Social Media Marketing in a Nutshell
Fundamentals of Social Media Marketing is a tutorial series which teaches you how to utilize the power of social media channels to get more exposure, supporters and customers for your site and business. This is the second article in the series.
I previously talked about the importance of social media marketing and I reckon most of you are interested in learning how to use social media to your website or business’s advantage. So let’s get started.
First of all, we’ll take a look at the central concept which should underlie all your social media marketing efforts. Understanding the big idea behind social media marketing is crucial because it gives you the building blocks you require for guidelines and procedures which drive action.
Let’s begin with a brief introduction to social media along with an analogy which explains how social media marketing should ideally work for any website.
An Introduction to Social Media: What is it?
The meaning of the term ’social media’ can be derived if we examine both of the words which constitute it. Media generally refers to advertising and the communication of ideas or information through publications/channels. Social implies the interaction of individuals within a group or community.
Taken together, social media simply refers to communication/publication platforms which are generated and sustained by the interpersonal interaction of individuals through the specific medium or tool. Wikipedia has a general definition of the term:
Social Media is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into content publishers. It is the shift from a broadcast mechanism to a many-to-many model, rooted in conversations between authors, people, and peers.
Social media uses the “wisdom of crowds” to connect information in a collaborative manner. Social media can take many different forms, including Internet forums, message boards, weblogs,wikis, podcasts,pictures, and video.
Social media is made up of user-driven websites that are usually centered around a specific focus (Digg = news) or feature (del.icio.us = bookmarking). Sometimes, the community itself is the main attraction (Facebook and Myspace = networking).
Think of Social Media Channels as Attention Funnels
People gather together to use social media. They are usually segmented by their choice of a community, their interests and the way they use the social site/tool. Natural peer recommendations, editorial links or paid advertisements on social media sites will send you interested individuals and potential customers.
Think of these social media channels as funnels, pipes with a wide conical mouth and a narrow stem. The purpose of a funnel is simple: to enable liquid or substances to flow into containers with a small opening. They facilitate access and movement.
Your website is the container. Most visitors enter through the wide topical lens of social media channels and exit them to reach your narrow-focus website. Example: someone searches Youtube for yoga videos, finds an original video you uploaded and notice the URL to your yoga site. They click through and visit your site.
Some social media communities may have the exact topical focus as your website and they can be used more overtly as funnels which faciliate lead acquisition and permission marketing. Example: Create a contest tailored for the social community or be an official sponsor. Participants register for the contest, giving your company the permission to contact them for future messages/initiatives.
All social media funnels are fueled by your proposition, your bait, your attention magnet; things that captivate interest and pull visitors into the heart of your site. You are responsible for the evolution of visitors from a mere prospect to an engaged opportunity (interested reader) and possibly a closed sale (loyal supporter).
Apart from the proverbial purpose of getting traffic and attention for your website. Social media marketing also involves the process of promoting and spreading ideas among targeted audiences. SMM can also be used as a calculated tactic to nurture feelings or goodwill towards a specific event/website or business.
Remember this well: social media marketing is not merely about hitting the frontpage of Digg or any other social news website. It is a strategic and methodical process to establish your influence, reputation and brand within communities of potential customers, readers or supporters.
And this is what social media marketing is in a nutshell.
Coming Soon: Developing Your Social Media Marketing Objectives
The next article in this series on DIY social media marketing will cover the all important process of setting your objectives. It will lay out the goals you can reasonably pursue and explain how they will influence the course of action to take.
Look out for it sometime next week.
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I agree with what you have said maki, social media marketing is not about hitting the front page of digg but it’s how you get to know other and make sure others know who you are. Building your rep is more important and it should be kept that way.
Nice article again Maki, i need to start updating my blog often. Quick question about social media marketing as i do a lot of it. Do you think its better for a webmaster to get a lot of traffic from a more specific social media outlet like lets say the traffic you get from sphinn as opposed to the traffic that you get from a more broader network like stumble upon. Even though stumble upon can send you a lot more traffic, is the traffic from the more specific network of a higher quality?
Agree Maki, SMM is a bit more complex then everybody else believes.You have to know how to build SMM traffic, how to leverage SMM traffic, what are the best web 2.0 portals for your respective niche etc.
