Entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to promote their enterprises. No matter how good your offerings are, if no one knows about them they may as well not exist. How do you get the word out?
The secret to social media success for your business is getting your message to the largest available audience as quickly as possible. One easy, low-cost way to promote your business is through social media. If you own a small business you probably have a
The reason you have a Facebook page or other social media presence is not so people who go out searching for you can find you. That marketing strategy has approximately zero chance of succeeding. The entire point of engaging in social media is to actively connect with people. And therein lies the mystery. How do you increase your connections and maximize your company’s exposure?
According to Marco Hansell, CEO of Speakr, “Businesses seeking to maximize exposure on social media either have to build their audience directly, or cultivate a relationship with ‘speakers’ who can broadcast your message for you.” Social media works as a promotional tool when information flows from speaker to audience then is rebroadcast by a new set of speakers from that audience to a new audience ad infinitum. Social media is all about multiplication.
The reason “The OMG Cat” video has been watched more than 23 million times is because people watched it and thought, “My friends/followers/connections will like this,” and they Shared/Tweeted/posted it for their audiences. This broadcasting happened millions of times.
Social media is much more complex than 20th century marketing which centered around radio, TV and print. The various social media platforms can come in and out of favor very suddenly. One day, everyone is discussing My Space. The next day, when someone references My Space, other folks look at him like he has three eyes. Off the top of my head, I can name Facebook, Instagram,
“Many entrepreneurs will not or cannot stay on top of the trends in social media, but there are people who do that. Building a following from scratch is difficult and time consuming. Besides, other people already have audiences you can take advantage of,” says Hansell. Speakr built a business model around this thinking, hiring social media champions to influence their existing audiences for Speakr’s clients.
What is the next, new, hot thing in social media? Do you know how to connect with people using it? Do you know a teenager or college student with thousands of followers who can help you broadcast your message? Because like the game Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, social media might not be as much about your direct connections as it is your connections’ connections. Or even your connections’ connections’ connections.
