Social Media Marketing

On July the 4th, NTBT hosted a presentation by Leon Jay on Social Media Marketing, the Potential and Limitations at the Mapua Community Hall. Leon has several marketing and affiliate businesses online and has written a number of books on the topic. Unlike most presentations, Leon decided to keep this one power point free in order to provide more interaction between the speaker and the audience. We were lucky to have such a knowledgeable presenter on a topic that many businesses are keen to learn more about.

Leon began by asking the audience to consider why they are interested in using social media for their business. Of course everyone wants to increase sales, but how a company intends to use social media to attain that goal can vary widely. Leon broke down the reasons for using social media into four broad categories:

To Build Authority with Customers: Businesses can use this route to show precisely why they are the most knowledgeable about the product or service that they offer.
As a communication platform: Businesses can use social media to keep in touch with past, current, and future customers.
To create social proof: If customers see that your social media page has a strong following, particularly of those who they respect, it can drive customers your way.
To generate leads and to create referrals: Customers who have used your services before may be likely to direct friends and family to the social media page of your business.

Leon next spoke about the need to use the correct social media platform for a particular business and recommended that there should be a focus on 1 to 3 that generate the most closed sales. When choosing the platform, (Facebook, YouTube, twitter, etc), you want to be mindful of the mindset of people using that platform. For example, people tend to use Facebook when bored or to fill up empty time. On the other hand, people tend to use YouTube or topic forums to seek out particular information.

To tie all of this together, Leon provided the audience with his “magic key”: MARKETING IS THE COMMUNICATION OF YOUR MESSAGE.

Elaborating, he explained that you need to ask what it is that your business provides to the customer and why your customer should choose to solve that particular problem by using your products or services.

Leon then provided some tips on how to create a strong social media following. The first is that you need to remember that unlike traditional advertising, social media provides a platform for communication. It is a two-way street and allows for conversation and interaction. You simply cannot allow your social media platforms to stagnate. Customers will begin to think that you do not care about them.

Another tip was to create a strong online personality. Be memorable so that people will make a connection between your message and products. This may include creating some controversy. However, you want to stray from the really hot-button topics of religion, politics, etc. If you do decide to create a slightly controversial online persona, be sure that it speaks to your potential customers in a way that will get them to close sales with you.