Right now, Social Media is what some people may call a “hot product”, in the sense that a lot of people are making new marketing products to teach people how to do marketing with Social media, but in fact, it is no better than search. Except for some practices. Growth of YouTube, Facebook caused this big explosion in internet’s social media attention, but in fact, there is something more to it that just 4-5 major social media sites. EBay, Craigslist, Twitter and all the forums of the Internet are social media . The reason to worry about is that all businesses and marketers are going crazy over social media right now simply because it’s hot. This is not always a good idea – go after a new channel because there’s value, a path to revenue and a solid set of tactics that fit with your overall strategy, not just because it’s under exposure all the time.
Social media is great for:
- Connecting with your customers/your prospects
- Building another channel for communication, branding & messaging
- Appealing to early adopters
Search market gives you a lot more in comparison:
- Answer a direct need precisely when it’s requested in a scalable fashion
- Gain visibility from virtually all Internet users with an interest in your brand/product/sector/content at once
And if you’re ignoring other important fundamentals of online marketing, like:
- Building a website with a unique value proposition
- Creating great useful content that people want, content is king
- Road to effective email marketing
- Finding ways to scalably acquire new users & retain existing ones
- Leveraging conversion funnels & conversion testing
- PPC
You should probably consider those marketing points before ones that are obtainable thru social media. Don’t get me wrong, I really love social media, there is a great way to build email lists (FaceBook Groups) and share experience with people (forums) and getting the experience in return!
