January 2012 - TWEET, TWEET
Social Networking as a Marketing Tool was the subject at our January meeting at the Mumbai Thai. Our website designer, Larch Gauld, gave us an overview of Twitter, Blogging, Facebook and LinkedIn. It’s an area we can’t ignore and for many will become an essential marketing tool.
Blogs are a good source of information and expertise, but must be updated regularly. Twitter is limited to 140 characters and again is a way of sharing information about what’s new in your business, perhaps to promote a limited special offer. A hash tag can link in to your search engine for more detailed information about your product or service.
Facebook too, can be linked to your website. You create a personal profile page and a business page, showing photos, sales information, special offers and anything else you want to include. It’s fast, it’s interactive and your wall of 'posts' can be viewed by hundreds of actual and potential customers, probably including many you never thought of. LinkedIn is for business to business (as opposed to business to consumer) similar to Facebook. One of the problems with Twitter and Facebook is that you can become addicted and spend too much of your precious time 'chatting'!
All these are FREE, except that LinkedIn will charge if you wish to search a specific profile. What came across to me was: perhaps use Facebook to spread your business message, Blogs for your customer feedback, Twitter for short, sharp 'sound bites' and LinkedIn for business to business.
Some important messages: research your competitors; define your customers, age, gender, needs etc; define your own purpose; update regularly; discipline your time management; most important - observe the social networking etiquette, be yourself and be polite. THINK before you press that button. In fact, join Larch’s 'Facebooked' course on 2 February to learn how to set up your own business Facebook page - email Larch on info@virtualsupportservices.co.uk
