If you asked someone a few years ago what Social Marketing was most people would look at you with a blank expression, while others would say something like marketing when you were out with friends.
But that all changed with the power of the internet and companies such as Myspace, Facebook, Google + and Twitter. But to be honest there are dozens more out there. Some reaching for the mass market while other like Linkedin are more for the business person, Social Marketing or as it is also known Social Media is here to stay and is growing by the hour. You only need to look at companies such as Facebook and the 800,000,000 registered on the site,and the idea just started in a UNi dorm room by a few guys looking to make friends and as they say the rest is history.
As an eBay Consultant one of the questions is “Does Social Marketing” work for my business, and in most cases I would say yes. There are a few instances where you need to tweak the use of it, but Social Marketing should be part of your overall marketing plan. But you do need to have a plan and not just put random posts up. Keep your social life and business life separate. Business people do not want to know what you got up to at the weekend – unless you are the brand of course, but in normal life keep it separate. Now by all means send your business links to your personal pages, but not the other way round.
Set your self a plan and then work your plan, but remember that when you are on these sites during your working day you are there for work and not fun. The main problem with these sites is you pop on and a few hours later, you are still there, having fun and no work done !!!!
Also you will need to use each site differently. The way you use and talk on Twitter will not work on Google +, and how you talk on Linkedin will not work on Facebook. Each platform has different users and they interact with each other and use different ways of communicating with users.
Get to know how these platforms work, find the platforms that work for you and your business, make a plan of action and then make Social Marketing work for you.






