Pugliese on PR
Social media can transform marketing
By Tina L. Pugliese, APR, Pugliese Public Relations
Today, social media is transforming the small business marketing landscape. Social media are Web or mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information. Businesses can tap into powerful networking sites and other social media to drive customers to their shops or companies.
If done right, small business owners might even be able to slash their traditional marketing spending in half. Writing blogs or online commentary and using social networking sites, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, can provide inexpensive but powerful online marketing.
Because it is free, people think it is easy to create a social media presence. But this attitude can lead to mistakes. So before you dive into social media, take some time to observe the customs and social norms of these new forms of communications.
If you decide to take the social networking plunge, here are ways to use social media to help your business:
Use free sites. Use free online services, such Twitter, and popular networking sites like Facebook to post significant news, specials or events.
Shift marketing costs to social media. After learning how social networking operates, use social media to release traditional marketing dollars for your small business by putting it online. You can quickly learn which of your Facebook friends or online group members received and responded to your message.
Take social network marketing to the next level. Create and post better content about what your customers would expect from someone in your business. Do not view social media sites as a place to simply tout your wares. It is a place for conversation.
Use blogging to drive search results and help new customers find you. Blogging continues to gain greater attention with the advent of "micro blogging" on Twitter. But consider the time commitment and strategy before launching an account.
Tina Pugliese's columns on public relations appear in Palm Beach Business.com every other Monday. Her previous column can be found here.
Tina L. Pugliese, APR is an executive coach and counselor for Pugliese Public Relations, a communications firm in Boynton Beach, Florida. Pugliese is an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America, and is the author of the book, Public Relations for Pharmacists, and e-books, Marketing Your Business for Success, How To Work With The Media, Public Relations Manual — A Guide for Entrepreneurs, and the PR Survival Kit. She can be reached at (561) 889-3575 and by email at Tina@PugliesePR.com. Her web site is www.PugliesePR.com.
Article excerpted from e-book, PR Survival Kit, by Tina L. Pugliese, APR.
Social media, Youtube, Facebook, small business, Twitter, LinkedIn
