White Knight

Companies requiring basic websites or custom web design solutions have quickly learned the importance for their Web sites to have social media marketing capabilities. One need look no further than the explosive growth of social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter to recognise the potential for marketing that lies within this emerging area of technology. The question, however, which is on the tip of every business owner’s tongue is, “What are the benefits of a social media strategy?”

The Benefits

Individually Targeted Advertising - When you purchase advertising on a social media site such as Facebook, MySpace or Twitter, you’re not just purchasing a standard pay-per-click advertisement that no one will ever look at. Social media sites special in that the users of these sites entrust their personal information to the databases that sit behind the sites. What this means for you is that your advertisement is matched up with the key words that each user places within their profile. For instance, if a user is male and has a birth date of 1971, ads that are specific to his gender and age group will be placed on his profile each and every time he logs in. In terms of targeted marketing, this is an incredibly powerful tool because the ads that appear on an individual’s profile page are specifically relevant to that person.

Word-of-Mouth - Another benefit of advertising on a social media site is word-of-mouth advertising from the people ordering and using your products. In March of 2009 the average number of friends per Facebook user was 120. Consider that users post their likes and dislikes to their profile on a daily basis. If they’re posting about your product and how amazing it is, there are potentially 120 pairs of eyes that see the virtues of your product. When you take into account that 120 pairs of eyes look at each of the original 120, you can see that the numbers begin to grow exponentially. Another component to the idea of word-of-mouth advertising is the amount of social influence that some people have within their network of friends. Those who have deep influence on their peers can have a tremendous effect upon the popularity of your product or service.

Web Traffic, Brand Awareness and Global Reach - The final three benefits to you as an advertiser on a social media site are increases to your web traffic, growth in your brand awareness and broad customer reach. The first point is that when you have a web advertisement that is matched up to an individual person’s profile, that person will be more likely to actually click on your ad. Positive brand awareness is based on the quality of your product plus the word-of-mouth advertising you’ll receive. When users of social networks like your products they’ll talk about them. Remember, they’re broadcasting, on average, to a group of 120 people or more when they do this. Finally, a basic issue that many people forget is that the web is a global phenomenon. You will reach more people through social media than you could ever reach through other standard forms of advertising and because of the individually targeted nature of the advertising these ads are more likely to work.

Advertising within the context of a social media Web site is more than just a pay-per-click issue. Your Web site, which you’ve so carefully crafted with its amazing ecommerce design, quality user interface and relevant content will sit out on the Internet and pull in a few visitors now and then. However, if you choose to harness the power of advertising within a social network, you’ll find that the return on investment will be greater than you could have ever imagined. So much so, that you’ll find yourself laughing all the way to the bank.