Wednesday 29 August 2012

Social Strategy

Not long ago was a trend to join various chat groups on popular websites like Yahoo where we could build cyber relationships with others. Then came a host of different ideas that revolutionized our social behavior with others. First stage adopters included sites like Orkut & Hi5 but soon, due to emergence of Facebook, everything else hit the wall. Facebook looked more professional than cartoonish themes of Orkut which was literally discarded once Facebook allowed for Orkut account integration --inviting Orkut friends to join Facebook. Other aspects were security & safety of intellectual property, instant chat, entertainment. These websites not only are free to use for users, businesses also have a great factor to have alternative online presence.

Social media now is an important component of our lives. Nearly a billion people converge upon social platforms every day to fulfill its needs of pleasure & entertainment. Now see this as an eminent social strategy. A billion people using social platform every day, that’s a billion eyes, minds, hearts. To be present on this platform, it costs nothing. Businesses can form their company pages which can be liked by anyone anywhere for free. The biggest success factor that favors Businesses on social platform is the convenience to interact with potential customers without urging them to buy their goods & services up front. Imagine a situation, you’re viewing some clothes outside a show through the window & suddenly the salesman comes & quotes a price. That would be annoying as you haven’t really made up your mind as yet; the salesman tries to poach you. This issue is convincingly solved by using social strategies that features your brand but not lookout to bug your customers. Indulge your consumers towards your brand but do not compel them to make a purchase.

It is inevitable to not consider social media seriously in today’s time. You must carefully adopt your preferred social strategy theme in sync with your marketing objectives for the future. Some key approaches are:

1. Facebook Pages : You have 900 million users to tap on potential sales someday. Ignoring this can be fatal plans to ignore a huge chunk of audience that can lead to sales. Facebook Pages are free just like regular Facebook accounts. These Pages can be optimally utilized to promote new offerings, deals, product catalogues, customer feedback & brainstorm ideas that ultimately bind your fans adhesively.

2. Pinterest presence : Pinterest is yet another clever idea to basically pin your interests. Having a company page on Pinterest is just as simple as Facebook pages. The benefit of Pinterest is they have been generating unique traffic every week & the platform exploits the use of graphics instead of text.

3. Twitter : Online blogging is an instant hit especially on Twitter. Amass a massive fan following, post updates & they reach your followers instantly. Careful of the word limit though. No issues use shortened URL’s to reach out just as effectively.