Stephen Riddle, Founder of Enigmas Edge Design, LLC and the creator of Dipgrips, spoke to the UMBC community about his experiences using social media to market his product.
If you missed this informative and exciting workshop be sure to listen to the unedited audio of the workshop available below. Also below is the slide deck Stephen used in his presentations and a resources page.
Stephen started off by talking about the many social media sites available for people who want to advertise their products or ideas. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+ Periscope, YouTube, and blogs only cover a small portion of the social media realm. Stephen suggested choosing a handful of social media sites that you are comfortable using, as well as ones your audience will use get the most benefits.
He then explained what social media marketing could do for your business.
- Social Media Marketing Increases Website Traffic and Search Ranking
- Social Media Marketing Generates Leads at Minimum Costs
- Social Media Marketing Boosts Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing Increases Brand Awareness
- Social Media Marketing Legitimizes Your Brand
- Social Media Marketing Increases Sales
- Social Media Marketing Gives You Great Audience Insight
- Social Media Marketing Improves Brand Loyalty
Stephen then explained some tips and tricks on how to utilize some of the more popular social media sites to promote your product or idea.
- Facebook- Facebook, being one of the biggest social media websites, is the easiest way to advertise your product or idea. However, Facebook’s popularity creates a lot of noise that can annoy an audience. You want to make sure you only post something once a day so your audience is not overwhelmed, which means you don't interact with your audience as much as other social media sites. But don’t let this discourage you, your ad is reaching people regardless of the interaction. Facebook also has built in Ad management and page setup that you can create/subscribe to (for free or for a small price).
- Instagram- There is SO much interaction happening on Instagram. Pictures make an account seem more personal so an audience is more likely to engage with the content posted. Because of this, don’t be afraid to post “too much”. Instagram is so popular that you can post as much as you want without upsetting your customer base. Hashtags are also an amazing tool to reach more people who aren’t following your account directly.
- Twitter- Hashtags are a very valuable tool to reach many people. You can also post constantly on Twitter without being overwhelming to your audience. And like Facebook, there is little interaction.
No matter what social media site you choose, the content you post must be exciting, short, and have a call to action. You want your content to catch a customer’s attention through all the other noise on the site. You also have to remember that people attention spans are short, so if you’re posting a video it shouldn’t be more than one and a half minutes long. The last, and most important thing, is to ask your audience questions and give them a call to action. Questions encourage a conversation on the social media while the call to action gets them to “Follow” you or “Check Out” your site.
Of course, before you set off on your social media adventures you must be prepared. Make sure your idea or product is ready for the outside world to view. You don’t want to be adverting something that isn’t polished or be overwhelmed if your product is a big hit. You also need to be prepared to fail. Failure at some point in this journey is bound to happen, so when it does brush it off and learn from it.
