Understanding Social Media For Stronger Web Marketing… International Too

By Cindy King  ·  18 Comments
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I just finished an article on David Meerman Scott well worth reading: Clicking With Customers. Before you click through to read it, let me point something out to you.  Have a look at the tag line, right under the title:

There’s a difference between an online presence and online marketing, says David Meerman Scott

Did you notice:

  • Everything is said right there in this tag line.
  • In well under 140 characters (easy to retweet).
  • Easy to copy and paste into Twitter, or Twurl or your Firefox Tweetbar.

So, guess what I did?  That’s right… great article… I tweeted it.

This is what web marketing is all about. It is not just putting some content with SEO keywords on your website and sitting back. Web marketing is about connecting with your readers.

  • Provide useful content. This article makes a strong case for web marketing.
  • Make it very easy to use with social media tools. The example of this tag line that says it all.

Another Learning Curve

Yet, David points out that many companies are not creating the connection on social media.  Ever wonder why some people are tired of learning new ? Have a look at this video.

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When I watched this video earlier this morning, it was the slides at around the 2 and a half minute mark that really spoke to me.

Years it took to reach a market audience of 50 million:

Media Years
Radio 38 years
TV 13 years
Internet 4 years
iPod 3 years
Facebook 2 years

Now this really puts things into perspective for me. 50 million people is a lot of people. Two years is very short compared to 38 years.

Luckily I thrive on learning new things and am always curious. But not everyone is like me.  People still ask me why I waste my time blogging or whether I get anything out of Twitter.

Even if we are tired of learning new things, we need to spend time learning and understanding social media. There is no way around it today.  Web marketing within a social media environment is here.  And this social media environment is still evolving.

International Social Media Marketing

If you are in international business like I am, social media marketing is even more fun:

  • Different cultures are using different social media channels
  • They are also using the various social media channels with different purposes
  • And there are different rates of adopting the various social media channels

In amidst this confusing landscape, there is one constant observation:

  • People are using social media in all countries

And one additional observation that is obvious as soon as you look at international marketing:

  • More change is coming in the future of social media and mobile phone technology

This last bit of information is very interesting from an international business perspective.  Remember the comparison above with 50 million people…

  • How fast do you think the next social media communication channel will take to reach 50 million if it is on mobile phones?
  • Remotely interested in Facebook and the other social media now?

Keeping Up With Social Media

What should you do today?  If you are like me, you want to stay current on social media simply because your future business depends on it.

There is an upcoming event that is really worth while attending.  It is more than a webinar.  It is a series of live phone/online sessions with a forum and other social media activity.  Here is the info:

Social Media Success Summit 2009

Social Media Success Summit 2009 is the first major online event dedicated to helping businesses succeed with social media marketing. Nearly 400 of your peers have already signed up.

Thursday May 14th is the last day to secure your seat at Social Media Success Summit 2009 at the early bird discount rate (a $200 savings, 40% off the regular price!). This is THE online event for businesses (big and small) that want to grow using tools such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

I can attest that the line-up is an all-star cast.

Presenters include bestselling authors and social media marketing experts such as:

  • Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library TV)
  • Darren Rowse (Problogger)
  • Mari Smith (Facebook guru)
  • Jason Alba (wrote the book on LinkedIn)
  • Ann Handley (MarketingProfs)
  • Brian Clark (Copyblogger)
  • Chris Garrett (Authority Blogger)
  • Denise Wakeman (BlogSquad)

Here are some of the sessions:

  • How to Create a Mega-Following and Mega-Sales With Social Media Marketing
  • Building a Loyal Facebook Following for Increased Profits
  • How to Grow and Engage an Audience on Twitter
  • Using the Power and Reach of LinkedIn to Grow Your Business
  • How to Productively Engage in Social Media Marketing
  • Five Reasons You Need to Be on Twitter (and Tools to Help You Manage)
  • Social Media Start Up: 3 Key Tools to Build Your Social Media Marketing Plan
  • How to Attract Tens of Thousands of People in Mere Days
  • Using Social Bookmarking for Improved Traffic, Links and Visibility

Here’s a sample of the more than 9 really valuable bonuses they’re giving away:

  • Twitter Marketing Video Tutorial
  • Seven Ways to Monetize Social Media
  • How Marketers are Using Social Media to Grow Their Business
  • Leveraging Social Media to Help Your Business
  • How to Plan and Launch Your Blog
  • How to Drive More Qualified Traffic to Your Blog

Go here now to learn more.

Although I started off this blog post mentioning David Meerman Scott, he is not one of the experts at the Social Media Success Summit 2009. The summit will go over all of today’s best practices in social media marketing and these best practices also transfer well to international marketing.

A Social Event

I attended the 2 previous Success Summits and I can say that they are a great value for the investment when you look at the content alone.  What makes these Success Summits so unique is the extra value you get from the community. This community is created by the structure of the event itself and is indeed another example of social media marketing in action.

The event takes place over four weeks starting May 26th.  During this time the presenters and other participants also meet up in the dedicated forum.  At the previous Success Summits, I picked up just as much in the forum as I did during the live sessions. The direct access to the experts, on my own time, really made the difference.

This is a great opportunity to improve your social media skills. The sessions are spread out over several weeks, so you do not get information overload.  And unlike most webinars, you have time to ask the experts your questions in the forums after the live sessions.

I’m looking forward to it.  With the time difference, I think I’ll listen to the first session the next day on the recording. But I should be listening to the rest live.  If you are too, we can chat on Twitter during the event with the #SMSS09.

Photos from Shutterstock.

  Filed under: cross cultural social media

                      


Cindy King