Jill Celeste is the owner of Hound Dog Social Media, a social media marketing agency that helps businesses with their social media needs. She began using social media four years when she started her book blog, and her desire to learn more about social media has grown into a full-time career. And yes, there is a hound dog. The company is named after her basset hound, Emma, who makes appearances on the company’s blog.
1. To get started, maybe you can clarify: What is social media marketing?
Social media marketing is one tool in a company’s marketing tool box. Typically, a company uses social media to share information with their followers, in hopes that these followers will share the information with their friends. Spreading the company’s messages helps build the company’s online reputation and trust factor. Over time, this can result in greater sales as people tend to buy from companies they (or their friends) trust.
2. In practical terms, how does social media differ from traditional media?
Social media is more accessible to people because it’s free or low cost. Anyone can start a Twitter account or Facebook page for free. Traditional media costs more money, which restricts many business owners from using it.
Additionally, social media is a two-sided conversation. In social media, businesses can talk to their customers, ask them questions and deal with their issues. Traditional media tends to be a “push” from companies with little interaction with their consumers.
3. How can social media level the playing field?
As I mentioned, you can start a Facebook page or Twitter account for free. Some businesses invest a small portion of money in creative design or apps, but the costs for these add-ons are usually much less than placing an ad in the newspaper or running a TV commercial. By being more cost-accessible, social media has leveled the playing field for small businesses as they compete against their larger counterparts.
4. It seems like every day there is a new network being launched. And they are becoming much more specific. How can a business owner know where to direct their efforts?
A business owner should fish where the fish are. In other words, what social networks are most frequented by your customers? If you are not sure, ask them!
5. How do you measure the ROI of social media? Is there an effective way to track sales?
Social media ROI is a hot topic right now. Because social media can be time intensive, businesses want to make sure that they are getting the biggest bang for their buck. I can’t blame them. In my opinion, though, you have to offer something through social media so you can track its success. Many companies are using Foursquare, for example, to reward patrons who check into their location. That’s something trackable, and if you get the word out, others will check in for the discount.
If you don’t offer some type of incentive to your customers, then you may not have a tangible thing to count and track, which makes ROI hard to prove.
6. Should a company use social media focus on brand building? Client interaction? Or direct sales?
Before starting a social media campaign, a business owner should write down what he/she hopes to accomplish through social media. It can be for those things listed above, but it’s important that the business owner knows his/her objectives first. Then, the business owner can adapt his messages and platforms to best achieve his goals.
Let’s say someone starts a new restaurant. The restaurant owner decides he wants to use social media to let people know about his new restaurant, where it’s located and what the specials are. Great! Now he knows what messages he wants to get across. And let’s go further and say his business should appeal to college students because it’s low-cost and located near a college campus. By narrowing his demographic, he should look for social media platforms that are visited by college kids, such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
How can you be contacted? At my Web site: www.hounddogsocialmedia.com, on Twitter: @HoundDogSM and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/HoundDogSocialMedia.
