More and more businesses are feeling the pressure to go “social.” Everybody, from small entrepreneurs to large enterprise CEOs, understands that social media marketing an important tool. Everybody comprehends that it has something to do with Facebook pages and Twittering Tweets. (Or is it Tweeting Twitters?) But plenty of businesses, big and small, either glaze over or visualize little gray-haired ladies serving one another tea and biscuits when they hear the term “social.”
So instead of social, think real-time. It’s not so much about regular tweeting or frequent Facebook posting. It’s about having a real-time mindset for your brand. It’s about the realization that your business is now engaged in a real-time dialogue with customers and prospects. So instead of juggling words like social and odd grouping of letters like SMM and SEM, just focus on being a real-time brand.
Social Media Marketing guru, David Meerman Scott, explains it this way: “The Internet has fundamentally changed the pace of business, compressing time and rewarding speed.” Today’s successful brands have only one choice. Business must be conducted in real-time.
The interesting thing is when best casino online you say real-time and not social, there is a paradigm shift. It’s suddenly not a case of IF but WHEN your brand or business addresses these challenges.
Here are four things to watch out for in becoming a real-time brand:
1. Real-time takes planning. Only 43% of brands in a recent study stated that they have a formalized plan as to how social media will help achieve business goals.
2. Real-time takes training. Small businesses usually have nobody responsible for social media marketing. And few employees have even basic social media training.
3. Real-time takes integration. The footloose nature of social media marketing tools means that they’re not hooked into established processes such as a CRM platform or brand monitoring tool.
4. Real-time is about the customer. Your brand reputation is up for grabs the moment you start a blog or a Facebook page. The software selection, usage and training means the customer experience is likely to be ad-hoc. This is true for small businesses or global corporation. Here, small companies have the advantage of greater personal touch.
Take the time to plan, staff and train your employees to engage in this real-time adventure. Your brand will reap the benefits.
We are a Dallas Advertising Agency specializing in real-time Social Media Marketing
