In today’s world, relying on traditional forms of communication with your customers can cause you to miss out on a crucial form of marketing – social media marketing. Billboards, print, TV and radio ads are fairly safe ways of marketing. There is no chance of getting involved personally with the consumers, therefore there is no chance of a negative reaction. With revenue from traditional forms of advertisement at an all-time low, making that personal connection is essential.
That’s where marketing with social media comes in, and a free yet underutilized marketing tool exists in the form of Twitter. This is where consumers are sharing their lives, where you can find out what they are talking about, and what motivates them as well as how they are interacting with your competitors. It is a great way to build relationships with customers, both existing and potential.
Here’s an example: lots of people tweet when looking for a new car. Many are brand specific, but if a business just follows the tweets with their own brand name they are limiting what they can learn about their market and how to engage consumers. This is an opportunity to enter the conversation and give a suggestion: marketing through actively starting a conversation with the consumer.
Just entering the conversation with a potential customer instead of going straight into The Ask could mean the difference between no customer and a new customer. Starting the conversation is a much better tool for building trust in a brand and building a relationship with a consumer than merely pushing information at the customer. This type of interaction is called “earned media” where you have earned the marketing – a powerful form of word of mouth marketing.
Earned media is a great way to build relationships with customers, both existing and potential. Getting involved with the customer without being pushy is the key. It does mean getting closer to the customer and interacting with them, and it takes a little extra time and effort – but it opens up a new form of marketing by setting a positive impression in the consumer, and that is the goal.
Source: Entrepreneur