What is Social Media Marketing?
What the heck is social media marketing?
If you go to Google and type “social media marketing”, the following results would come up:
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So I click the link to Wikipedia and found a surprisingly weak definition of social media marketing.
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I am sure this page will improve six months down the road. In the meantime, I have decided to take charge and give social media marketing a real definition.
Here you go…
Social Media Marketing is an ongoing marketing effort to communicate with potential or existing customers through the use of internet technologies including:
•Blogs
•Emails
•Social Booking Websites (e.g. Digg.com)
•Social Citation & References (e.g. Wikipedia)
•Social Networking Websites (e.g. Facebook)
•Media Sharing (e.g. Youtube, iTune)
•Internet forum (e.g. Yahoo! Group)
•Instant Messaging & Internet Phone (e.g. Skpye)
The goal of a social media marketer is to create positive conversations with potential or existing customers about the company, products and services.
Social Media Marketing is not just Social Networking
Why not?
Well… because conversations are happening everywhere! Not just on Facebook. You can find conversations about your company and products in blogs, emails, video, forum, instant messaging, etc.
Basically everywhere!
Social Media Marketing is scary
Big companies and traditional marketers are really afraid of Social Media Marketing because these conversations are not *controlled* by the marketers anymore and they are happening everywhere. It could be positive or negative and it could be initiated virtually by anyone anywhere anytime and in any language.
Social Media Marketing has basically leveled the playing field between big companies and little Johnny from Kentucky High school. The voice of Johnny could be equally valuable compared to the highly paid marketing executive sitting in New York City.
Marketers are no longer in the driver seats. The communities are now taking over. It is like an amoeba. It is like a virus. The best thing marketers can do is to monitor, facilitate, bucket up and go along with this fast ride.
Can you ignore it?
The answer is No.
Even you don’t participate in the conversations, these conversations are still happening.
