift in the conversation, a new paradigm of news and media and its distribution networks. Businesses have a unique opportunity to utilize social-media tools, many of which are free, to build powerful and highly useful Web presences and, most importantly, connect with customers, dealers and vendors in a unique and direct way.
In the past, a Web site and an e-mail address were pretty much the extent of most companies' online presences. Today, those more passive forms of communication are enhanced by more active forms through social media. Instead of just posting a video or a white paper on a company Web site, a company can now "tweet" a link to its community of Twitter followers. Instead of setting up a formal focus group, a company can ask its fans on its Facebook page to provide instant feedback.
Instead of hoping that a local or national TV network picks up or covers a new product or service introduction, a company can post its own video on YouTube, in the hopes that users, dealers and even traditional media will see it and inquire further. Social media can even be used to provide customer service; for example. If a customer has a problem, he or she could tweet it at your company and get a more-or-less instant response.
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