I recently caught up with Julia George, a Marketing & Communications Manager based in Adelaide, to discuss social media strategies for marketing businesses online. (My questions are in italics.)
How do you use Social Media?
I've used social media to promote various events and products. Over the last six months I have coordinated various bike and community based events. I also use it to publicise things I find on the net - I love using Twitter to spread news & info, broadcasting it to a wide audience quickly. Also, I've just started a blog - testing the waters - it's a great way to have a voice on the net.
What aspects of social media make it good for marketing?
- You can broadcast to a wide audience
- Its relatively quick
- Effective for awareness (if it's well thought out and strategic)
- If you have an exciting campaign or interesting product, it can become 'viral' - meaning your audience will pass the message on for you
- Low cost compared to traditional means of advertising (only cost is time/resources)
Social Media is about driving your brand's PR & awareness in the market place and getting it known by your target market.
Don't just jump in - make sure you have a social media strategy that is well thought out - be proactive, not reactive. Be efficient with your messages and don't be too sales-pitchy - be fun, different and exciting! Ensure you have the resources to follow up & keep the activity at a continual, steady pace.
How do you know if your social media strategy is working?
It's always a hard one - but running market research is always good - traditional surveys, website hits, 'likers', followers on Twitter, increase in sales, etc.
Thanks very much to Julia for sharing her advice about Social Media Marketing.
Julia is an Adelaide based Marketing & Communications Manager. You can find her profile on linkedin, her blog at for the love of... and follow her on twitter @fortheloveofSA
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Cool interview, Julia is super awesome!
I like to think of social media as a big community and with communities it's mostly about what you can contribute to the greater good so it's important to think about how you can provide something that is of value to others first and foremost.
Also, it's about communicating with others on their terms, there is no one medium that is better than another, what's important is what your customers prefer, if they prefer to communicate with Twitter then you should communicate with them on Twitter. If they prefer Facebook then you should have a presence there too. I like to think of it as social media hopping, if someone is willing to interact with you on multiple mediums then chances are you have someone who is engaged and interested in what you have to offer.