To create an integrated sales and marketing effort using social media networks and tools, it is useful to understand the basic definitions and resources. This may seem obvious when presented as it is here, but I find many of my clients will confuse media with content and services with tools. So here is a basic list:
Media
Any product you sell can be ~
- text
- audio
- PPT/audio
- video/audio
- iPhone apps
- all of these
And any service or expertise can be presented in each of these media.
Content types (Products)—can be physical or electronic
- Books (printed) and eBooks
- articles
- tips docs
- special reports & white papers
- screen savers (daily notes)
- webinars
- teleseminars
- seminars, workshops, workbooks
- speeches
- newsletters (free and premium subscription)
- repurposed content of all types, aggregated in various media
- assemblage of speeches as audio tips book – aggregated by topic
Each of these kinds of content can be offered in many of the media types most suited to the material and to the social network or tool chosen to deliver it. Different audiences prefer to access their information from various sources. Here are some examples.
Linkedin was originally a social network for job hunting. But once Linkedin became ubiquitous, it expanded its offerings to cater to businesses as well. It takes some digging to find all the resources available for businesses in Linkedin, but the tools are available and useful. Some folks will never look at your website, but only check out your Linkedin profile. And if you are profiling your business and not your self as a job-prospect, you must take an entirely different approach to your posting.
Book and article publishing was previously the sole domain of print publishers, but now you can obtain a more focused, self-selected and broader audience by publishing on blogs, through premium subscriptions to your newsletters, and by eBook self-publishing and on-demand publishing for sale on your website, on Amazon, and on iPhone Aps, for delivery by PDF, iPhone bookstores, or in printed form.
A professional presentation, once offered in-person or captured on film and published on disk or other media, can now be offered online as a video or webinar or teleseminar, then offered and sold repeatedly, delivered by online access or download.
All of the marketing, sales, demonstration and other materials on your product or service or expertise can be captured, re-purposed into multiple forms of media, and distributed to select audiences who participate in the social media networks that best use that media.
Once you have determined what content should be offered in what media, you can tailor your offering to websites like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Linkedin, and post your content to reach each audience. You can use Twitter for broadcast announcements. You can use blog tools such as WordPress or TypePad to create your blog. For webinars, you can access services such as Instant Presenter or Acteva. And for selling your materials online, you can use PayPal or Google Checkout for online payment collection.
It takes some effort to determine which content you should create to focus on which audiences using which websites and tools, but the integrated approach to offering your products and services to this large and self-directed marketplace brings you immediately into the communications networks of today.
Please join me when I present “Building revenue through social media” at the WITI Summit in Santa Clara on June 16th 2009; see http://www.witi.com/center/conferences/2009/summit. Or contact me to deliver it to your company or group.
