It's safe to say that social media is past the phase of being a fad. Although new social sites will be launched and some existing sites may decline in popularity, using the Internet for this type of communication is here to stay. Since people aren't going to suddenly stop communicating through social media platforms, it's worth investing some of your marketing efforts into these channels during 2012.

The biggest issue with social media marketing is it can be hard to directly measure results. A big reason why this can be so difficult is while multiple studies have confirmed the benefits that social media can offer to businesses, many of them are a "bigger picture" result. This means that it's hard to directly correlate the impact of using social media.

Everyone and their mom has a Facebook account these days. And Twitter isn’t far behind. Then you have YouTube videos popping up left and right that go viral and get seen by millions of people. And here you are, a small to mid-sized business owner, wondering how you can harness the potential you see. Is it possible that such Social Media outlets can be used to expand your business.

You bet. But you have to know how.

Social media marketing is a pretty tough balancing act. On the one hand, you want to use tools like Facebook and Twitter to build brand awareness and increase your business’ bottom line. On the other hand, you don’t want to risk annoying your target audience by constantly flooding their stream with advertisements for your company.

That’s why I encourage businesses to take a balanced approach to their social media marketing.
Look, no one signs up for Facebook, Twitter, or any other social network so they can be advertised to all day long. The sooner you realize this, the sooner you can start to truly engage with your target audience and build deeper relationships with them.

 

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that something wasn’t right with my Facebook. I wasn’t seeing all of my friends’ updates on my wall. It was like some of my friends had just disappeared. When I went to their page, I could see their status updates, but they wouldn’t show up on my wall.

Are you still confused about Twitter?
I just stumbled upon Twitter's website offering information on how businesses are using their social media site for marketing and customer service purposes.

The Twitter 101 website provides a glossary of Twitter-related terms, case studies and lists of recommended books and blogs relating to Twitter marketing.

The downloadable slideshow is a great tool for marketers or consultants needing to explain the value of Twitter to their clients.

This is a great explanation of Twitter for all of those asking... What is Twitter? Enjoy the video and start tweating.

 

Follow us: @raxadesign. We look forward to tweating with you.