In your example, you mention having a contest. I’ve got a writing contest, and it is a great way to reach out to bloggers, who already write, and already understand the power or writing to promote their business online.
Another great article Maki. I will have to wait and see what else you will come up with on DIY Social Media sequel. I for one don’t seem to devote as much time or use it to my blogs advantage, atleast not yet.
Hoping to learn more from you and applying it in action and seeing the outcome. Thanx again!
Great article…I guess sometimes we try hard to get to that front page…when we should just let it happen. Thanks for this post.
With all the great points about social media there is also a negative side to it. Nobody warns us of the addictive substances contained in social media.
It would be interesting to see what your ideas are on Doug’s question. I was wondering how far we should go in terms of using all these social media sites as a blogger?
I think most of us are now thinking of using social media as a tool to promote your blog or drive traffic. That’s only using the “media” part of social media.
We have to take time to know each community and interact with them in order to derive the greatest benefits of social media.
Yes, that includes even the infamous digg communities.
Maki i am really enjoying the series so far and can’t wait for the next on DIY social media marketing.
Your point on social media marketing being all about getting attention for your product/website instead of about promoting and spreading ideas is just so true. Bmunch’s summation is really spot on, its not about how many visitors you can get to your website its about community involvement and building relationships, because it is this aspect that will yield long-tail benefits.
@Doug
It all depends on your goals really. If you want more people to follow your blog or purchase your product, the social channel you target should obviously be as relevant as possible. For example, Sphinn or webmaster forum traffic will convert into Dosh Dosh readers much better than StumbleUpon because of the high relevance.
The traffic may be less but its highly targeted nature makes it valuable. Channels that can send large numbers of traffic can be used for brand exposure and possibly links/bookmarks. Sometimes the sheer amount of traffic may even give you more conversions than a tiny but relevant community. Personally I would target both broad and narrow-focus channels for any website I own.
@ Monika
Yes, social media can be very addictive… and time consuming. It’s important to prioritize which social channels matter and this is something you can easily do one you get a rough idea of how much exposure/conversions you get from each one. Some are low-maintenance and do not require much community engagement… these channels can take a backseat to the more important ones that matter for your site.
@ Grace
Definitely. Relationship building is important and shows that your business/site is in it for the long haul and that you’re not just a fly-by spammer who drops a link and refuses to communicate bilaterally.
@ Everyone else
Thanks for your comments!
Hi Maki, this is a good article. Social media marketing plays a crucial role in my blog. you can get caught in in so many social media sites that’s it’s hard to keep up. I would say pick 3 or 4 and get well known before moving onto others. How you choose the 3 or 4 is tricky, and it depends on your strategy and your goals.
Social is not so social as it appears at the first sigth. Many “social” projects are occupied by some groups of people who just promote their sites. So many “social” will burst as soap bubbles soon. It just a question of time.
Only real relationships will stay.
Targeting isn’t just about subject, there’s also tone.
Many forums on my subject, cats, are not going to attract the kind of readers who would enjoy my blog. I angle in from behavioral psychology. The kinds of forums devoted to posting cute kitten pictures would not net as many potential readers as the problem solving forums would.
actually,social media networking is not that easy as it seems.Because of the fact that everyone is jamming into the system such as Digg to post the news.If you want to get listed,the only way is that you have a bunch of friends who can put your rep up at for example digg.I personally would prefer word of mouth marketing.Social media networking might help but not to a certain extent compared to Word of mouth marketing.
Social media is the wave of the future. Look at sites like Digg and how popular they are already. Great post enjoyed reading and learned some aspects I did not know.
The only method of advertising I use is SMM. Can this tool be used as a sole marketing method or should it be tied into other marketing methods? How well does SMM stand by itself?
I beleive social media affects and aware of the new networks that was happening in our day to day lives. Weather it is good or bad it affects the social media to follow or not to follow but again it is us who will decide for the good of this media effects on us. Being open with this kind of decision we will have wise enough to decide the benefits on it.
I love how you talk about pulling visitors to your site rather than pushing them there. You have to have good content to attract people to your site and it isn’t necessary to cross the line of bothering them.