Tips for Nonprofits

Nipa Shah, en Site Pro News, ha publicado un interesante artículo titulado “Where’s Social Media Headed”. En realidad, más que de redes sociales, trata de mercadeo a través de redes sociales (SMM: social media marketin).

A partir del caso “Obama en Twitter”, que tanto dio qué hablar, saca unas interesantes conclusiones.

1. Las redes sociales son asunto de interacción. No basta con publicar en Twitter (“pontificar”, llama él). Definitivamente, esto sigue siendo un reto. La mayoría de los que usamos Twitter (estoy seguro), solamente lo usamos para lanzar al ciberespacio nuestras ideas. Raramente respondemos a otro twitero (¡a ver cuándo empieza a aparece esta palabra en el DRAE!) o –peor aún– nos tomamos la molestia de leer sus palabras. Y esto, que ya es malo entre twitteros, llega a ser ridículo cuando les sucede a las compañías que crean su perfil en Twitter o en Facebook. ¿Quién se tomará la molestia de seguir sus posts?

2. A pesar de todo, Shah es optimista, y dice: “For marketers, social media marketing means a huge opportuníty”.

The opportunity comes from being able to demonstrate actual results to end clients in the form of visibility and generated buzz. For small businesses who have taken the social media marketing plunge, it means visibility at low cost. For everybody, Social Media Marketing means; buzz, visibility, website traffic and leads, assuming SMM is executed properly.

Resalto las palabras anteriores porque básicamente estoy de acuerdo con él en eso: la redes sociales nos pueden ayudar a ser más visibles. Al fin y al cabo, de esto se trata fundamentalmente el mercado: de que nos vean, de que vean nuestro producto. Si nadie nos ve, ¿cómo vamos a vender? (sean ideas o productos).

3. Otra idea importante: “Social media marketing is here to stay”. Cierto. Está cambiando, incluso, la forma de publicar en el mundo académico. Veamos lo que le está sucediendo a los periódicos impresos…

Las demás ideas las copio tal cual, en inglés, porque supongo que la mayoría de mis lectores no tendrán problema en entenderlas:

As an individual seeking a new job or as a business seeking new clients, here are some very basic yet very key strategies to keep in mind when embarking on the social media marketing journey:

1. Reap what you sow: This saying applies very well to Social Media Marketing. If you don’t begin leveraging social media websites to promote yourself or your business and especially if your competition is, you’ll be left behind in the dust of their visibility & buzz.

2. Make Time: Either make time for social media marketing for yourself / business OR find an expert who can do it for you. Not doing anything is not an option. Find a marketer who knows social networking.

3. Land your next opportunity: Remember the impression you want to cultivate online. You wouldn’t go to a face-to-face networking meeting and complain “how tired you are”, “how sleepy you are” etc. Then don’t do it online either. Online networking has reached a new level and you need to show your “networking” savvy by creating an impression which will land you the next connection, a new client or whatever you seek.

4. Don’t end up in jail or unemployed: If you don’t want to end up fired or end up in jail, be careful about what you say online. Professional behavior should be the norm (even for teenagers who don’t realize the impact of what they put out there on Facebook). Prospective employers, prospective clients, current clients, and anyone who wants to look you up, can and will. Once you’ve put something out there, it is out there forever.

5. Frequency matters just as much as content: Blogging once a month or writing a tweet once every week or posting a FB status once every other day is not the way to grow your visibility. All marketing activities require frequency, consistency, and long-term effort. You wouldn’t expect one advertisement in the Detroit Free Press to generate leads immediately or ongoing. Similarly, marketing online requires consistent, frequent, and long-term effort.

Again, remember, not doing anything is not an option.