Internet Marketing and Social Media

If you own a business, then you most likely also have a website advertising your products and services.  This website, you may think, advertises your business online so that you don’t have to burden yourself with “sales and marketing”.

But do you know this for a fact?  When you hear the word “marketing”, what are you thinking of?

People in slick suits luring in unsuspecting victims and finding clever ways to stop just short of lying in order to sell a product?

If this is how you see marketing, then it’s time to take a fresh look at the concept, since much has changed just in the past decade.  Consumers are more savvy than ever these days, and they know a sleazy sales pitch when they hear it. Marketing is about much more than getting the sale; it’s about building relationships so effectively that your products sell themselves – not only because people need what you have to offer, but also because they feel an affinity with your company or brand.

As a business owner, you of all people know just how well you can deliver the goods as compared with the competition. In order to get people to come to you instead of the competition, they have to have a positive association or, more specifically, a feeling of kinship that will make them happy to pay for your products and services and happy that they’re available in the first place. One of the easiest, most cost-effective ways to do this is through social media.

Social media are much more than a means through which to expand an advertising campaign; it’s an opportunity to interact with current and future clients that simply did not exist in years past. Smart business owners know that the way to build and maintain relationships with their clientele in today’s online world is by personalising the experience and by addressing specific consumer needs and wants. In other words, you want to cultivate the “you” view and make it all about your client.

Doing so lets her know that you’re in the business of helping her to live a better life as a result of what you are offering. Business owners looking to increase their online visibility should pursue all options related to social media as one facet of a broader Internet marketing campaign that also includes search engine optimisation, or SEO, in order to have the greatest possible impact.