Putting on Your Social Media Shoes: Get the right fit!

These days, every marketing newsletter in my inbox centers on the new era of marketing -how to use social media and how to implement the latest marketing techniques.

Well and good. And helpful. My only beef with the onslaught of this kind of messaging is that we’re focusing so much on the tools that I wonder if we are forgetting some marketing essentials:

• Listen to your clients
• Look at your budget
• Be true to who you are as a company

What does this mean? It means all of the new gadgets and tools on the market are tools! You still
have to have a marketing strategy that works for you and your clients.

Let’s look at some examples:

Company A is a B2B professional services firm whose clients don’t use Facebook for professional use, only personal use. Some of Company A's clients and contacts use LinkedIn. Company A would glean little benefit from Facebook or to Twitter. Company A is successfully meeting
its clients where they are professionally, keeping a constant eye on the competition and maintaining a professional aura with various other marketing tactics.

Company B is also B2B professional services firm. They use media relations more than they used to and have started to embrace some social media, but like Company A, Company B’s clients use Facebook personally, not professionally and their attempt to market using FB was a dismal failure – one they could see coming but one they thought they had to explore. They use Twitter, but their other tactics including webinars and regular industry leading analysis marketed
straight to the client are more effective, efficient, and cost effective tools that generate hard leads for their industry.

Company C is a B2B and B2C services firm. They sell both to businesses and consumers. They, on the other hand, are having great success with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn…their clients are on those sites and using those tools; Company C needs to be there, too.

Both Companies A & B have felt the pressure of utilizing social media more – the interesting part is that in both cases, the pressure did not come from the clients. Au contraire. It came from boards or leadership concerned they were not on the bandwagon and losing a marketing opportunity. Company C chose to use social media as a part of their overall strategy because it was right for their company. It fit.

It comes down to using the right tool at the right time to suite the right market. Don’t stress yourself if you are not on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Look at your strategy and if the shoe fits, then only then by all means, put it on!