The Social Media Marketing Mix - The 4 P’s

I am sure all of you know all about the marketing mix. You know, “The 4 P’s” which includes Product, Price, Placement and Promotion. But now I just wanted to explore the mix with a different angle that relates to social media marketing. The four P’s I am about to bring up are a bit different than what we are used to seeing in the marketing mix. 

However, I believe they are the four fundamental elements of social media marketing.

You will also notice that I have left “Product” out of the mix; the reason is simple, if you don’t have a good product or service there is nothing to market or create customer loyalty towards that. It will fail either now or later. So I have taken product out of the mix because everything else surrounds the product or the service itself. That is why there is a mix and your product or service is fundamental to making this mixture work.

The First P = People

This is the most crucial part of the social media marketing mix. In the old days when traditional media reigned supreme, brands pushed their products. Today consumers are in control. People want to be heard and people know they can be heard. So the first thing that needs to be done to utilize social media is listening to these people. Let’s not even get to participating and engaging right now, because they are secondary. The main goal at this point is to listen to what others are saying.

If you are a known brand, there are people talking about you. They are talking on the web, they are talking over dinner at the table and they are talking on the phone about your product while taking a shit. The power in social media lies in being all ears at first so you can analyze. So as to see what they are saying, what emotions your product is evoking among these people. Whether you call them your target market or people that help you with research and development (yup they can be your R&D team if you listen to them), the first element of your mix is people. Without people you have no one to listen to, you have no one to cater to, you have no one to engage with and you have no one to sell to.

The Second P = Platform

Now that you know the key to making things happen for you business revolves around people, you need to know where these people are hanging out. Although your first reaction might be to jump on Twitter and Facebook, which may not always be the wisest decision. You need to know what platform these people (people you want to reach out to) are on. If most of your consumers reside in Brazil, your first option might be to monitor Orkut which is huge in Brazil rather than Facebook and so on. The key is to know where the people you want to reach out to are. Opening a Facebook account just because everyone is using it may not be the right approach for you.

Maybe your target market is not really heavy on these “social networking” sites; communicate heavily on one of the early forms of social media such as forums. In that case you should be finding these forums where “your people” are talking, and listen to them to see how they see your product or services. Just because everyone is on YouTube, Facebook, etc. doesn’t mean these are the first platforms you should target on. You need to find where the people are (the first element) and choose your platform and then expand to others. It will be much easier to jump in where the people who use your products and services are because that’s where they are comfortable. You can’t move a community that is already thriving on one platform and try and pull them where you want, you have to adapt to the platform they are on and keep listening.

The Third P = Participation

Of course you know all about the participation. Nothing happens on social media without participation and this is the third element of social media marketing mix. You are listening to people, you know where they are and it’s time to engage. It’s time to respond and tell them you are listening. Everyone is always touting you should participate and engage but this is not the first step in utilizing social media for your business. You need to listen first and know what they are saying so you are ready to participate and respond.

Social media is all about participation. But participation doesn’t mean simply starting a conversation for the sake of it. Participation means knowing how to build a relationship with people who are using your products/services or are thinking of it. How do you make these people to buy and talk more about your product so the word spreads? Just listen to them and respond to their concern. Be where they are and BE THERE.

The Fourth P = Promotion

Promoting a product on the web isn’t easy. Sure you can shout and say “buy me,” but it would be hard to sell using that approach. The last element of social media marketing is the one that is already happening if you are integrating the first three elements. You may not see the impact in sale or word of mouth activity right away but as you move forward, you will be monitoring a lot more chatter about your brand, hopefully in a positive way.

Of course to sell products and services you have to promote. Just listening and responding won’t do the magic alone, so you need a strategy to tap into the people you have now made friends with. Try going on Facebook, Twitter, Forums, YouTube or any other community platforms and say “buy our products” and the community will say to you “Don’t tell us what to do, ask us. Ask us politely because we matter.” The words may not be exact but that’s what the implications will be. Be careful when promoting.

Wait it out, build the community around your brand and listen to them when they bring problems. When they have a concern, respond to them what you are doing to fix them. That right there is your promotion. That right there will boost word of mouth marketing. When you have a loyal group of people that are ready to talk about you, unleash the marketing genius in you.

These four elements are very critical to make things happen for your brand through different social media channels. Like I said, although I didn’t include “product” in the mix, don’t assume it’s not there. The product or the service is the reason why these four elements are required. If you have to call it The 5 P’s of social media marketing, so be it.

Source: Scribd.com

How Social Media helps to grow the Small Business 

The business press is full of stories about how small companies are using social channels to attract and engage customers. But while there are plenty of individual success stories, the confidence in what to do specifically is not always clear for small business owners that are strapped for time and online marketing resources.

