Shannon Kramer

In an earlier blog post titled, “Can Marketing Through Social Media Help Local Businesses?” I discussed the various social media outlets that small businesses can use to build their brand name and increase their market reach.  Last week in my MKTG 470 class taught by Professor Theresa B. Clarke, we had a guest speaker lecture on this very topic.  Our guest speaker, Ms. Deb Van Horn is currently the VP of Support Services at The Rockingham Group, a mid-size insurance agency that offers insurance protection to policyholders in Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Ms. Van Horn is a graduate of James Madison University’s College of Business and has remained involved in the campus community as a member of the JMU CIS/MS Executive Advisory Board.  She has also taught Introduction to Information Systems Management as an adjunct faculty member. Additonal background information on Ms. Van Horn can be found on her LinkedIn page.

The main focus of Ms. Van Horn’s presentation was how companies can use social media outlets to leverage their product or service.  Since I am currently employed as the Marketing Manager at The Stratford Companies home design and construction firm, I found this topic to be very interesting andbeneficial.  Ms. Van Horn talked about the development of the Rockingham Group’s Facebook page and various tactics that they used to generate ‘likes.’  When developing a Facebook page for your business, Ms. Van Horn suggested to compare yourself to other firms in your industry, no matter their size.  By analyzing the successful methods of other companies, you will be able to apply these methods to your own page.

In regards to gaining ‘likes’ for your business page, Ms. Van Horn had some very interesting suggestions.  First, she emphasized that social media allows for two-way communication.  You want to interact with the individuals that ‘like’ your page as well as other businesses and groups in your area.  This interaction could generate ‘likes’ organically, but it is not very effective in reaching new customers.  To really increase the reach of your page, Ms. Van Horn suggested running a Facebook ad campaign.  These campaigns can be tailored only appear to Facebook members in certain geographical areas as well as individuals who have yet to like the company.  This method proved to be fairly successful for the Rockingham group, but they found that it was very difficult to analyze the correlation between new ‘likes’ and sales.

I’d like to thank Ms. Van Horn for her insight into the use of social media marketing for business.  I took away some great new ideas from her presentation that I hope to implement in my company’s current social marketing strategies.  Follow Ms. Van Horn on Twitter  for some great social media marketing tips!

Have you felt like you were being followed by a certain ad while you were browsing the web?  Each new site you turned to, there it was; that new pair of sunglasses you contemplated purchasing, but decided against.  How does this happen?  It’s a new marketing phenomenon known as retargeting.  This marketing tactic also known as ‘remarketing’ uses data tracking technology that has been around for years, though recently has grown in popularity.  Customer activity is tracked through small text files known as cookies which are exchanged when a web browser visits a site.   These cookies are able to track an individual’s search habits and then follow their movements to other sites.

Companies are then able to generate ads based on that individuals search preferences and display these ads on other sites they are likely to visit.  As a marketing student at JMU, I’ve studied many different marketing tactics used to generate sales as well as retain customers.  The idea of retargeting seems to be a clever marketing tool to increase the frequency of which an individual comes into contact with a certain ad.  This frequency could increase brand awareness and lead to a purchase.  While some people may feel uneasy about their Internet movement being tracked, it is a perfectly legal practice used by advertisers to generate sales.  It can be argued that retargeting invades customer privacy, but no secure information is being recorded besides search preferences and web browsing habits.

This retargeting strategy does seem to be a promising strategy for many e-commerce sites.  According to a March 15, 2012 article from the Wall Street Journal, “NYC-based search retargeting company Magnetic announced outstanding momentum, exceeding a 500% year over year revenue growth along with an increase in its staff of 250%.”  These statistics not only show that retargeting has grown in popularity, but also has produced significant revenues for both retargeting companies and e-commerce firms alike.

Some may feel that retargeting is an invasion of their privacy and should be restricted, but from a marketer’s point of view it is an excellent tool for increasing the number of times a single customer comes into contact with your ad.  This increase in frequency strongly correlates with increases in sales.  The e-commerce companies that are currently utilizing retargeting strategies are not hurting customers in any way, they are just providing continuous reminders and suggestions based on past search history.  In the end it is up to the customer to purchase the product or ignore the ad.

Over the past few years, marketing through social media has become a common practice for large corporations and small businesses alike.  Through social media outlets such as Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest many companies have been directly engaging with their customers and expanding their brand’s reach to new markets.  While Facebook fan pages and Twitter accounts can be very beneficial for companies with a reputable brand name, it is difficult for start ups and local businesses to generate sales through social media alone.  Traditional marketing tactics cannot be ignored even though some social marketing advocates have argued that traditional campaigns will soon be a thing of the past.

So what are local businesses to do?  Should they embrace social marketing or maintain their focus on employing traditional marketing tactics?  Will social marketing really generate new leads or is it just a waste of time?

The answer lies in both the overall culture of the business and their target market.  A recent article titled, “Why The Facebook Pages Of Local Businesses Are Mostly Worthless” by blogger J.D. Rucker criticizes the use of social marketing for small/local businesses.  Rucker states that creating Facebook pages and other social media accounts for local businesses is essentially a waste of time and resources if not utilized correctly.  Many small companies believe that developing a fan page or twitter account in itself will help increase their fan base, directly leading to greater sales volume.  Rucker makes an excellent point saying “It isn’t that Facebook itself is worthless to local businesses. It’s that the real bang for the buck (in the form of money or effort) comes directly from mentions by local people and not from exposure of the Facebook page itself.”

Here’s where many local businesses are failing to effectively utilize social marketing. They are focusing on increasing page “likes,” and gaining followers when they should be focusing on using social media to strengthen current customer relationships and promote positive word of mouth.  The growth of local businesses often relies on positive referrals from satisfied customers.  Through social marketing, local businesses can strongly benefit from free advertising by engaging with customers and making an effort to provide superior customer service.  So can marketing through social media help local businesses?

Only if its done right.

One full uninterrupted hour exploring Twitter? Finally a homework assignment that I actually enjoyed!  I created my Twitter account this summer, but never really learned how to use it effectively.  Over the past few months I’ve been increasing the frequency of my tweets and have really enjoyed the whole experience.

While many people set up personal Twitter accounts for their own enjoyment, social media is quickly becoming a standard marketing tactic for many well-known firms and small businesses alike.  Twitter offers companies the ability to interact with their customers and serves as free advertising.  It gives them the opportunity to research their target markets, expand their reach and develop customer loyalty.  Since Twitter is becoming a standard marketing tactic for the majority of businesses, it is important that marketing students know how to utilize this media effectively.  At this point it is expected that those in the marketing field have a comprehensive knowledge of social media tactics.

I feel that continuing my Twitter account will be very valuable to my future career in the field of marketing.  I recently was hired as the Marketing Manager for a local architectural company, The Stratford Companies Inc. and will be in charge of their social media initiatives.  I will be setting up the company Twitter account to market the company’s current projects and generate new leads.  I am very excited to help the Stratford Companies market their brand name and increase their success!

Welcome to my blog.  I am currently enrolled in Strategic Internet Marketing (MKTG 470) taught by Dr. Theresa B. Clarke at James Madison University.  As one of the course requirements, all students will be completing some of the assignments as blog posts.  This is my first official blog post for Dr. Clarke’s course in the JMU Department of Marketing.