A Look At Social Media Marketing

A growing number of small business owners are using social media to promote their business in 2011 as they flock to take part in the social web.  According to Constant Contact, more than two thirds of small business owners are planning strategies that involve social media marketing.  Does that mean an end to traditional marketing as we know it?

Despite cries of the death of traditional marketing, research shows the opposite.

Social media is certainly popular, I’ll give you that.  Facebook has more than 800 million active users and over half of those users log in every day.  With the wide reach, it’s no surprise that 73% of small business owners report using social media marketing to improve their brand visibility and profit.  Many of those companies hope to increase their social engagement in 2012.  Of the business owners not currently utilizing social media, 62% say they plan to implement social media marketing by next year.

There’s a great deal of value in social media marketing but the survey from Constant Contact also shows that small business still rely heavily on other forms of marketing such as email, event marketing, print and multimedia advertising in order to drive their business.

91% are still leveraging email marketing, particularly to maintain relationships with existing clients.  Almost 80% still use print advertising both nationally and locally.  Just under 70% rely on online advertising such as pay per click marketing through Google and 53% draw business from event marketing.

What these statistics show us is that despite more than 95% of business using social media marketing (turning their interest to Facebook), a large number of businesses use the service as a complementary item or additive to their overall marketing strategy rather than a replacement of traditional methods.

Social media marketing – Email Stands Out

Of all the tools business owners use to connect with their audience, many cite email marketing as the first and most frequent tool used for marketing and promotion.  The reason for its success and continued use?  More than 80% of web users report that email is the first thing they check when going online and 74% of consumers as well as business owners check their email more than 6 times per day.

Social Media Marketing – Developing an Effective Strategy

Not every marketing method is ideal for your business, and locking into only one specific style of marketing isn’t likely to provide a steady return.  To gain the most benefit you need to mix traditional methods with online marketing methods such as social media marketing.   Only through combined efforts can you improve customer acquisition, conversions and higher profits.

Email for example is one of the most obvious choices to get the message out while social media helps you stay engaged once you connect.  Email and other types of marketing light the fire and social media marketing fans the flames.