Social + Media + Marketing = Conversation By Janet Callaway| The Natural Networker

Social Media Marketing is a conversation. That's it. You don't have to be a techno geek to participate, it is just a conversation. Let's look at its components.

Social: According to Webster, social is: “(1) friendly companionship or relations” “(2) living or disposed to living in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation.”

No doubt about it, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, MySpace and all the others are communities. Each has its own culture created by participating “inhabitants” or members of the community. Facebook's a very family and friends orientation, MySpace is more youth oriented, Twitter and Linkedin are much more business and professional while YouTube spans the generations and cultures.

No matter the orientation, people go to those communities to connect with others for whatever reason.

Media: Webster says, media is: “The means of communication, as radio, television, newspapers and magazines, with wide reach and influence.” Let's see, Facebook has 500+ million users which, if it were a country, would make it the 3^rd largest in the world behind China and India. Twitter has a 100+ million users and YouTube has over 2 billion views a day.

When you look at these numbers, I think you will agree with me that these communities definitely qualify as media. They broadcast the message in a way radio, television and the newspapers never could. In seconds, a message or video can go viral around the world.

Marketing: According to Webster, marketing is: “The activities, as advertising, packaging, and selling, involved in transferring goods from the producer to the consumer” while market is “an economic situation in which supply and demand interact through the activity of buyers and sellers.”

Studies show that 78% of the population trust peer recommendations vs. 14% trust advertising. WOW! No wonder advertisers are so anxious to access the social communities. Most everyone they want is right there, they are talking with each other, asking for recommendations from others in their communities and they can be reached for a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. If you like reading statistics, read “Does Social Media Marketing Makes Sense for the Smallest Businesses?”

When you put it together, you can see that social media marketing is a conversation either 1-to-1 or 1-to-many. With social media marketing, aside from those looking for purely social or family connections, you can find buyers for your products or services as well as potential partners for your network marketing business. Even if a connection begins as purely social, it is inevitable that at some point conversations will take place pro and con on a certain product, service or company.

Let's get social! Will you connect with me?