Case study:

I was talking with a small business owner recently who was lamenting not updating his website and also that his competition was showing up “all over the place” online.  The nature of his product requires some education and an effort to dispel common misperceptions. The rapid advancements in technology of his particular product category are not very well known amongst his target consumer market. But there’s a substantial amount of search volume and interest in the solutions his product provides.  He’s also a small business with limited time and budget.

To me, this was a classic opportunity for the power of influence through storytelling.

My tip for him was to start a blog that answered the most common questions prospects and customers ask.  And to do so in a compelling way that his competitors were not:  with video, images and text. Each new blog post would be another potential entry point to his website via Google and social networks where people share links. With 1 post a week, he’d have 52 more pages and videos on his website in a year, each offering interesting, useful content that could position him above the competitors. Along the way, he’d be able to gather insight from web analytics, social shares, comments and interactions with the blog posts to refine message effectiveness.

A few key questions to start with his blog content plan:

• Why do current customers buy your product? This can come from sales people and/or the business owner.
• What are the misperceptions & objections? Document the things that are educational opportunities.
• What type of information helps them change the perception?  What are the tipping points from skepticism to confidence? Is it demonstration, 3rd party data, credibility of the company, word of mouth?
• Where do prospects look for information on this solution? Talk to sales people, look at website stats and any logged information about lead sources.

By answering these fundamental questions, this small business owner can create a blog content plan that specifically addresses the questions, concerns and triggers that will influence prospects to trust, buy and refer.  Understanding the key features of the product most relevant to the target customer as well as prospect tendencies towards finding a solution of this type can literally translate into topics for him to write or talk about on the blog.

Those topics can be run through Google AdWords Keyword Tool to identify the keyword phrases that people are searching for most often. Relevant search phrases can inspire blog post and YouTube video titles, categories, descriptions and tags.

Some basic next steps might include:

Set up a WordPress Blog, template and hosting (Genesis, StudioPress & Synthesis make this a no-brainer). Plan to write one blog post or publish/upload 1 video per week (2-3 minutes) that answers a key question prospects and customers ask.  The video can be captured using an iPhone or other smartphone and iMovie can be used for editing. If you’re on PC, you can use Windows Movie Maker to edit the video.  For people not comfortable just talking to a camera, have an employee ask the question(s) and answer them while being captured on video.

Create a YouTube Channel and start connecting with other channels and video publishers on relevant topics, 5-10 min a day. After uploading a video, embed on the blog, and share on existing social channels like Twitter and Facebook as well as through email to existing customers or opt-in prospect list. Ashley posted some great examples of SMB Twitter promotion yesterday. When embedding the video on the blog, write a description of what is talked about in the video so search engines can make it easy for people to find.

The initial focus for a basic video and photo blog should be on getting used to the habit of creating useful content on a regular basis.  I know many readers might be thinking that more substantial SEO and social media tactics should be setup as well, but without good content, social networking and optimization won’t work to convert prospects to customers anyway.  Time is usually limited for small businesses, so getting a small base of content built is a great starting point.

Creating a cycle of listening for questions, answering them through content and refinement can go a very long way for small business content marketing. Once things are setup, 20-30 minutes per day can be spent interacting with blog comments and social networks. Establishing a feedback loop means you’ll always have ideas to blog or talk about. It also means you’re connecting with real people, interacting with them and providing something of value that they can share and act on.

In time other promotion channels can be added starting with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ as well as SEO best practices with more specific keyword research and link building. If the initial customer research identifies Twitter as a substantial opportunity, a Twitter Marketing strategy might be involved at the same time the blog and YouTube channel are created. The reason I’m keeping these suggestions simple and basic is that I know how much small business owners can get overwhelmed. Needs to grow outside online marketing consultants or training can always be used to speed up things up.

What else? An email newsletter that re-purposes blog content and the Q/A that happens on Facebook, the blog and Twitter can be delivered to existing customers. Viewing every channel of participation as an opportunity to interact and share will help grow networks, trust and credibility as the “go to source” for the product category being promoted. It’s important to create value, but also to not lose sight that this is business. Don’t be afraid to suggest solutions or promote offers. Just do so in a relevant way.

Finally, make sure web analytics (Google Analytics is free) and basic social media monitoring (Trackur starts at $18/mo, search.twitter.com is free) are set up to assess how people are finding and interacting with blog content. Watch for trends in network growth like fans, friends and followers but especially with quality of interaction through comments, likes, shares and the effect on blog/website traffic that drives inquiries and sales.

For a lot of small business owners not used to online marketing, SEO or social media, these suggestions might be out of their comfort zone. But with the way consumer behaviors are changing and increased competition, getting out of the comfort zone and into a place where direct customer interactions drive content and inspire business outcomes is an essential investment.

Source: www.toprankblog.com