Tips on Social Media Marketing

I was reading a scholarly article in Business Horizons called, “Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media,” by Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein. I found the article very interesting.  It was talking about how to be successful when using social media marketing. Today social media is a top priority for businesses to be successful and connect with consumers effectively. Social media has not been fully discovered yet, and the main issue is that users have such limited understanding on how to use social media. The article was created to create some clarification; it presented advice for companies to properly utilize social media. Below are some useful tips about using a social media website:

1. Choose carefully- there are many social media applications that a business can use but you cannot participate in all of them because when social media marketing you have to stay active! It is one main key to success with social media marketing.

2. Integration is key- you need to keep up with your corporate image.  Traditional media and social media should hold a relationship still because, in the consumer’s eyes, they are both part of the same corporate image. 

3. Access for all- all of the employees should be able to have permission to access the company blog/ Facebook/ twitter etc. One possible approach involves defining groups of employees whose primary objective is the management of corporate Social Media; all other staff members are treated as occasional participants. Under this scenario, the first group is given administrator rights—which allows the opening of new discussion threads and deletion of inappropriate posts. This will really assist in keeping the social media active. 

4. Build relationships- STAY ACTIVE! Make sure the information is always fresh, updated, and engaging.  A great example is Jonathan Schwartz, who is the CEO of Sun Microsystems.  He has a blog that always talks about his corporate strategy, new product development projects, and company values, and he replies directly to correspondence received. Social Media is less about explaining why your product is better than anyone else's than it is about engaging others in open and active conversation.

5. Be interesting- if you want to keep customers engaged you have to listen to your customers and find out what they would like to hear and what they would like to talk about. Find out what they find interesting, and then post comments that meet these expectations.  An awesome example is Starbucks.  With “My Starbucks Idea,” customers can submit new ideas for the company.  These ideas are voted by other customers, and then the winner’s comments are implemented.

6. Don’t keep it structured- not everything has to be structured.  It can simply be like a conversation between two people. An example is Bill Marriott; he is the CEO of Marriott.  He will go on trips and post about them in a blog.  It is very casual conversation, and it is worded in such a way as if he were speaking to a close friend.  This really creates a relationship between Bill and the consumers. 

7.  Show respect and be honest- even with harsh comments from consumers, the person behind the social media marketing needs to be respectful and try their best to deal with negative consumers. An example below is the marketing department from Nestle.  This situation did not turn out to great for Nestle. So, be nice and respectful when responding to customers!