Social Media Marketing (SMO)

Social media marketing which is known as SMO . The benefits of SMO to organizations and individuals are enormous if implemented correctly. SMO can provide an additional channel for customer support, a means to gain customer and competitive insight, recruitment and retention of new customers/business partners, and a method of managing their reputation online.

Key factors that ensure its success are its relevance to the customer, the value it provides them with and the strength of the foundation on which it is built. A strong foundation serves as a stand or platform in which the organization can centralize its information and direct customers on its recent developments via other social media channels, such as article and press release publications.

Here are some of the ways I recommend tackling SMO:

1. Authenticity: Fans and followers in today’s social media want to know that your fan page, your updates, your Tweets are genuinely a part of your organization. Social media networking is not the place for outsourcing or automating, so you need to ensure communications from your company are authentic and direct.
2. Frequency: Posting brand-related content often and maximizing interaction with followers, customers and prospects is a huge part of generating social media success. The companies who work hard at posting regular content are the ones who see the best return on their social media marketing investment.
3. Think Bigger: Don’t devote all efforts to one particular site. There is more to social media than just Facebook or Twitter; in fact, maximizing brand awareness is best achieved by maximizing a presence on as many platforms as possible, from MySpace and LinkedIn to Foursquare, Yelp, and YouTube.
4. Blog Bigger: Once your blog has taken off, it’s important to maintain the momentum so you don’t lose visitors. Keep the content fresh and by all means, keep it coming regularly, with at least 2-4 new posts per week.
5. Relevancy: Updates to social media pages on sites like Facebook and Twitter should include items of interest to your followers. Real time updates on new products, services or company news.
6. Encourage Feedback: Keep your followers engaged by encouraging them to post feedback, good or bad, about your products, customer service, and your social media presence itself.
7. Respond: Quickly respond to feedback from followers, whether it’s good or bad. Your customers and prospects will especially appreciate a quick hands-on approach to addressing negative comments.
8. Highlight Publicity: When a key company employee or news about a product makes it to a mainstream source, ride the publicity by sending links.
9. Ask Questions: By asking a question that generates discussion about your brand, you maximize visibility and customer interaction.
10. Be Unique: Don’t follow the same prescribed template for fan pages and updates that others in your industry are using. Differentiate yourself with a different tone altogether, and by all means, be sure that your brand’s logo and image is consistent throughout.