Businesses have been learning about how to use social media to promote their brand, spread goodwill, and market their products and services. However, some entrepreneurs and marketers are still getting it wrong, in that they view it as mostly a numbers game, and with their use of bait-and-switch tactics to get a lot of people following them, and then subsequently bombarding everyone with promotional material.
Social media is not about bombardment with information. Rather, marketing through social media involves connecting and engaging with your audience. Whether you are marketing a well known brand, or just starting out a business, it pays to know your niche, and to truly connect to the people who have genuine interest.
Take Twitter, for instance. Twitter is an excellent platform for connecting to friends, but it’s also a great way to research current trends and discussions. It’s also a great way to bring out a message to people whom you might not necessarily know.
The problem here, as with any platform or application, is the tendency for misuse. For instance, there’s the presence of bots and spammers. Because of an open API, some have developed software for following people automatically based on keywords. And there are software that automatically push posts on schedule. And as for spammers, Twitter is abuzz with unscrupulous marketers who do bait-and-switch tactics. First they follow you, seemingly like genuine users. And then when they have a good number of followers already they start regularly posting inspirational and business quotes, but what you won’t notice is that these usually include links to affiliate schemes.
Not that there’s anything wrong with affiliate schemes, but what I take issue with here is how the marketers seem to lure users into following, and then switching to what is practically spam.
For any marketing to succeed on Twitter, I think the best way to go about with it is by genuinely connecting with individuals. Join the discussions. Or better yet, start it. Once there is a connection, people start trusting you. They trust your recommendations. There’s nothing wrong with using social media as a platform for marketing. The important thing here is to remain human, and to remain genuine in your enthusiasm toward your brand, company or product.
Try growing your Twitter network today. Join in on the discussions. Be relevant, and be real.
