As part of both an inbound and outbound marketing program, have you created and developed a social media presence of mind into your business operations and employees?
Social media (SM) is not only an Internet marketing choice. It is an improved way to plan and conduct business operations within your organization. Implementing SM into your business will improve and tighten your business workflows, enhance customer service satisfaction, and align your products or expertise to meet the challenges of a New Economy!
Outbound marketing is viewed as the traditional push and pull techniques such as business cards, paid advertising, news releases, and personalized graphics and branding for your products, persona, and even executives. Using outbound marketing , one goes out and finds customers. Inbound marketing (sometimes called permission marketing) is bringing customers to your product or company based on trying to solve a customers issue or develop your business into constant source of information or specialized engagements. FYI-Right now, the distinctions between these two are still being argued!
Social media presence of mind is using this new marketing empowerment technology to try to enhance your services and expertise sharing in a real-time venue. To some this is a new idea. To others it is fast becoming a way to stay active and current in meeting the needs of present customers and future prospects. SM presence of mind is not an overnight process, and takes time to establish it into your work routines. Remember social media means business intelligence has changed contextually!
Your road is wide open with initiating this new technology into your organization to solve problems.
Here are a couple of suggestions:
-Find mobile versions of the social networking or social media venues you use, download them, and make the effort to contact your propsects after a physical networking event. Do this only through the social media. Do it within 10 minutes after the event.
-If you are actively creating all types of product based media and journalism (not product brochures) know what its about, and where you can find it. If a customers has an issue over a some subject matter expertise, do send to them a piece of your product media. Remember to treat your past and present media as a way to inform and induce customer interaction with your products and sales staff.
-You hear of a customer complaint at a webinar (not yours). You wait until the conclusion of the webinar and contact them using SM thru at least two channels.
-You send a direct message to your CEO using Twitter because you know that is a very fast way to reach him in an emergency.
-You work in a “People” department. You know younger employees use the social media. You decide to engage them on several social media venues with the hope of attracting better talent to fill job positions. Also, you use this as way to target certain on-line communities with employment advertising.
-You are traveling and going to miss an important meeting due to weather. Instead of speaker phone, you create an impromptu Twitter hashtag for the event. You use the Twitter hashtag as a way to create a quick Q and A session with your prospects to keep them in your sales funnel. Also, allows you to review the conversation later for a better lead generation technique.
-Your computer network goes down. You use Twitter and Facebook to get a faster response from your IT contractor.
- On vacation, you make the discovery of great prospects and learn about their problems. You email someone in your corporate to look into engaging these prospects in real-time.
Now,which one of the suggestions above are inbound, outbound marketing, or combined?
Will Dobbs will be on vacation for a couple of days in Montana! Please remember Memorial Day in a way that will relect past and present military members, and your loved ones! Good week to all!
Posted from Tucson, Arizona, United States.
