A Social media marketing is not a mere marketing add-on. Neither is it a blogging experiment whose purpose remains forever unclear. It is not a justification for conversations, engagement, and whatever buzzwords generally find their way into a discussion about social media. More than anything, a social media program is neither simple nor easy. It is not what most people think.
A fully deployed social media program is a completely integrated communications mechanism that amplifies the impact of every function within an organization by leveraging the power of human networks via social networking platforms. It is complement to all other forms of tactical communications, nor a replacement for any of them.
Now tat we have touched on what SMM is, let’s discuss what a social media program does.
A SMP can provide organizations with detailed, virtually instant feedback from customers and valuable market intelligence. Used with specialized monitoring, measurement and analysis tools, it can amplify not only activities, but the acquisition and analysis of valuable data, from consumer insights to the calculation of ROI. A SMP also brings into heavily compartmentalized companies the potential for enhanced collaboration, increased departmental efficiency, cost reductions, and of course growth of business.
Forget about blogs, Facebook, Twitter and all the social media channels and platforms for a moment, and focus instead on what matters to your organization:Is lead generation an area of your business that could use some help? You can create a SMP that will help you acquire new leads. Are you losing customers to competitors? You can develop a SMP whose focus will be to help you enhance your customer retention activities. A SMP can plug into every type of business function you nerd it to and help you make it work better, smarter, and faster.
A fully developed SMM program can, for example, protect a brand in times of crisis, alert an organization’s decision makers to new trends in consumer interests and sentiment, influence hundreds of thousand of consumers discover a company, organization, or product at a fraction of the cost of other forms of “traditional” media.
Because mobile devices such as cellular telephones increasingly incorporate social media capabilities that go beyond simple texting, voice, and email digital social networks now live on mobile devices, not just personal computers. This matters because portability means both increased use and lower barriers of adoption. Because of this, the acceleration in global social media use is rewriting the way humans communicate, share ideas, recommend products, and connect with each other. Not being a part of this means not being a part of the world. Just as the telephone, email, and mobility could not be held at bay by companies reluctant to accept change, social media cannot be ignored either. The company that chooses to resist this latest step in the inexorable evolution of business will find itself having to work increasingly hard just to stay afloat. Conversely, the company that chooses to adapt and implements a business- focused SMP will have the opportunity to gain an advantage over its competition at very little cost and improve its position in the market.