Making Social Marketing Work

Are your social media marketing strategies well targeted, or are they backfiring? Many small businesses have embraced blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other online networking technologies as new ways to deliver marketing messages. But experts say most of these efforts are counter-productive. In new media, they agree, it's listening-not talking-that scores sales.

According to a recent Rutgers University study, "Is it Really About Me? Message Content in Social Awareness Streams," 80% of regular Twitter users post primarily about their own thoughts and experiences. But the 20% of users who post information and news not centered on themselves "have larger social networks and are more interactive with their followers." For Solution Providers, being part of that 20% can help create stronger, more profitable customer relationships.

Listening is key to successful marketing, notes Paul Chaney, author of The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media. Social media offer "a grassroots-enabled way of listening to a conversation that is unfettered, unfiltered, raw and honest," he says.

By listening, you can learn what your existing and prospective customers are saying about you and your competition. That information can tell you what's working, what needs improvement, which customers to engage and when to engage them.

Don't use social media for direct-response marketing, he cautions. "It's not just another marketing channel to make a buck." Instead, use it to market by sharing information and building relationships and trust.

Darren Rowse, editor of the TwiTip and ProBlogger blogs, agrees. "One of the big mistakes a lot of small and large businesses make is just broadcasting and not actually engaging with people," he says. "Listen to others and respond to that rather than just broadcasting your own agenda."

By responding online, he adds, you don't just solve one customer's problem. Because social media interactions take place in a public forum, the solution you deliver can have impact within a larger network.

Experts advise that your company's social media strategy also should include a Facebook "fan page." Unlike personal Facebook pages, these are business focused and provide an additional platform for online interaction with your customer base. Here, too, the goal is not to engage in relentless self-promotion, but rather to develop content that meets your customers' needs for information, support, and an increased sense of connection to your business.

For more social network information, check out "Twitter101," from Twitter; Sree Sreenivasan's "Twitter Guide for Newbies & Skeptics"; and Elizabeth Kricfalusi's "Tech for Luddites" blog post "I've Got a Facebook Page! Now What?"