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Social Marketing Strategy: Encouraging the Right Conversations

Social Marketing Strategy: Encouraging the Right Conversations

by on May 23, 2011 · 18 comments

Most brands fail in the arena of social media marketing, because they focus less on ‘social’ and more on ‘media’. Markets are nothing but conversations. In order to build long-term relationships with consumers, companies need to encourage the right kind of conversations after identifying who their target audience is.

The best part about social media is that you can’t even stop conversations from happening. Once you have identified your target audience, the next important step is to focus on right conversations so that you can engage more and more consumers to interact with your brand, products, and services.

Targeted Conversations for Target Audience
Just identifying your target audience isn’t proof that you will achieve success in creating awareness about your brand or promoting your new range of products on social media platforms.

One common mistake that most of the companies make while using social media sites for marketing is that they start encouraging every type of conversation. When you start social marketing, you need to use your energy to concentrate on conversations that are targeted to fulfill your target audience’s requirements.

What should be the Focus of Your Conversations?
In order to decide which conversations are right, brands need to understand how conversations can be used to achieve a wide range of goals. Right kinds of conversations can only be encouraged when you have understood what your consumers are looking for.

In any case, some of the key goals that you can achieve by encouraging conversations through any social marketing platform include the following:

Consumer Support
One of the most valuable uses of social media conversations is to provide a superior customer service experience to your target audience. By providing efficient customer service, you can immediately increase the level of participation from your consumers.

Brand Advocacy
Another key goal of a conversation is to turn your target audience into ‘advocates of your brand’. When consumers start advocating for your brand or services, it results in a powerful word-of-mouth campaign.

Consumer Feedback
By encouraging conversations around your brand, your most important goal should be to listen to what your consumers have to say, collect their feedback, and respond to their comments. Feedback from consumers can then be used to enhance the quality of products and services.

Building your brand’s presence on a social media platform will meet with success only when you are able to encourage the right kind of conversations. Depending on the kind of conversations you want to promote, you can create groups, communities and use other user-friendly applications. The right conversations should always be targeted at reflecting the company’s brand positioning, kick-starting a word-of-mouth campaign ,and providing value to consumers on an ongoing basis.

Article by Obaidul Haque

Obaidul Haque works as an SEO manager handling client projects. He focuses heavily on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Social Media Marketing (SMM). He uses HelloBloggerz to share his insightful views with his readers on a regular basis . He has been successfully helping clients, hailing from various industries, achieve higher rankings in search engines and increase their online sales.

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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }

Tiffany July 6, 2011 at 4:51 pm

With all these voices online, even your Granny has the power to trash your company. The world truly is flat and everyone is an equal opportunity commenter!

I’ve found that sometimes the best conversations are the ones that you don’t start. I love that you’ve discussed the importance of consumer feedback!

Listening to what the world is saying about you online then shaping that conversation is something that no other medium allows us to do. I’ve seen many companies take a negative review or comment and turn it into a positive simply by listening, being responsive, and being a intricate part of the conversation about them.
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Sasha Gibbs from Wholesale Directory June 29, 2011 at 12:27 am

Your visitors or participants of conversation can be your best medium of viral marketing if you communicate better with them. You need to give them full concentration. You have to proof that you are here for there help and support not for the publicity of your company. Resolve their problems give them what they need provide them full satisfaction from your side. And then they will not only be visitors but also be your customers. And also they will play a solid role in bringing their friends and family on your page on Social Media. And you will keep on gaining audience and customers.

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Gina Jennings June 2, 2011 at 1:16 am

That’s kind of the same way with Linked In. People definitely get to taking about a subject or asking questions, and you’ll be surprised at the expertise that’s already there. So you’re right. You’d have to assess the conversation and gleen what people may be interested in.

I don’t know. For me social networking is something that hasn’t caught on with me. I like blogs and forums because I can focus on an exact question asked and jump in and keep it relatively focused.
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Nick Stamoulis
Twitter:
June 1, 2011 at 8:41 am

Some businesses use social media as simply “media”, as you mentioned. Some realize that it’s about having a conversation, but aren’t sure what that conversation should be. It’s important to go into social media with a strategy. If you don’t, it won’t be very effective and won’t generate the results that you were hoping for.

