Pretty good post in Search Engine Land today about The Four Returns of Social Media Marketing. The nice thing I found it the categorization for each type and where to get started.
In particular - was a sobering note about Sales - what to expect from a Social Media campaign - and what not to expect:
"..It is very hard to create a social media marketing campaign that will result in direct sales. This is because you're reaching consumers in a non-purchasing stage of the cycle. It contrasts from standard SEO where consumers are looking for what you're selling and at the point of purchase already. Social media is less intrusive, and part of the reason people engage is because there's more there than just a selling message. Any content piece with a strong selling message will not be received well or successful.
The best way to generate sales through social media is to show how good your product is in a creative way and compelling way. Blendtec, for example, has created a campaign called Will it Blend?, where they take various consumer items that you would think are impossible to blend and they blend them. This shows off their product is in a way that is compelling for the consumer to watch. Since the launch of the campaign in November, sales for the company have quadrupled.
I think it takes some imagination, creativity to be original - do something different that is noteworthy and then generates BUZZ - and the end of that might be some more sales - but don't start with Sales as your goal or may be let down.
Also, my post on KickApps - Social Media tools on Demand play right into the following part of the Search Engine Land post:
"…Another strategy is to build white label social media sites for your customers with topics focused around your brand or industry. Examples of these include: Guitar Center's King of the Blues, Dell’s IdeaStorm and My Barack Obama. "
You can do it now with no startup expenses - but again, I think it takes imagination and insight into how your business is run to decide what your social network can offer and what your audience wants.
