Be warned, this blog post is not about your typical been-there-done-that social media marketing strategy. In fact, I even haven’t tried some of the ideas I will share here. So, yes, this blog post will benefit you and me.
I am not an expert in social media marketing; I need to learn a lot of things in order to use the social media more effectively and efficiently for my business purpose. Despite being recommended widely by social media experts, taking the ‘regular routes’ in social media marketing will take forever, with unknown results.
Not mentioning that you will compete with the big guys with big social media marketing budget. So, yes, the ideas I will share here are budget-friendly.
Here are some ideas that capitalise the grey area of social media marketing; the ideas are not illegal but implementing them require your sensibility and ethical sense – please note, I haven’t tested some of the ideas below, so continue at your own risk:
1. Buy friends and followers
This may look unethical, but it is very useful for a different reason – bear with me.
Many buy Twitter or Facebook friends and followers to boost their Twitter follower and Facebook friend counts, just for the sake of the numbers. However, to me, buying friends and followers is like hiring thousands of buzz marketers that will get your messages to a larger audience (in Twitter and Facebook, your friends and followers’ account will display your messages when you post them.)
So, if you have 3,000 friends and followers, you single update will automatically appear in 3,000 different accounts. Chances are, those accounts will attract other followers and friends, resulting in a well-promoted content you own.
2. Create different social media accounts for each of your business unit, product or service
If your small business sells two products or services, create two different social media accounts for them, in addition to one main business account.
The purpose of this is to laser-target your audience. The big guys do this – CNN has 18 official Twitter accounts, targeting specific audience with each. Google has aplenty, too.
3. Pay someone to do social media marketing for you – with a twist
Hiring someone – in-house or outsource – to handle your small business social media needs is typical. Here’s a little twist for you: How about hiring a social media rockstar – someone who owns very active social media accounts, and make a deal that your small business updates should go to his/her network, too.
This is like hiring a famous endorser for your small business, at a fraction of cost. In the Internet and social media world, someone who is not famous in off line world could be a famous figure online.
4. Buy Twitter tweets, Facebook status updates, YouTube views
Similar to number 1 above, you can get exposure in a different way; instead of getting a number of ‘fans’ to your social media accounts (and eventually to your business,) you can have your messages to be tweeted, mentioned, liked, etc. by account owners.
In Twitter case, an active account owner can have your messages to be tweeted to his/her entire network of followers at a very affordable rate. This also works with Facebook, YouTube and the rest.
What about ethics?
Social media marketing involves a lot of work. It involves building relationship. In Internet marketing, ethic is all about managing your ‘broadcasts’ and buzzes in such a way that they are not spamming and scamming other people.
There are loopholes in the Internet that creative small business owners can capitalise on without sacrificing anything else. Finding solutions using legitimate loopholes is perfectly ethical. What’s unethical is tricking someone into believing that your products and services are top-notch, whereas the facts tell him/her the otherwise.
The key is for you to ensure that you deliver what you’ve promised – that’s what I considered as being ethical.
Any opinions on this article? Please share your thoughts by commenting on this article.
Ivan Widjaya
Social media marketing