Planning to publish a PR article in six months with traditional print media could mean completely

missing the marketing window of opportunity. Booking bus or outdoor advertising takes time
you might not have and not be able to measure.

So what are some key elements you need to keep in mind to market on a social web?

1. Share

Think sharing. What do people want to share? Then publish and promote it. This starts with a
shareable and compelling headline.

2. Go Real Time

Social media marketing involves publishing in real time, not next week or next month and topical
posts and tweets will help you catch the trend and viral wave. It also means you need to respond
in real time to complaints, issues and inquiries. The days of publishing 3 months or 6 months in
advance are fast disappearing as the market may have changed in that time and people want
their information now!

3. Educate – Don’t Sell

People no longer want to be “sold to”. Social marketing is about informing and solving peoples
problems with answers and information, whether that be from your blog, links in your tweets or
updates and information on Facebook.

4. Entertain – Don’t Market

We live in an information age that discards the bland and embraces the “WOW”. Facebook pages
and updates that entertain, with competitions, humor or the unexpected are the links that will
be shared.
5. Go Multichannel

Mono channel is not enough these days, whether that be email marketing or niche magazine
advertiseming. You need to be on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Blogs as a minimum. Social
Media can provide you with the channels to be ubiquitous (everywhere) 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week.

6. Give Information Away For Free

Free gets shared, it doesn’t mean that you give everything away but enough to build trust and
spread your content to the global village so that when you do publish that ebook or hardcover
they will buy it because they know you and love your unique content.

7. Think Multimedia

Text on its own doesn’t cut it anymore, you need to provide information in ways that meets
different peoples expectations and wants. You need to provide content in different media. Gen Y
loves video, Baby Boomers like email and text. Find out what type of media your audience wants
and give it to them. The broadband high speed web is now a a multimedia experience.

8. Think Like a Publisher

The days of just sending emails with a special offer or a brochure to a letter box are fast
disappearing. Consumers are now researching your company on the web with Google searches
on the web and they are looking for online published informative content that provides answers
and solutions. The types of online publications you should be planning are resources such as
eBooks, Podcasts, video tutorials and PDF’s just to name a few.

9. Target Your Niche

Tribes and fans find you and share you to their community. On Twitter you need to follow leaders
and people in your niche so that when you tweet they will retweet you to their followers who
will have similar interests. Facebook marketing can target demographics including roles, interests
and geography.

10. Show Your Passion

Remember social marketing involves passion as if you are not passionate and motivated about
your niche it will show. You cannot fake passion and a passionate publisher will shine through
and be shared.

11. Listen

Remember listen to your audience and they will tell you what they want, what solutions they
need for their problems and then provide it. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Blog comments will
reveal a wealth of information about your target market.

12. Engage

After listening to your market you then are ready to start communicating in real time with
messaging systems that they are comfortable with whether that be Twitter, Facebook or email.

Is there anything else I have missed? I look forward to your thoughts.

Image by toprankonlinemarketing