Why Use Social Media Marketing? A 5 Minute Response

I speak with business owners and individuals every day about Social Media Marketing (SMM) – what it is, what it isn’t, why to do it and how to measure the returns. What follows is my five minute response.

The best definition I’ve heard for SMM is that is mimics face to face networking in a virtual space. It’s word of mouth marketing taken online. It’s part personality and part opinion. To be successful, it must provide value to the target audience.

Social Media Marketing is not like traditional advertising. You cannot push a marketing message out to the masses and expect it to be well received. In many cases, this practice is considered spamming and will be immediately discarded. Those who practice these techniques will find themselves on the wrong end of criticism and lose the ability to garner respect and a following. Advertisers and marketers must first engage their prospect at a personalized level. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the conversation should be about your personal life but rather that you must first establish a relationship built on trust and respect.