April 4, 2011 by

Understanding How Users Relate to Social Media


Regardless the social media tools you plan to use, no marketing strategy can work unless it’s based on at least a modicum of knowledge about the market you intend to approach.
By Jim “GonZo” McAnally

YNOT EUROPE – There is more to social marketing than developing strategies for Twitter, Facebook and other networks. Regardless the popularity of the tools you plan to use, no strategy can work unless it’s based on at least a modicum of knowledge about the market you intend to approach.

Before developing a strategy for any marketing plan, you must understand the customers you which to reach. If you’re planning to employ social media, you need to understand potential customers’ social behaviors.

Customers are adopting new ways to communicate with each other, and companies must change in order to reach them. In the social marketing sphere, direct business-to-consumer messages aren’t entirely irrelevant, but they’re losing ground to consumer-to-consumer communications all the time. Too many self-proclaimed “social media consultants” pitch a solution based on which tool is the most popular without sufficient consideration about how consumers communicate via those tools. Sometimes a less-popular medium is more appropriate for your message.

This can’t be repeated often enough: Before embarking on a social marketing campaign, make sure you understand your potential customers’ behavior.

Here are four sets of questions to ask as you research and prepare your marketing plan:

[LIST=1]

  • Where do your customers hang out online? Which of the communities or services best characterizes their behavior?
  • How do your target customers behave on the sites they frequent? Do they upload pictures or comment, for example? What kinds of slang do they use? How many “lurk,” and how many are active participants?
  • How influential are you customers? How many of them are seen as reputable or considered authorities about the product or service you provide? How many of the network’s users are “teachers,” and how many are “students?”
  • How do your customers use social tools when it comes to discussing your product or service? Do they use the same or different tools to talk about products and services they already use and to research new services or products? If they use different tools for the two purposes, how do the tools differ, and why is there a split in usage patterns?
    [/LIST]
    More considerations exist, of course, but answering these four questions will give you a good start on understanding the best social-media approach to your market.

    Jim “GonZo” McAnally is marketing consultant and a veteran of the adult online industry. For more about him, visit GonZoConsulting.com.

    • About the Author

    admin

    YNOT Admin wields his absolute power without mercy. When he's not busy banning spam comments to hell he enjoys petting bunnies and eating peanut butter. He recommends everyone try the YNOT Mail (ynotmail.com) email marketing platform and avoid giving their money to mainstream services that hate adult companies.

    Visit Website

    Comments are closed.