The Benefits of Social Media Tools
Social Media is a part of what has become known as Web 2.0. Web 1.0 would describe static websites where information flows one-way from website to reader and any dynamic functionality tends to be socially remote (forms, transactional etc.)
People purchase from a trusted source
If you ‘know’
an expert you take their advice. You trust their decisions and you act accordingly.
Free Advertising:
Customers that evangelise your product. Repeated and permanent mentions of your web site and product on the web
Free Gigantic Focus Groups:
Discussing of the pros and cons of your products in Blogs
- Forums
- Microblogs
- OnLine Mainstream Press
- Review Sites
Detailed Customer Behavior Info:
- Conversion rates from specific campaigns
- Community response to specific campaigns
- Sites where conversations about your product occur
- Sites where traffic to your site originates
- Purchasing behavior in your store
- Products affiliates will group your products with
Relevant Ideas:
- New product ideas
- New campaign ideas
- Product improvement ideas
- Packaging ideas
- Partnership ideas
- Sales Channel ideas
- Ideas generation (the more people the more ideas)
Credibility:
- Recognition of company and staff as experts
- Recognition of company and staff as people (trustworthy)
Naturally Occurring and Unexpected Sales Channels:
Sales can now flow from anywhere, based on the networks of your newevangelists. (e.g. one of your fans is a Sikh and discovers one of your products is perfect for Sikhs, suddenly you have tons of sales from Sikhs!)
Bringing It All Together
Social Media is a platform. You build things on it. In order to build an effective campaign it has to be coherent, participatory, maintainable and acceptable to the public. That’
s tricky, but it has been established that successful campaigns aren’t just acceptable, they are valued by the public. Social media is a social contract – you are inviting your public to work with you.
About seoblogger:
Our SEO blogger is an expert in Web Marketing, Usability and Interface Design. He has been a vital part of The Blue Cube Communications since 2003. As the West Midlands fastest growing web marketing agency, we always strive to maximise return on investment for our customers.
