There is a new catch phrase in business circles around the world and whilst it's an old term it has a totally new meaning these days.
Way back in the good old days the term 'social marketing' meant getting together at breakfast or lunch meetings and getting to know one another a little better whilst discussing the latest business matters.
It meant hanging out with the clients at Friday lunches that went on until evening and then, if you were getting along, extended into Friday night and a really good 'all fall down' session followed by a round of golf at lunch time on the Saturday.
Now it means spending hours online chasing down contacts and entertaining your followers with tweets, backing up your website with a blog which you need to update daily and enhance with RSS feeds and embedded video from YouTube and that's without writing for the necessary article campaign that must thread it all together.
No wonder people are reluctant to embark on this route.
Yet you have to ask yourself what all the hype is about.
Social marketing is a wave of information flowing throughout the virtual world from one business owner or person to millions every day.
Would you really want to miss out on that opportunity? Tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, w2meet, blogs and ezines are all one element of the overall, interwoven fabric of social networking and marketing online.
Who ever you are you need to understand it and use it to your best ability or be left behind in the stampede.
Like many other people in business for over fifteen years I have always been a little behind the times in terms of technology and have to ask my twelve year old for help with the DVD player and my latest mobile phone functions.
This year it finally hit me.
I understand how it all links together for the first time.
Imagine that you are the hub, the business, product and brand.
You probably have a website that you hope will bring you business and contacts.
Your website designer has told you that it is search engine optimised (SEO) - lovely phrase that - and you just need to support it with a bit of print advertising or PR.
Wrong! Your website may bring you business eventually but you need to take it to market yourself.
Here's how: -Start a blog.
Use Blogger or WordPress and simply follow the instructions, have fun with it, make it personal and interesting.
It's not your website.
It's about what you do from your own perspective.
Research other people's blogs and learn from them.
If you don't have time - find a copywriter.
-Get a twitter account online.
Tweet a few times a day about your blog or your product (which is yourself) and put your blog address and website in each tweet.
Start following people who interest you and who will complement your blog -Write a few articles and post them on ezines.
Make them about you (the brand).
If you can't write get a writer to post them for you.
-Join networking groups on line like 4Networking, w2meet and LinkedIn and get talking on their forums and using their meeting spots.
-Join live networking groups like 4Networking, the local Chamber of Commerce, BizLinx and any other near you and meet people.
-Add every person you meet to your contact address book online and import them into Twitter and other social marketing links and ensure that they talk about you and what you offer.
Making all this work together at once takes dedication and patience but you'll soon see the results as you keep track of your blog stats and website site visits.
If you don't have time or aren't sure about how to make it work for you speak to a good writer and they'll do it for you.
Soon you'll be ahead of the game.
Way back in the good old days the term 'social marketing' meant getting together at breakfast or lunch meetings and getting to know one another a little better whilst discussing the latest business matters.
It meant hanging out with the clients at Friday lunches that went on until evening and then, if you were getting along, extended into Friday night and a really good 'all fall down' session followed by a round of golf at lunch time on the Saturday.
Now it means spending hours online chasing down contacts and entertaining your followers with tweets, backing up your website with a blog which you need to update daily and enhance with RSS feeds and embedded video from YouTube and that's without writing for the necessary article campaign that must thread it all together.
No wonder people are reluctant to embark on this route.
Yet you have to ask yourself what all the hype is about.
Social marketing is a wave of information flowing throughout the virtual world from one business owner or person to millions every day.
Would you really want to miss out on that opportunity? Tools like Twitter, LinkedIn, FaceBook, w2meet, blogs and ezines are all one element of the overall, interwoven fabric of social networking and marketing online.
Who ever you are you need to understand it and use it to your best ability or be left behind in the stampede.
Like many other people in business for over fifteen years I have always been a little behind the times in terms of technology and have to ask my twelve year old for help with the DVD player and my latest mobile phone functions.
This year it finally hit me.
I understand how it all links together for the first time.
Imagine that you are the hub, the business, product and brand.
You probably have a website that you hope will bring you business and contacts.
Your website designer has told you that it is search engine optimised (SEO) - lovely phrase that - and you just need to support it with a bit of print advertising or PR.
Wrong! Your website may bring you business eventually but you need to take it to market yourself.
Here's how: -Start a blog.
Use Blogger or WordPress and simply follow the instructions, have fun with it, make it personal and interesting.
It's not your website.
It's about what you do from your own perspective.
Research other people's blogs and learn from them.
If you don't have time - find a copywriter.
-Get a twitter account online.
Tweet a few times a day about your blog or your product (which is yourself) and put your blog address and website in each tweet.
Start following people who interest you and who will complement your blog -Write a few articles and post them on ezines.
Make them about you (the brand).
If you can't write get a writer to post them for you.
-Join networking groups on line like 4Networking, w2meet and LinkedIn and get talking on their forums and using their meeting spots.
-Join live networking groups like 4Networking, the local Chamber of Commerce, BizLinx and any other near you and meet people.
-Add every person you meet to your contact address book online and import them into Twitter and other social marketing links and ensure that they talk about you and what you offer.
Making all this work together at once takes dedication and patience but you'll soon see the results as you keep track of your blog stats and website site visits.
If you don't have time or aren't sure about how to make it work for you speak to a good writer and they'll do it for you.
Soon you'll be ahead of the game.
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