Viper Training

Social Networking Delivers Real 24/7 Business

Author: Neil Wilkins

Neil learnt his marketing with the likes of Orange, NatWest, BP Castrol and Ordnance Survey and now helps individuals and businesses to communicate more effectively. He trains and mentors marketers on professional Chartered Institute of Marketing qualifications through to post-graduate level.

Access to social networking sites through computers at home and mobile phones when on the move and outside of work hours, means those in the know can remain engaged with their customers wherever they are.

The popular myth that by simply having an effective website you will be attracting new business with little or no effort, has been surpassed by an entirely different approach to online marketing where the most successful businesses are now those using social networking as a means of communicating with customers on their terms and in their personal space.

Social networking is all about engaging with people, drip feeding them with relevant and interesting information and encouraging dialogue. The fact that this all happens in their own online space means they are far more receptive to talking and more likely to visit a website of a business that operates on their terms rather than one that simply opens its doors and expects people to come in.

Viper Marketing’s Neil Wilkins said, “We are seeing a significant increase in companies that are now using social networking to research the views and opinions of their customers as well as those drip feeding product and service benefits in a language their audience understands. LinkedIn and Facebook are currently the most popular social networking sites used in this way.”

The key to successful social networking is integration. Integrating your social networking strategy within the strategy and plans for your existing website, e-marketing and traditional communications and lead generation activity ensures you maximise the potential. If left as a standalone, ‘nice to do’ tactical activity it will quickly run out of steam and will be difficult to measure the value of time spent keeping your Facebook or LinkedIn pages up to date and relevant. Integrating it at the heart of how you communicate with customers and help them understand more about your products and services allows clear measurement of return on investment as well as essential ongoing feedback on how your business is perceived in the marketplace.

Neil added, “We currently have a public sector organisation who are redeveloping their website and are starting to build their social networking profile as the key medium for attracting people into the new site. The fact that everyone coming in through this route is a ‘Friend’ means they are far more receptive to everything they then see when they arrive at the site. We are also using social networking ourselves to keep our contacts and friends informed about new technologies and examples of what others are doing that they themselves might be interested in. It’s a great showcase.”

Best of all is that unlike most marketing, social networking needn’t cost anything to set up and run… just a little time and thought and strategic planning. The return on the investment of that time will be quickly recouped and you should be engaging with customers and new prospects in no time at all, in their space and on their terms. Just the way they like it, 24/7.

- Posted on Monday 09 Mar 2009 at 17:46 by Neil Wilkins

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