Social media is changing the way we create, publicize and report on events. In light of Facebook, it’s now possible to raise awareness about a particular event through social networking tools, take bookings and raise awareness via Twitter and other such social media.
Essentially, this is still an elective process, but with social media exploding in popularity, it has become a route few can afford to ignore.
Does social media represent a genuine opportunity for small businesses — or are we in danger of falling victim to yet more hype?
Wayne Smallman, FSB member, founder of web design and development consultancy Octane Interactive and author of The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media, says:
Be careful about being too candid, entering into heated and bad-tempered debates and arguments, or making disparaging, negative and very public comments about clients, as well as other people. Unless you’re absolutely certain of the people in your social network, apply the ‘mother rule’ – would my mother be offended if she read this?
Recent research has consistently concluded that building an effective relationship with your customers is the foundation on which every other component of your business is built.
Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms are now very sophisticated. However, businesses often make the mistake of using these applications to replace their existing customer service function, instead of using these systems to supplement and improve them.
“It’s not so much the technology that’s helping per se, it’s the willingness of sales and marketing staff to populate and use their CRM software that helps most, not the technology itself.” says Wayne Smallman, director of internet marketing company Octane Interactive. “CRM is just a crutch for our sieve-like memories, really. In a similar fashion, the best tools in the world are nothing without the knowledge to use them correctly.”
“If possible, get to know your customer on a personal level,” says Wayne Smallman. “That’s key. People buy into people long before they buy anything from them. Essentially, what we’re talking about here is trust. If you say you’re going to do something, do it. Don’t fail to do it, or do it late. Do it when and how you said you were going to. Of course, you can’t always stick rigidly to a plan, but demonstrate that you are at least working towards accomplishing that. Be transparent about your services, what you do and how you do it. The very moment a client has any serious doubts, there’s probably no doubt at all in their mind that they ought to be looking somewhere else.”
On the back of the success of my popular ebook, The Beginner’s Guide to Social Media, the Emily Cagle Communications website and blog provides a wonderful case study for using social media marketing for your business.
Emily Cagle is a marketing and communications consultant who enlisted Octane’s services shortly after reading my ebook and then putting some of the things I wrote about into practice. We’ve both worked together to produce a website and blog we can both be very proud of.
As I mention over on the Social Media Marketing Technology blog:
“It must come as little surprise to know that both Emily & I are thrilled with the end result, which you can read more about in my case study on the Emily Cagle Communications website. But this is only the beginning. We’ve both been working on planning a long-term social media strategy, making the most of the key technologies out there, like Facebook and Twitter to help promote her business.”
If you’d like to know more about the specifics of the project, and Emily’s thoughts, take a look at the Emily Cagle case study, as well as visuals on the portfolio page.
Marketers who are new to using social media for customer interaction have been given the abbreviation SPICE to help them maximize their use of the medium. In a Fresh Business Thinking article, Wayne Smallman created the abbreviation, which he said stands for Support, Publicize, Integrate, Control and Enhance.
Social media websites and networks can be used to support and publicize a company, while firms should also take care to integrate social media within marketing, Mr Smallman explained.