Social Media Marketing

Having some time on my hands recently, I have decided to expand my knowledge base. Among other things, I have been researching inbound versus outbound marketing. Pretty interesting stuff!

I have always been an advocate of creating a brand experience for the user rather than just putting out advertisments. Seems I was right. Email campaigns and the standard advertising that most businesses still engage in just aren't effective in this environment of smart phones and social media. Unsolicated advertisements sent through snail mail tend to be immediately tossed in the trash. Likewise, unsolicitated email hit the virtual trash can without being opened. There is good reason for this with all the warranted fear of viruses, Trojans and worms all designed to steal your information. Radio and TV ads are easily turned off and in many cases even blocked. So what's the answer?

Social media marketing, connecting with the customers via the virtual universe: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Google + are some of the more popular venues. BUT this time of marketing takes a lot of work. Interesting content must be created, scheduled and shared.

Currently I have been experimenting with a social media scheduling app and several apps to capture, share and modify content. I have to say, this is some exciting stuff.