A Brand-Aid: Social Networking

Posted by Madhavi on Nov 10, 2010 in Social Networking | 0 comments

This article is a guest post by Madhur Dharmadhikari.

It all started with people striving to create good contacts, keeping in touch and getting to know more people. Social media today, is much more useful than just this. Marketers have taken tremendous advantage of this and have given a new dimension to online advertising. Social networking websites have plethora of options to increase brand visibility.

A networking website is an ideal setting for discussions and opinions. Basically, a framework where conversations and customer engagement happens. As advertisers and marketers we should take full advantage of the immense potential social networking has for brands. And the good news is- it’s cheap! Compare it with the print media or television and you will realize the incredible amount savings you can make on your marketing plan!

Why?

From Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, FriendFeed, Myspace and many, many more options that are available, you can choose what suits your brand the best. This community is growing rapidly and that means there is huge opportunity to become a successful social media marketer.

How?

Step 1: Get A Website

It’s not as easy as waking up one morning and signing up for a networking site. Online marketing is a science with step-by-step procedure. The first thing on the task list is to have a website which is an info-hub. A website is like a home and different networking sites act as roads to that home which generate traffic for the website.

For example: If you have an ad on Facebook, it’s ultimately going to lead somewhere to give more info about the product. And that somewhere should ideally be a website. Hence, the birth of the website before starting any social media marketing is absolutely essential.

Step 2: Have A Plan of Action

The second step is to have a plan of action to engage the consumer. One has to decide a series of events to keep the consumer hooked. Like games, prizes, regular updates, blogs, etc

For example: Kingfisher has a page on Facebook, which if you ‘like’ lets you check out the exclusive kingfisher swimsuit calendar. Ultimately that leads you to the website. Once the consumer has entered the site, there should be enough info to tell him the key highlights of the brand.

When to start?

Promotions on the social network can be done when a product or service is launched. It can also be an image pepping exercise for a brand, when things get stagnant. Won an award for a brand? Put it up on the site, announce it on twitter – let more people follow you. There are incredible amount of options. It’s amazing at the speed of which the brand gets promoted. Within seconds there are thousands of hits and enough buzz around the brand in the market.

Here is another example of online promotion. Someone at Smirnoff India wrote on Facebook – “The Send-Off Party in Mumbai was incredible. Check out all the party moments, the fab crowd, the megastars of electronica, and more.” And this pops up on Facebook as an ad when one is busy surfing Facebook. This way, you are easily reaching out to a larger audience.

Sometimes, social media users promote a brand’s link without having the marketer do any prompting. At times people visit a website they become a fan of and they want share it with the world. What better way than putting it in the status message? And so, clicks call for more clicks.

Conclusion:

Social media marketing is a great tool to penetrate a consumer’s mind, since you have to cut through a lot of noise created by other mediums. Best thing about it is, it’s cheap! So, let us put a virtual post it to include social media marketing to our marketing plan.

Madhur Dharmadhikari has over 4 years of experience in the advertising industry. She has been involved in servicing brands from various industrial sectors like retail, industrial, real estate and hospitality. Apart from her work, she is very interested in photography, creative writing, reading and art.

Who says ideas don’t travel across mediums? With her unique understanding of how the industry works, Madhur brings in a lot of insights into the concept of Branding and how it can be used in an Internet setting. Watch out for more insights from Madhur on this blog! Meanwhile, you can follow Madhur on Twitter or add her on FaceBook.