The Top 4 Social Media Marketing Misconceptions

-Social networking creates chaos for brand images:

-Engaging in social media marketing does not open your brand up to any more – or less – feedback from satisfied – or unsatisfied – customers.  What it will do is show your customers that you care.  It allows them the opportunity to provide feedback as they see fit.  When they provide this feedback, you need to respond to it in a prompt, caring manner.  Of course, you want to minimize negative feedback.  But don’t make the mistake of thinking that dissatisfied customers need your social networking pages up and running in order to lodge their complaints. They don’t.

-Social media engagement is simply a passing trend:

-Human beings have always had a deeply rooted need for regular communication.  Social media engagement is a very natural digital progression that utilizes modern technologies to capacitate efficient communication.  That is not a trend!  In fact, to get a realistic view of the situation, you need to realize that:

-Visitors to social networking websites are increasing at three times the rate of those to all other Internet-based applications;

-Social networking is now ranked as the fourth most popular online activity.  It even rates above personal emailing.

-My business doesn’t need a professional to help with social media engagement:

-You need to address the massive power of social media marketing very seriously.  Rapid and substantial gains in targeted traffic can explode your profit margins!  Social media engagement can transform your business, but there are rules to follow.  This is an art.  There are specific techniques and procedures that must be implemented.  Do not take it lightly.

-Social media engagement is only beneficial for certain types of brands:

-Again, this is far from the truth.  The fact is that any product or service that is marketable has an audience out there looking for information.  Every audience benefits from and craves efficient, caring communication.  In a nutshell, you will generate more revenue when you provide real-time customer care, and thereby create customer loyalty, via effective social media engagement techniques.

By avoiding the common social media marketing misconceptions listed above, you can begin to formulate your personalized plan for social networking effectiveness.  It’s very important to keep in mind the branding strength that entities such as FaceBook, Twitter, MySpace and others possess. Google loves them because it has to.  Multiple hundreds of millions of visitors every month cannot be denied.  You will do well to realize that social media engagement is here to stay – and that the sooner you position your brand within these transforming networks, the better.

Social media engagement on various social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and others must be implemented as an integral component of every business plan.  It is no longer an optional concept.  The numbers are unmistakable: if you want to grow your business, then you need to create personalized avenues of communication for your perspective customers.  And there is no better way to do that currently than to remain actively engaged in social media marketing techniques.

You need to realize that every action that you take online is branding you. You are a business now.  You are an entity.  You need to give thought to developing your personal brand optimally with every move that you make.

Tips for maximizing the efficiency of your online reputation management endeavors:

➢    Set up your social networking sites with your own name.  Using aliases, pen names or otherwise will not help establish your branding effectiveness.  In other words, you need to create an interlinked “web” of these powerful social networks – that all point to you.  This is profoundly important because it establishes your presence in the major search engines like Google.
➢    Try to get the exact same username set up for all of your social media engagement profiles.  Similar is not close enough.
➢    When you add any type of content to your social networking sites, keep your online reputation management plan in mind.  Don’t put out low-quality, irrelevant material.  Remember: your digital footprint will last a lifetime – plus the lifetimes of your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren…

Facebook alone has more than 122,000,000 visitors each month.  If you add in Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn and others, you literally have multiple hundreds of millions of opportunities to gain targeted followers.  As an Internet marketer, this is a virtual playground that cannot be ignored.

Take action starting today to develop a centralized presence across your own grouping of social media engagement sites.  These social networking powerhouses are now about far more than casual communication amongst personal friends and family; they are avenues for creating success in your life.  Start thinking about your plan for online reputation management right away.  The effects are never-ending.

Intellectual capital is not always creative, however. Sometimes it is more esoteric, or sometimes it is more day to day. It does not always have to be the brilliant, one lined zinger of the advertising world that is considered to be intellectual capital. Sometimes it can be so much more. Perhaps Phil in accounting has a method of listing assets that saves fifteen minutes from each client’s ledger. If you have one hundred clients, then Phil has just saved your company around 25 man hours of time. Phil has increased productivity and as long as there is no decline in accuracy, it is a huge bonus to everyone.

The creative mind does not always have to be the one who is hired expressly for that purpose. When a company asks a freelance writer to write copy for them, they are not saying that they do not trust or believe in anyone in the organization, they are simply saying that they may not have the time to get the task done. Outsourcing a few articles or other information is a common enough practice and a very valuable one.

