Social Media Marketing - Spinning Red Plates - Facebook, Twitter, Youtube

Stagnation is death for a website. You have to look at your social media profile as your company's second website (or fourth website, as the case may be). It's a good idea to treat your Facebook profile, your Twitter account, or your Myspace profile as equal to your "real" website. For example, it is important to be aware of your websites' statistics such as visitor count, referring sites, and keywords. You'll want to cultivate good statistics on all of your sites.

Managing all of your separate accounts together takes a considerable amount of time. When running a business you're already juggling multiple balls, and knives, and stabby things like marketing, finance/taxes, and personnel. Your company's website is like a spinning red plate over to the side on a stick. And adding Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Youtube, or Linkedin is like adding six more spinning plates. You have to keep all of them moving or they'll fall one by one as they lose momentum.

Social media marketing is about being social. It's about making relationships and communicating. Marketing in general is about communication. So that's the rule of thumb to remember when deciding what plates to add to your spinning act: Marketing is about communication.

What will facilitate communication between your company and your target market? Face to face communication is best for business, but Facebook and other social networking sites can enhance relationships by staying in touch and at the front of mind. These social media networks may also make communication with large groups of people more efficient, both in time and budget.

Here are things to think about:

• Social media marketing is just another tool for marketing, like print, video, and business lunches.
• Look at your goals, plan accordingly, and pick your marketing tools or spinning red plates or whatever mixed metaphor that aligns with your goals and plan
• Your company may not even need social media marketing.
• Marketing is about communication.
• Ask what will best help communication.
• Face to face communication is best for business, but efficiency is sometimes a concern.
• Visit us on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.

~Josh