You’ve been posting to your social media, so what’s next… now you need to market it to drive activity and traffic to your social media efforts… which leads to increased sales.

In a series of blogs began in January I’ve addressed four vital components for Social Media success. In January I focused on, ‘Company and brand positioning using social media’, February’s topic was, ‘Market research and customer profiling using social media’, for March I covered, ‘Utilizing social media for online promotions’. My April and final installment of the series is about,

‘Tying your Social Media Marketing (SMM) efforts to your traditional advertising and media’

Although we at Everbearing Services are all about everything Internet based, and we promote and use web-based social media marketing tools, we also recognize and recommend the structured, strategic  use of traditional advertising and media (TV, radio, newsprint, press releases, direct mail, etc.) as part of an overall Marketing plan.

The big differences between traditional and web-based advertising and media are:

  • Web-based is much more demographically targeted, whereas traditional media has a more broad shotgun approach to reaching customers
  • Traditional may be less expensive per impression, but again is much less targeted
  • Traditional also has less engagement options (other than picking up a phone and calling, customers can’t directly reply, ask questions, comment, or search)

Traditional media choices can be selectively included as an aspect in many campaigns to deliver a common and consistent message across all marketing channels.

Presently Direct Mail delivers a good value. Direct Mail is currently a good traditional advertising channel to use… and I say this as its use has slowed due to its cost and the competition amongst mailed pieces. Due to decreased use your mailed piece will now be one of several pieces, not one of many pieces that show up in potential customers mailboxes. Your piece can be delivered to specific zip codes of areas you are in or want to be in. I suggest you visit the neighborhoods of the zip codes areas you may be considering… to verify that those are the customers you want to attract.

QR Codes (Quick Response), those black & white square 2D bar codes you see starting to appear everywhere, are the perfect vehicle to tie your traditional media to your new, web-based and social media marketing efforts. You can put a QR Code on a sign, package, or truck… thereby linking those messages to your web site, social media, and your overall campaign. They allow people with Smartphones to connect with you… any time, any place.

While QR codes are a single, physical link to your media and company info, your Content (written matter) is your common, searchable connection that conjoins your strategic efforts amongst all your media… traditional and social.

Every company now has the opportunity to become its own media outlet with high-caliber editorial content, and great Content Marketing permits them to turn their media content into a vehicle for lead generation and conversion… and most importantly, sales!

The decreased use that direct mail and other traditional media are experiencing may make those a good compliment to web-based targeted advertising.  The mixing of old and new media types can deliver a powerful one, two punch your business may need! Don’t be afraid to engage in the process!

Here are links to the three previous parts of my SMM blog series:

https://www.everbearingservices.com/2012/01/04/smm-social-marketing-meet/

https://www.everbearingservices.com/2012/02/03/smm-drives-traffic-sales-part-series/

https://www.everbearingservices.com/2012/03/05/smm-drives-traffic-sales-part-series-2/

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