The marketing department is focusing on a new campaign for a tricky type of product. This one refuses to be marginalized or defined. There is no one set niche that is obvious to even the most experienced of the niche marketers. They are not sure of how to focus on this product because the demographics are so wide and scattered. They do not have time to create good content for the website so they outsource it. By default, they are creating a reciprocal intellectual capital relationship- the writer will have to do some basic research for the content they are being asked to create. Perhaps they will realize that they too have a need for this product as well. The content, once completed will serve to educate those who read it. Both the writer of the content and its eventual reader will establish an intellectual relationship where information is passed to the intended audience, whoever that may be.

Let’s take one product from your last four: an exercise circle we will call the AB-Joy. This product, while certainly no different from many other exercisers on the market, caught your eye by speaking to your needs- the ones that were identified by market research to be the ones most important to your age group or sex. Let’s say that you are a 35 year old woman who has had children. That is your demographic group. The psychology of marketing will then analyze what are the key concerns for this group. In most cases the women in this age group would like to: lose weight, flatten their stomach (lose their post-baby bulge), and narrow their waistlines. It may also be suggested, either subtly or expressly that they will regain their youthful appearance as well. For the next level in the age demographic, these benefits would be described as well as the strengthening of the lower back and assistance with posture. As the women move into new age demographics, the key benefits that are suggested by the marketing campaign as well as their own key needs will continue to change.

Smart marketers, those who keep the psychology of buying in mind, will of course realize that needs change- make up may start off advertising that it makes you look more “sophisticated” (read: older). In the next phase, the advertising will move up to exploring the benefits of having clearer and healthier looking skin by using these products. And so the progression will continue. Of course the marketing will target the younger crowd; those are the new customers just entering the buying world. But, they will continue moving through the demographics with other customers, analyzing the needs that will drive them to once again buy one of their products.

Psychology, the study of how the mind works is very important to the successful marketer. Knowing how a bit of interest can turn into a sale is vital to making that and many other sales. You have to be able to read the demographics and to read between the lines. Return to both the Ab-Joy and the makeup line for a moment. What are they actually trying to sell you, what need are they really trying to fulfill with what they are selling? The AB-Joy may purport to sell “physical fitness” but in truth they are selling self-esteem, the ability to feel better about your physical being. As you look better, you will take on more confidence and start behaving in new ways. Everyone notices these changes immediately. Did the AB-Joy truly change your life? Not exactly, but the psychology behind what made you buy it in the first place suggests that you simply needed a gentle nudge to make a few changes. This exercise machine, far from being a magic cure-all was a tangible way to kick off better habits that were actually the reason behind your positive changes.

Brand image is important, not only because it locks a product into the consumer’s mind, but because it does so with a pure economy of words. If a product can come up with a strong enough branding image, all others of its kind will be relegated to the bottom of the heap, unable to climb out from the shadows. Are there off brand, store brand and regional brand cola flavored sodas? Of course the answer to that question is yes, but they only survive in the market by their undercutting prices, not by head to head competition. It is the rare person who says that they prefer a Royal Crown over the two big dogs, Pepsi and Coke, yet RC remains on the shelves and by all accounts probably sells fairly well, all things considered.

People brand themselves as well, regardless of whether they are the CEO of a huge corporation, a small business owner or the young graduate just starting at the bottom rung of her career ladder. Even the freelance writer is a brand onto themselves- and depending on how hard they work and hustle, their brand image can be a positive one or leave a lot to be desired.

Remember when you were asked to think of three soda drinks? Now think of three people who exemplify the quality of “honesty”. Did you think of the three people easily or did you have to work at it? Were the names of those you know personally or famous people that you admire? Every person that you come in contact or that you have knowledge of have an image, which becomes their brand. We know them by their brand, their brand image.  We know that Phil from accounting is “honest” and “hard working” but may not know that he plays baseball every Saturday or that his wife’s name is Jillian. His brand, the image that he is known for at the office is what is the important factor in this situation. If we knew Phil from the baseball games, we would possibly not know nor care that he had the highest grade point average of his graduating class or that his accounting department lead thinks that he is a financial genius.

What image do you want to present to your professional contacts and coworkers? Whenever you are at a meeting, or on a business trip you present your image, your brand. If you make a bad impression, you harm your image and may not be asked to go back to represent the company at the upcoming trip. Opportunities may start passing you by because of it. Negative branding may then slow or stall your career.

Branding, whether for a product or for personal branding is rarely permanent. As soon as a campaign is released, a new one is already in the works. By the time the marketing images for a product are becoming stale in the target audience’s mind, a new one is ready to recapture their attention. The product did not change at all, only the way it was presented to us, and yet we sit up and take notice of it.

