brand marketing blog

I was honoured to be invited by Nicola Boyes, Business Editor at the Waikato Times to write a marketing column for their new monthly business publication, THE BIZ. The inaugaural issue was published in September. Here is the transcript of my column, titled, Can small business benefit from social media?

"Business owners are more anxious than ever for better results from their advertising and are actively seeking new answers. We regularly get calls from companies that have heard about social media tools (Blogging, Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn etc), but have no idea how to use them to generate sales enquiries.

The primary goal of social media is to build an online community of like-minded followers who will spread the word about your brand. Attracting a large following has limited value unless you can drive them to take action.

For example, you can channel them to your website, but if the page content doesn’t capture their interest and there is no compelling call-to-action, your hard won traffic will result in zero sales enquiries.

Social network marketing is a new discipline and requires a fresh marketing approach. As a stand-alone exercise, social media will not generate meaningful commercial results.

You have to view your entire marketing programme, both online and offline, as an ecosystem. Each element has a specific role and contributes to the overall performance. If one element fails, so does the marketing programme.

Social media is hard work and requires consistent effort and energy. To make this effort pay off, start with a clear strategy of how social media fits into your overall marketing strategy and set realistic expectations.

Be patient and give your social networking efforts at least six to twelve months to develop credibility and gain a meaningful following. Don’t be disheartened if it doesn’t happen overnight - this is not a direct response medium.

There are those who call social media marketing a fad; not only is it here to stay, but over the next couple of years it will become a mainstream marketing medium. Companies that are the early pioneers and learn how to effectively harness social media for commercial ROI will be the winners in their markets.

Start by talking to others who are operating in the social media space, subscribe to blogs, follow the thought leaders in the area of online marketing and dip your toes in the water. Don't let your competitor beat you to it."