Learning Zen

Ahh, Advertising… the fruits of evolution. Well, evolution, money, and consumerism. Luckily, Social Media is a cheap and innovative way to cash in on consumer awareness without feeling like a total skeezbag. With a little help from the creators of "The Zen of Social Media Marketing", I've learned a great deal about what it takes to be a true online guru.

1. Websites are completely and unavoidably necessary. I created my own personal portfolio site out of a sense of obligation. In order to promote myself, dropping a quick url became an easy way for people to see my work. After reading the chapter in Zen about "Websites, Blogs, and SEO", something dawned on me. I was able to acknowledge, as a consumer, that when a company lacked a website (company.com or even product.com), I grew irritated and felt disconnected. Artists may find it necessary to create a website in order to put themselves out there, but companies need one for customers to fall back on. It's not simply a means of accessing product information - it's a way of acknowledging a company's relevance and connectedness.

2. Social media isn't simple a way to attract and inform consumers - it's goal is to create customers. I always saw social media as a means of connecting to customers, but companies need to seal the deal by creating purchases at the end of the day.

3. This transitions nicely into my next Zen-nugget: customers aren't simply there to purchase your goods and services - they serve as salesmen as well when they attract friends, family, and onlookers. Getting a new customer is great, but it means less over time if they make one purchase without looking back. It's necessary to create lasting relationships with these consumers so that they will become salesmen on their own.

4. Strategy before tactics. I really enjoyed this statement as a brief, easy-to-remember tidbit to keep in mind when I'm crafting my own social media exploits. I cannot simply throw tactics at customers, thinking that it will benefit me in the long run. Lasting relationships and quality service require the implementation of strategy. The same can be said for traditional business practice. A company with a solid strategy in place will succeed and go further than one that implements tactics before thinking about the big picture.

5. SEO is great and all, but creating an avatar for your target consumer (like many other strategic processes) allows you to narrow your focus and concentrate your optimization efforts. I'd really like to get more involved in SEO in the future, but this tidbit seems like something I can apply to so many other aspects of my advertising career. Avatars serve such a simple, but brilliant, purpose when it comes to guiding consumers to online content. With the insane amount of information available online today, focusing marketing tactics seems like a great way to access consumer who are more likely to be interested in the content you distribute.

Zen of Social Media Marketing is a nice little book that you should read for yourself! Check out all the details here.