Michael Leander will be speaking about Marketing Through Social Networks at the ProMarket 2009 in Ljubljana in February 2009 and at the International Marketing Summerschool in Madrid in June 2009.

Not following the opportunity until it is too late
When it first hit me in 1994 – it hit me hard. And it is still very much on my mind. From time to time so much that I have been moments from setting this high flying plan into action; rearranging my life with an objective to take on that enormous opportunity it could represent for someone like me.

But. Alas. Like many before me, I did not follow my first instinct. It took me 8 years before I finally became an internet marketing entrepreneur – taking my hard earned experience from the corporate world and turning it into rather expensive, but – I’d like to think – valuable advice to large companies in Europe and beyond. By 2006 my companies were sold. After that - for some years - time became an abundance.

Much of that time have been invested with an objective to fully understand a number of intriguing marketing tactics, including sales, marketing and acquisition trough social media. I no longer get the same sort of super excitement about the prospects of the richnesses I could attract by setting up a social networking platform or even a social media of sorts. But I do believe that social networking and marketing through social networks represents a real opportunity for many companies, big and small.

Warnings are in place
I must warn you now. Social media, social networking, and marketing through these phenomenon is fascinating. And some “experts” will tell you that it is for everyone.

Not I … I will not give you that advice. Not ever.

Because as with any other direct or interactive marketing vehicle, only the smartest of the bunch will manage to design the right plan, execute it with excellence and reap the Return on Marketing Investment benefits. The rest won’t. In fact, the rest will continue doing what they always have been doing; following in others footsteps with no real game-plan and – naturally – without any success.

I have heard the sentence “anyone can participate and benefit” far too often. Remember when the internet was new & hot? The “experts” said; it is for everyone. Get in there, or die. Remember that?

During my presentation at ProMarket in Ljublana I will elaborate more on that. But for now, I’d like to give you a brief introduction to Marketing Through Social Networks. I plan to follow up with a second and third article in January 09.

First - terminology

Let’s take a look at the terminology. Because, you see, a certain very accomplished writer - whom I deliberately will not refer to as a direct marketing guru - claims that it is important that we all agree on the meaning of words. And since I have a tendency of making up the meaning of words as I go along, I thought I’d better get help from a reliable source.

We want to understand the exact definition of two terms. One is “social media”. The other is “social network marketing”.

In comes Wikipedia.

According to Wikipedia, the definition of Social media is:

Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences.

Aha.

So now I suppose that well known communities such as Facebook, Youtube and MySpace are considered social medias.

As for social network marketing, Wikipedia suggests

Social network marketing or social level marketing, is a advertising method that makes use of social network service and to increase their web presence. This ranges from simply advertising directly on social networking sites, viral marketing that spreads throughout the web, email, and word of mouth, or providing niche social networking sites focused around the item being advertised.

Many sites include features where companies can create profiles. For example, on Facebook companies can create “pages” where users can become fans of this company, product, service, individual, etc.

That makes sense, right? I am sure you knew that already. So – just checking

I think it is fair to say that both social media and social networks all fit under the web 2.0 umbrella, even though I am aware that some social media “experts” would argue that social media is its own umbrella. But that is merely semantics. I much prefer to take a more pragmatic approach to these things.

Second – the conversation
In order to become a successful marketer you must understand that the vast majority of social network marketing programs starts and ends with an opportunity to initiate, take part in and follow an interesting and relevant conversation. It is really that simple. And, might I add, not any different from any other direct or interactive marketing effort. Only, through social networks and social medias we have been provided platforms that enable us to actually have the conversation. Not only one-on-one, but with the participation of many, all at the same time. So I can be one-to-one, but most often it is (take your pick) one-to-many, company-to-consumer, consumer-to-consumer – heck, even friend-to-enemy.

Social media thus is much more than the typical journalist driven news related website. Since social media is open, any company, or any person for that matter, can become a publisher.

Learn - become your own publisher
I would argue that in order to understand how you can effectively market to social networks, it is quite beneficial to experiment with setting up a social media type of activity within your own organization first. It will help you understand how a few important things work in real life, namely

- how to get a conversation started

- how to keep the conversation going

- how to convert people from conversation to call-to-action

Apart from founding the Chief Marketing Officer’s Community aka Marketingboss on Xing, which currently counts around 7.000 member, I have setup a blog – http://www.meemoo2.com – and a Marketing “TV Channel” – http://www.marketingboss.tv – to test how this works. During my presentation at the ProMarket I will share some of my concrete findings with you. I will also be giving a similar presentation in Madrid in June at the International Senior Management Programme in Direct, Interactive & Relationship Marketing.

Now. Obviously marketing on social networks differs depending on your target audience. A B2C marketer will need to use slightly different techniques than the average B2B marketer. But at the corner stone of any successful marketing through social networks is a solid understanding of how social medias work. What makes them successful, what makes people like them, what makes people refer them to friends, family and colleagues and so on.

Third – setting objectives

It never seizes to amaze me how many marketers initiate new marketing programs without clearly defined objectives. Luckily most of these adventurous marketers almost always fail.

Before you venture into marketing through social networks, you must define your objectives.

In part 2 and 3 of this article, I will walk you through the following;

• setting your objectives

• defining your target market / segmentation

• defining the sales funnel and aligning it with the conversation and the dialogue

• engagement tactics with social network marketing

• top 10 most important tips to successful marketing through social networks for both B2C and B2B marketers.

  If you would like to connect with me on a social network platform, feel free to do so at Linkedin or Xing using the email address [micleander@gmail.com]