Where to Start with Social Media Marketing?

What is Social Media Marketing? Where should we start? Are we sick of hearing about it but actually none the wiser?

I have been enlightened by a webinar from Richard Duffy from Duct tape Marketing; “Leveraging Social Media to generate business”. My own perception of what it is and how we should use it has been cemented.

John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing put it very succinctly when he described marketing itself as… “Getting People to Know, Like and Trust”.

I found his definition of marketing refreshing having come across many definitions of marketing throughout my University studies. It’s clear, simple, to the point and most importantly it makes immediate sense and can be more readily put in to practice than some of the more theory dense and frankly somewhat confusing descriptions.

He builds upon this definition and describes Social Media Marketing as a tool to support the accomplishment of these goals through the use of technology.

Social Media Marketing is ultimately about building your companies web presence, driving traffic to the company website which is seen to be the central hub of all your Social Media activity and supporting the your overall company message, building your brand, image and reputation.

The challenge for all of us is not to get overwhelmed. One step at a time is the advice being given. Get your website right and from there maybe start a blog, or open a twitter account. The key is not to do it all at once.

To fully utilise the world of Social Media as a marketing tool we need to research the market place, see what our competitors and customers are doing and how they are using it and try to get a better picture of what might be expected of us and how our presence might be of use to our target audience.

Objectives need to be set. What are we hoping to gain from Social Media Marketing? We all have different intentions and we to ensure that these underpin our Social Media activity.

We need to listen, interact and learn. We will then be more greatly informed and can feel more confident in the content we supply through the various channels.

Content was a key focus of the webinar, and the most crucial points where highlighted as being the following:

It Should be Useful
Address a Painpoint in your Target Market (A specific problem)
Speak your Target Markets Language
And it Should be Approachable; Accessible and Friendly!

I find it useful to draw a parallel with word of mouth communications, the value of which is potentially underestimated by all. Social Media Marketing is a way of harnessing word of mouth; a tool to utilise social interactions and influence the way your organisation is ultimately perceived.

Although some people may be sick of hearing about Social Media Marketing I think it is only the beginning of the phenomenon and that we are only touching the tip of the iceberg; we have so much more to learn and explore to fully utilise it as a marketing tool.

Keeping Business Software Simple; Connect the pieces with SAP Business One!

Software doesn’t need to be complex. It’s been created to make your life simple, enhance and optimise your business functions and ultimately make your Business Better.

There definitely appears to be a growing understanding and recognition that SME’s require and should utilise ERP systems.

What is evident is that the employees within these companies, across the various diverse functions that exist, don’t want to know where the information is coming from or how it’s created. They just want to be able to access it, understand it, trust it and act on it - quickly and efficiently.

Integrated solutions offer freedom from old ways of working. An insightful post by Nick Thompson, Director of DCSL Software on the SME Web site outlined a few of the potential benefits.

“If their customer information/appointment system/sales records are now consolidated and stored centrally somewhere, they could consider employing people based on skills, rather than location or family commitments.

They could reduce office space. They could synchronise information more easily, avoiding duplication and the risk of different versions of content being out of date.

Retailers could blend in-store and online systems to produce live stock and sales information.

Secure, role-differentiated information access could be extended to different groups of employees – and even to customers, so that they can serve themselves when they want a status update on their account or transaction (just as online banking or courier customers can do already today).

In a browser-based, intelligent, information-ready environment like this, much more can happen too. Rules and workflow can be brought into play, so that automatic notifications are triggered, warning users that an action is overdue, a bill hasn’t been paid, or an appointment has been missed.”

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To find out more visit www.beabetterbusiness.com

SME’s the centre of attention

Small businesses have been cited as the backbone of the Irish economy, and the government are seemingly making every concerted effort to at least be seen to take an interest in their vitality and future prosperity.

Though we are seemingly out of the recession small businesses continue to struggle to survival the credit squeeze.

Four businesses went bust every day in April of this year according to a InsolvencyJournal.ie; a website run by Dublin insolvency firm, Kavanagh Fennell. Though there are more positive outlooks and turnarounds on the horizon figures are still similar to those recorded for the past two years.

The government is now urging banks to start lending to firms having come under criticism from Labour Party's Eamon Gilmore; though the sentiment is widely felt.

A survey from Isme, which represents small and medium sized enterprises, showed over half of their members were refused credit in the last three months.

The government has now signed off on a €12 billion plan with AIB and Bank of Ireland within which they have pledged to make €6 billion available by the end of 2011.

Minister for Enterprise, Batt O’Keeffe is now set to seek cabinat approval for a State backed loan guarantee scheme for small businesses before the summer recess of the Dail next month.
It’s aimed at getting credit flowing for small businesses who have been rejected by the main banks.

“I am particularly anxious that viable businesses in new high-growth sectors and markets have access to proper credit facilities so that they can generate jobs and compete on a level playing field with firms in other countries that have access to similar loan guarantee schemes,” the Minister said.

It’s about time the government made an effort to support what is seen as the backbone of the Irish economy. The Irish banking system got us in to a lot of difficulty, the government took on the worst of their loans and it’s now indisputably time they played their part in turning the economy around!

Small firms “reluctance to recruit” may also be tackled once they are given the finances to keep their businesses afloat.

As it was justly put by Eamon Gilmore, "Having got the commitment from the taxpayer, the Government should now in no uncertain terms be telling the banks that they have to lend to small and medium-sized businesses - that's why they got the money."