Defining Social Media
To begin to define Social Media Marketing, one must first define social media. One could say that any site which allows a social interaction between users, but it is also something more than that. Just putting a 'comments' or a 'forum' for communication doesn't really make your site a Social Media site, but it is the beginnings of one.A social media site purpose is to interconnect its users with each other, to allow ideas to propagate throughout itself, and the web at large. Sites like Google+ and Facebook have allowed others to simply put a link on their site which allows you to '+1' or 'Like' a page, displaying it on their user profile just by clicking that button. Twitter is designed around keeping your messages short and to the point, thus being quick to read and to write, making it easier to send ideas to each other. Tumblr is more a showcase of talent, meant to show off your art and shout your opinion to the world at large!
Utilizing Social Media in Marketing
Notice how different each of these sites are from each other, and yet we still consider them each social media sites. Utilizing each of these sites' unique ways of handling user interaction is the point of Social Media Marketing. Yes, you could just put yourself on each of these sites, spouting your company's latest news, but each site is more than just a way to reach others. They have different user bases, which would determine your audience and if you should even bother to put yourself on that site. They have different approaches to how information is shared, which would determine which information you share.
Put your more complicated posts on the sites which expect a large post format, such as Google+, Facebook or your own personal Blog. Use your short and sweet messages on Twitter, and be sure to respond to users who are talking about you, both positivelly and negatively. Social Media has turned into Customer Support for many companies using it! If you've got a video to share, post it on YouTube, and be sure to link to it on your blog, Facebook, Google+, Twitter and any others which support posting such links. Embed them if you want, that's what YouTube's for!
Put your more complicated posts on the sites which expect a large post format, such as Google+, Facebook or your own personal Blog. Use your short and sweet messages on Twitter, and be sure to respond to users who are talking about you, both positivelly and negatively. Social Media has turned into Customer Support for many companies using it! If you've got a video to share, post it on YouTube, and be sure to link to it on your blog, Facebook, Google+, Twitter and any others which support posting such links. Embed them if you want, that's what YouTube's for!
Just remember to keep in mind what the purpose of each site is when it comes time for your company to start connecting with its userbase, and don't be afraid to link between them. Each of them has their strengths and weaknesses, and merging them together by interlinking between them can help raise awareness for your product.
Examples of Companies using Social Media
Halfbrick Studios, makers of Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride, uses Twitter to announce new give-aways post short links to relevant information and directly respond to some of their users' tweets about them. On the other hand, they use Google+ and Facebook to post pictures that some of their fan base have made of their games, as well as some they've made themselves to promote said games. They also make some of these games available on Facebook itself, promoting them for their mobile counterparts. This is most definitely an effective use of these wildly different social media sites.
On Twitter, each of your posts shows up on your own timeline, regardless of if its a response or if its a new post. As such, when you reply to somebody's Tweet, not only is it shown on their timeline as a response, but also on yours as a tweet, linking back to the original statement.
Sonic Team also uses Twitter and Facebook, tied hand in hand, for their marketing stunts. They occasionally hold contests, which are announced on Facebook but are entered into via Twitter. Again, Twitter is used for things which need only a line or two of text while Facebook is used for posting fan-made pictures, announcements of their products and similar things. They even go so far as to separate their Facebook pages for specific franchises, for instance, giving Sonic his own page to post specific information about his franchised games.
Both of these examples are using the sites' inherent abilities to their logical conclusion. You can't really get into detail about an event on Twitter without just giving people a link to a description page, and while Facebook does some of the same things Twitter does, entering into a contest via Twitter shows up on that user's timeline, and links back to the contest entry, giving you more publicity about it to those who follow that particular user.
Both of these examples are using the sites' inherent abilities to their logical conclusion. You can't really get into detail about an event on Twitter without just giving people a link to a description page, and while Facebook does some of the same things Twitter does, entering into a contest via Twitter shows up on that user's timeline, and links back to the contest entry, giving you more publicity about it to those who follow that particular user.
Sources
- What is Social Media Marketing? from Search Engine Land
- Social Media Marketing via Wikipedia
- Social Media Marketing via Mashable
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