VA Journal

According to the “Alterian Annual Survey 2009: Are You Ready to Engage?” sixty-six percent of marketing professional will invest in social channels in the 2010/2011 year. However, of those investing in social medial marketing, forty percent said they’d be shifting more than a fifth of their traditional direct marketing budgets towards social marketing functions. Also, thirty-six percent of the respondents already have invested in social media marketing and analysis tools.

So, what is social media marketing and what is the big deal?

Social media marketing is the process of marketing your website or business through social media channels such as social networks, online communities, blogs, and other online outlets. This is an innovative and important approach of marketing because it can create a massive amount of website traffic for little to no monetary cost. The sole purpose of this method is to make your business and website profitable over time by creating a word-of-mouth buzz about the services and/or products that you offer. The more you effectively promote yourself through the social media channels, the more supporters you will gain which will ultimately lead to higher website traffic.

Is it really that simple?

Believe it or not, it is just as simple as it is stated to implement social media marketing however, there is a cost of time commitment involved in effectively spreading the word about your business and/or services which is why some business owners hire freelancer to do it. Conversely, if you don’t have the funds to hire a freelancer, you can easily do the marketing yourself and become very successful at doing it.

However, you should keep in mind that social media marketing is not a quick marketing tactic that will generate a ton of money for you in the beginning. Its purpose is to build and maintain long-term relationships that will eventually lead to loyal paying customers.

 Why so much negative reviews if it is so effective?

There are several bloggers and marketing professionals that feel as though social media marketing is not the most effective form of marking and is a temporary method that will eventually die out. They claim that the tactic is not as simple as it seems and its benefits are misleading. I choose to disagree with this but do believe that you have to choose your social media outlets wisely.

The fact of the matter, the use of the Internet and social marketing is growing on rapid basis and as business owners or entrepreneurs, it is your job to decide which social media outlets will best fit your business and target market. This means, you should have a social media marketing strategy in place before you begin joining networks and writing blogs. While Facebook and Twitter are very popular sites, they may not be the outlets that are best for business. Instead, you may benefit more by joining a site such as Small Business Online Community.

 So…

A word to the wise, don’t believe the hype that social media marketing is not an effective and efficient form of marketing because it is. There are age old companies such as Motorola  and Ford Motor Company that are one the social media marketing bandwagon and is succeeding at it. Like these and other businesses that have successfully mastered social media marketing, you just have to find what works for you and your business.