Wondering what social media marketing is?

Feeling overwhelmed by all the tech talk?

I have a confession to make: I often am stuck trying to figure out which are the best “social media marketing” ideas and get a little overwhelmed too.

Sorting through the daily avalanche of social media news isn’t easy. Not only are there new platforms coming to the marketplace every couple of days, there are tools to that promise to make social media marketing easier, too. We are surrounded by social media.

Last week in the first session of our Social Media Marketing 101 class we talked about the idea that not only can you not keep up with it all, it isn’t wise to try.

Can you remember life before email? If you think about it email is the granddaddy of social media. Sharing information on a virtual network is the essence of our communication. Even though platforms have come, gone, or morphed into something else, we still use email!

In preparing for our social media classes, I have given this a lot of thought. There are lessons from the “email era” that might help with using other social media, too.

1. You have to start somewhere. It is safe to say that when I started my nonprofit, I had a nonexistent contact list, and I was then only person subscribed to my newsletter. That has changed. I decided that email was a tool that could help me get donors for the Reading Tub, so I invested time and energy to it

2. Nothing grows without a little TLC. Sometimes it takes a lot of tender loving care, I admit. Whether its staying in touch with your sister or a new customer, you need to nurture those relationships. 

3. Be true to yourself  and your goals. It is so easy to be lured by the bright shiny new thing, but unless it complements or fits within your plan, file it away or toss it. Some of the bells and whistles can be downright jaw-dropping, but once your network gets past the initial  “wow” will it make a difference? Or will it just make more work for you?

Social Media Marketing: The Bottom Line

Keeping up with the digital Joneses not only is exhausting, it could cost you business. Find the two or three tools that fit with your marketing strategy, and forget the rest.

Your customers are bombarded just like you, and they have the same overwhelming feelings you do. They are looking for the person / company / brand that is that virtual “port in a storm.”

Integrating the tools into your tried-and-true marketing plan gives loyalists and future customers confidence in you and your brand. It lets them know that you’re here and listening  not leaving them for the next shiny thing.