Social Media Marketing

Who doesn’t have a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter? I guarantee you that everyone in our ETP class has one of the three. While there are a wide range of social media outlets, one reigns above all. Facebook is the champ of social media sites. Facebook ranks in the #1 spot where friends connect and share online. More than just a meeting place for friends, Facebook has become an outlet for businesses to market themselves through interaction with customers and self-promotion. For an entrepreneur or small business owner, Facebook is a powerful marketing tool. It’s a great space to keep customers informed, develop brand identity, and broaden your reach. A Facebook page is a great free marketing tool for businesses. These pages let businesses identify themselves. This is not just through listing product offerings and services, but also by sharing links, images, and posts on a custom page to give a better sense of a business’s personality and character. Your Facebook business page is a great spot to develop your brand identity and show your human side. Facebook is where you can loosen the tie a bit, don’t be afraid to be funny.  Use free social media marketing to your advantage, make your business go viral!  

What is the key?

Offering a product or service people need or want shouldn’t require marketing, right? Wrong! As a business owner, you can never assume your product or services doesn’t need to be promoted. The heart of every business’s success lies in its marketing. Most aspects of your business depend on successful marketing. The overall marketing umbrella covers advertising, public relations, promotions and sales. Marketing is the way your product or service is introduced and promoted to potential customers. Even if your product or service is in high demand, this means you are going to have competitors. Marketing is the key for a successful business venture.

  

Dream and Dream Big

Look around.... what do you see? 

You all are seeing things that were only an imagination or dream at one time. All of the products we use everyday started as an idea. 

An idea from a dreamer, an entrepreneur. 

Think about some of the well know inventors and businessmen; Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford. Now think about what they all had in common, a dream. They each had an idea that became a dream. To be successful, we can not give up on our dreams. Although sometime they seem so far out of reach, never quit, never give in.    

The Marketing Struggle

For entrepreneurs and small business owners marketing can be a big struggle. Taking the time to create and develop a strategy is just the first step.  Execution and consistently take the matter to a whole other level. When you’re running your own business alone, this becomes even more difficult. Things like, the time spent on customer service, inventory, staffing, banking, and billing seem to push marketing to the bottom of pile.

In the business world today more focus is being placed on “being in the market”, finding and making time for marketing is even more important.  Knowing how and where to start evaluating a marketing opportunity can involve a variety of factors. Each potential commitment should be appraised to gauge a variety of factors that will help you make an informed decision.

Features, cost, potential return, time investment, competition and length of commitment are all factors you need to keep in mind when thinking about a marketing channel, directory or tactic being “worth it.”  When time and effort are limited, it’s important to keep your eye on getting the biggest “bang for your buck.” Your marketing represents you and your company. Always make a good impression.