Personal branding works the same way. So, we made a poor impression at the business meeting last week. A new one this Friday is a new opportunity to really wow them with our knowledge and our poise. We can work hard to learn everything we can about the topic being presented. We can make sure that our physical appearance is beyond approach and that mentally we are laser beam focused on what we need to do. Just as Pepsi changes its image, but not its inherent properties, we can present a different image of ourselves to our coworkers but not have to change who we really are.

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Consumer engagement is the entire purpose behind all forms of social based media.  From times past when all information transference occurred by storytelling – to novels – to radio – to television – to cable television – and now the Internet, gaining the attention of prospective consumers, in order to introduce them to products and information, is the entire name of the game.

The evolution of informational transference is happening – and always has been!

The computer and the television are both roughly 60 years old now.  And as technological evolution would have it, personal computing – specifically the Internet – is far more popular, especially amongst America’s and the world’s youth, than is television.  The children have lost their interest in television.  If they wish to view a show, they can do that on their computers – as well as 1000 other things.  Make no mistake; computers have become the primary vehicles for delivering all forms of media and entertainment.

Consumer engagement has always been required for the success of any media outlet.

Whether you’re talking about old radio shows, old television shows or modern Internet applications, actively engaging your visitors is a key element of success.  You need for your audience to have a role in the outcome.  They desire to, and need to, interact with what they are giving their time and attention to.  The success of widespread communicatory vehicles has always been based upon creating an extreme interest in others.  People love to feel like they’re a part of the lives, emotions, situations, thoughts and feelings of other individuals.  It engages them.  It holds their attention.  And it makes modern marketers loads of cash.

Digital convergence is all about gaining consumer recognition and selling products!

Radio stations, television stations, cable television stations, major motion pictures, and Internet 2.0 technologies are all driven by marketing – selling products and services.  The information age was catalyzed in the 1960s and 1970s as people for and against Vietnam, rock and rollers, women’s lib advocates, black rights advocates, hippies and loads of other groups realized that computers could greatly enhance the success of their movements.  It became understood that connecting people was the most solid foundational building block for change.

As time passed and technologies grew more sophisticated, micro computing naturally became the huge phenomenon that it is today.  Society simply must continue to utilize current technologies, and to develop ever more efficient technologies, in order to advance.  In essence, the evolution of the human race itself has become substantially dependent upon Internet based technologies - social media networking in particular.

The world is directly in the midst of a renaissance period – again.  This is a time of never before seen opportunity.  Forward-thinking individuals will recognize the awesome power presented to them to position themselves early on as Internet-based technologies continue their wildly successful reign as the planet’s leading vehicles for consumer engagement.  Social media networking sites on the Internet are connecting people, uniting people, educating people, empowering people – and creating massive change worldwide.

Begin your participation right now!

There is no magical way to drive the targeted traffic that you desire.  It takes work and a multifaceted strategy.

Everyone on the planet is either already wired – or they want to become wired.  Strategic social media techniques produce massive results when it comes to driving targeted traffic.  At a minimum, you need to integrate the following social networking sites into your comprehensive marketing plan:

➢    FaceBook;
➢    YouTube;
➢    Twitter;
➢    MySpace;

In fact, small businesses gain more benefits from social media marketing efforts than they do from email marketing, article marketing, press releases and SEM combined.  It’s nearly impossible to grow your small business without it.  Strategic social media advertising techniques do more than help you create a loyal following and drive targeted traffic; they dramatically increase your profit margins.  And that’s what business is all about!

By using social media marketing, you are effectively able to demonstrate your ability to think outside of the box.  You can show perspective customers exactly what you are about and what your organization represents.  You can get inside of their minds and touch on exactly what you know they desire.  You need to get creative though.  Don’t be afraid!  Express yourself openly and be sure to represent high quality – as well as the specific messages of value that you have to provide.

Additionally, recognize the “social” in social media marketing.  Be personable.  Talk with people openly.  Offer responses to the comments that they may leave on your sites.  Invest some of your time and become a great communicator. People need that.  They need to know that you’re interested in what they’re saying to you.  And when you convince them that you are, that is what will bring them back to your site again and again.

Also, once you get them to your websites, offer them something that they can’t refuse.  Give them a 50% discount on merchandise.  Offer them something for free.  Use strategic social media marketing techniques to generate an exciting buzz about your opportunity and/or organization.  Driving targeted traffic, creating a following and building a loyal customer base is all made so much easier when you utilize the free, very effective powers of social media websites.