By Susan E. Campbell<\/p>\n
Social media has changed the way companies, clients and communities talk to one another, and the business that fails to tap into it, or uses it improperly, is not speaking the language of success.<\/p>\n
That is the mantra of Cory Patterson of Corinth whose marketing agency, Cuore Communications, helps small businesses and non-profit organizations utilize social sites, blogs and targeted marketing to gain or keep a competitive edge.<\/p>\n
“Ultimately customers do business because of a connection with the business owner or the person behind the counter,” Patterson said.<\/p>\n
A connection is made personal through social media. Connections lead to conversations and conversations lead to customers. However, some business owners have been reluctant to embrace social media.<\/p>\n
“Social marketing and reality television have actually changed how people do business,” Patterson said. “Consumers want to interact in a personal way.”
\nA site like Facebook provides the forum to foster relationships and “gain back the sale the business may have lost” by not having an online brand, she said.<\/p>\n
“People want to know if you have a dog or went to a charity event and had fun,” she said. “Business and entertainment are no longer separate like they used to be.”<\/p>\n
Patterson said when she works with small businesses and non-profits, she is taking on the role of the in-house marketing director that the entity could not otherwise afford. “A business owner trying to wade through social marketing is not spending time on profits,” she said. “And non-profit organizations have a stressed volunteer base.” The primary complaint non-profits have is that the community does not know its goals or its services, she said.<\/p>\n
“One non-profit was raising money to help tutor teenagers, but no one knew about it to take advantage of the service,” she said. “Or if they did have a great demand, then they may not have had the money to do the educating.”<\/p>\n
Targeted marketing on a social site like Facebook is one solution to the dilemma. For a fee per hit, the site will post ads directed to a certain age group, geographic area, pastime, or whoever is likely to be both interested and the kind of customer the business wants.<\/p>\n
“A coffee shop that wants to build traffic can offer to come in for a free cup,” Patterson said. “Adults might also get breakfast when they pick up their free coffee before work, but a teenager will take the free coffee and leave.”<\/p>\n
The user can set a budget “as little as five dollars” and discontinue running the ad when the desired number of responses are reached. Marketing specialists like Patterson recommend the site, the parameters of the audience and the message, and determines if the ad runs as a news feed, column ad or sponsored feed.<\/p>\n
The biggest mistake many make is reaching out too frequently.<\/p>\n
“Never spam a client or they will block you,” Patterson said. “One of my jobs is making sure my clients don’t make that mistake and helping them protect their reputations.”<\/p>\n
So much traffic has been driven to Facebook that a Facebook page is usually the first hit on a search engine. “A company can present its entire business on Facebook,” she said. “That is why a business page on a social networking site is even more important than a Web site. Facebook is good for a sentence or two and pictures, but if a company has a big story to tell, Facebook is not the right avenue,” she said.<\/p>\n
An entity can blog about its cause and share insights and establish itself as an expert if there is a passion for its field, she said.<\/p>\n
For help, contact Patterson at 742-9432 or email her at cuorecommunications@gmail.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Susan E. Campbell Social media has changed the way companies, clients and communities talk to one another, and the business that fails to tap into it, or uses it improperly, is not speaking the language of success. That is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n