An article on how a self-published author can create their own marketing strategy recently caught my attention. The 4 rules they give for marketing strategy can also apply to anyone marketing themselves through the internet and social media. Here they are:
- It’s an investment, not a cost. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn may be free to join, but the time invested can definitely be expensive while you’re building an audience base. In business school, they call this “opportunity cost” because your time is tied up in one venture and unable to be devoted to other ventures.
- It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Social media is all about being authentic and building genuine relationships with people. If you keep that in mind — that relationship-building takes time — you’ll be less likely to make the unfortunate mistake of spamming your product or service out to people who will only resent you and want to avoid what it is you’re selling.
- Define your market and your niche in that market. When posting videos or blogs to the internet, you have to decide what keywords you’ll be using to tag your content. The general rule on this is that the fewer tags, the better. Knowing which keywords you’ll use will require knowing who your target market is.
- Reviews are still important, if you can find them. By giving good content and giving it generously to the world, it should only be a matter of time until someone wants to write a review. But it can be tough to get those to come when asking for them. I emailed a dozen of my recent video production clients to ask for a Yelp review and only saw two of them post something. If patience isn’t your strong point, you may want to offer an incentive to people to take the time to write a review.