A new social-marketing storm seems to be brewing on the horizon. A lot of online marketers are using social media as an extra tool for them to release product campaigns and press releases to the public. The problem with the social media “channel” is that people simply don’t care. It understandably frustrates them, because people use social media to communicate with people, not products.

User psychology should be analysed to better understand your niche/target market. Before you start using social media as a marketing tool, you must first understand what needs to be done to entice and engage your targeted market.

 

There is no doubt that business owners are going social. A survey conducted by Forrester research, indicate that 85% of business related verdicts use (or has used) social media to research vital market information.  Nowadays writing reviews, posting, uploading content and commenting on forum discussions are done more for business than for personal purposes.

The most important aspect that prompts businesses to partake in social media is to research a specific market environment and/or client needs. Social media has become a great tool to “study” the target markets of certain industries, and to resolve the related business problems.  Researching and resolving these problems commences months or even years before any business transactions take place. My Mother always said: “The best defence is a great offense”.  Once a business eventually begins with business, they know exactly what their clients’ needs will be.  This provides any business with an immediate advantage.

Social media can thus be considered as a fantastic tool to reach and engage with possible clients.  You will now be able to build trusted relationships with customers so that they’ll be more likely to choose you for a certain service or product.  But trust cannot be earned  with a few simple tweets and status updates.

Clients won’t buy your product/service if they don’t agree with your assessment of them, and the method in which you satisfy their needs. In order to draw clients to your company you need to engage with them in conversations that concern THEIR needs.  You would need to communicate issues and solutions that are relevant to the customer’s requirements. By doing this, your business will ascertain that they are a leader in their industry, simply by indicating that they are aware of their client’s requirements.

A good example of the above mention method has been executed by Kaspersky Labs.  They were aware that they could not compete with the Giant anti-virus corporations in a traditional advertisement campaign, so they opted to showcase their proficiency and leadership in the PC security sector by launching Threatpost.com. Threatspot.com featured relevant information and news concerning IT security risks, alongside professional commentary and innovative content. Threatspot.com has since become Kaspersky’s principal supplier of leads.  Ideas that are enticing, progressive and distinctive will spread like a firestorm through social channels.

Corning Glass campaigned to generate demand among device designers by demonstrating the consumer preference for products made from glass.  Corning’s campaign included a video that showcased Corning’s future vision of glass being used in various interactive devices. The video, “A Day Made of Glass”, has generated over 9 million views on YouTube and millions of Dollars in revenue for the company.

There are countless ways to utilize social media as a marketing tool. You only need to be creative and innovative in the way you design and manage your marketing campaign. If you do it good, great things will follow.