MediaVision Blog : Search Engine Marketing

Building social networks and establishing relationships with your consumers is often touted as a holy grail of online marketing. Open and honest communication and interaction are supposed to be chief among the goals of modern companies so that they don’t alienate their customers or clients. Alienation is the devil and social marketing your saviour. But social networking and nursing fledgling contacts takes time, and time, as we all know, is generally in short supply.

It’s one thing for a company or business to hop on the social networking bandwagon, and create a profile on the networking site of the month, all with the intention of building a thriving social community around their brand. It’s another when they find that the demands of social networking are more than they anticipated, and they’re hard pressed to simply keep track of their “friends” and keep their content updated and fresh. Because social networking is more personal than any other form of advertising, your communities are likely to take it to heart when you keep them waiting in anticipation of contact, or fail to meet promises that you’ve made. Neglecting your audience will alienate them even more so than if you had passed social networking by.

According to a fellow online marketing company, it’s time businesses started to weigh the benefits of social networking against the time and effort that it requires. They advocate careful consideration of your brand and objectives to ensure that any social marketing ventures you opt for are in line with your expectations, as well as within your capabilities to carry out. This is sound advice as there are many ways to reach your audience online, but I wonder if perhaps kicking the social networking bucket isn’t a little premature.

Online marketers are nothing if not resourceful, and I believe that if companies are finding it increasingly difficult to meet their social networking responsibilities, it’ll only be a matter of time before a new niche market is born. Soon we could see the rise of social networking specialists who will run your entire social networking campaign for you, leaving you free to get on with your core business.

Social networking is too valuable to ignore, especially as consumers are becoming more demanding, and expect to play a more tangible role in your business’s success, or failure. They have come to expect to be consulted about any changes you’re considering making, and they expect their opinions on the matter to count. They expect to be kept up to date with your development and proposed plans for the future. They expect to be able to give feedback, both positive and negative and for their input to be recognised and valued. Rather than come across as lacking in any respect, it’s important to go out of your way to pander to your consumers’ needs. If you don’t have the time to do so, social networking specialists could be the way to go.