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Vijayraj Reddy
Twitter:
May 30, 2011 at 7:24 am

good conversations is one of the social media strategy which every one needs…..
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Zohan May 29, 2011 at 1:14 am

Nice Post, effective conversation can yield much than content. I agree with the points on this article. And also this post gives an idea about how to properly utilize social media for marketing purposes, thank you for that :)
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Karan May 26, 2011 at 11:24 am

I really liked the statement :
” less on social and more on media”
well, this concept is pretty much what I used to do and this wasn’t helping till now.

I guess I was targeting conversions the wrong way, nice explanation..
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Amy May 25, 2011 at 3:26 pm

“Right kinds of conversations can only be encouraged when you have understood what your consumers are looking for.”
Very true – and also, the problem they are trying to solve.

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Musthafa
Twitter:
May 25, 2011 at 12:25 pm

Outsourcing the Social media marketing is best for the bloggers, who already found a base. Newcomers should make this by themselves :)

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Steve
Twitter:
May 25, 2011 at 10:38 am

A good social media strategy is very important. I constantly see that the people who really connect on social media get a heck of a lot more attention than those that do not. It is cerainly important to make “real” connections and not simply pass along links.Thanks for the article!
Steve recently posted..One Niche To Rule Them AllMy Profile

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Obaidul Haque
Twitter:
May 25, 2011 at 2:41 pm

Thanks for stressing the point, Steve. Social media marketing is all about ‘being social’. The focus should always be on driving social momentum.

We need to understand that ‘this is cool link ….’ kind of Twitter updates are not actually conversations. It is only when we promote targeted conversations that we can fully realize the potential of social media.
Obaidul Haque recently posted..Top Blogging Secrets for New BloggersMy Profile

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Jayant May 24, 2011 at 5:11 am

Great Article. Now a days everybody talk about social media marketing but very few knows how to effectively utilize this media. This is very sensitive media and u need to be know how to start an effective conversation after you recognize your target audience. This article will help a lot for many bloggers and advertisers.
Jayant recently posted..What is the fate of SpeakAsiaMy Profile

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Obaidul Haque
Twitter:
May 24, 2011 at 6:48 am

Thanks for commenting, Jayant. Glad that you liked the article.
Obaidul Haque recently posted..10 Surefire Tips to Improve Landing Page ConversionMy Profile

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Paul May 24, 2011 at 3:21 am

Many believe content is king but I say – great communication is the most important aspect of a good blogger and conversation is one way to exhibit good communication which also promotes your face in the market. Excellent article Obaidul, thanks!
Paul recently posted..Ever Heard Of Google Think InsightsMy Profile

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Gautam A D May 24, 2011 at 1:33 am

exacty obaidul! without interacting with our audience we will surely fail to successfully promoting our brand! :)

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Dave Lucas
Twitter:
May 23, 2011 at 8:21 pm

Obaidul, what are your thoughts on bloggers developing “branding” for their blogs? I’ve been using a particular color scheme and logo, and I notice some other bloggers do the same. Do you reckon that eventually blogs will morph into “branded” products? What might be the implications for citizen journalism? Will it split off from actual personal weblogging? Sorry to barrage you with questions, but your article got me thinking down different avenues of the imagination! I want to turn my readers into ADVOCATES, thanks to you! Am I off in the right direction?
Dave Lucas recently posted..The Life and Loss of Karen WooMy Profile

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Obaidul Haque
Twitter:
May 24, 2011 at 12:21 am

Good questions, Dave. These are some of the key questions a potential blogger can ask. If you are ready to feed your readers with the right kind of food (and food for thought) and are consistent in doing so, you can never stop your blog from getting morphed into a brand.

Look at some of the top moneymaking blogs on the internet and the kind of branding they have done. Some of best examples of blog branding include Techcrunch.com, Huffingtonpost.com, ReadWriteWeb.com etc.

In order to shape up your blog to turn it into a brand, you should be completely aware of your short-term and long-term goals. You should never lose focus as to whether you want to reach. If you have the goals quite clear in mind, you’ll be headed in the right direction.

Whether it’s the design of the blog, the content that you deliver, the logo, the title of the blog or the writing style – all of this has to play a vital role when it comes to blog branding.

Thanks for asking the question again.

Regards,
Obaidul Haque
Obaidul Haque recently posted..10 Surefire Tips to Improve Landing Page ConversionMy Profile

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