Publishes Survey Results From TopRank® Online Marketing
With social media’s awareness among marketers reaching feverish pitch, it can be tempting to simply parrot “social media” as a go-to cutting edge marketing tactic for 2009.
Unfortunately, this manner of thinking is at once both overly-inclusive and short-sighted.
TopRank® Online Marketing recently asked its readers, via a poll on Online Marketing Blog, “What 3 digital marketing channels & tactics will you emphasize in 2009?” The results, published in eMarketing & Commerce, may be seen here.
Not surprisingly, social media related channels encompassed three of the top four tactics being emphasized by marketers in 2009:
• #1 – Blogging – 34%
• #2 – Microblogging & Twitter – 29%
• #4 – Social networking – 26%
Most telling, is that savvy marketers are not identifying “social media” as a tactic in and of itself. Rather, these marketers are identifying the individual components of a social media initiative as ingredients to be added to their overall marketing mix.
Reminiscent of the standard IQ question identifying how many ‘zips’ are ‘zorks’ (ie Q: If all ‘zips’ are ‘zorks,’ do all ‘zorks’ have to be ‘zips?’ A: No), not all marketers who successfully leverage blogs will find social networking as impactful.
In order to ensure the individual social media tactics leveraged are being selected based on their likelihood to help achieve marketing objectives, Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank® Online Marketing, recommends companies construct a Social Media Roadmap.
A Social Media Roadmap will help segment social tactics into a structured format, encouraging marketers to identify their audiences and the specific business objectives of any initiative, prior to simply diving into a tactic seen as the “next big thing.”
Marketers who construct this roadmap, like many of those who responded to the recent survey posted by TopRank® Online Marketing, are those most likely to experience the most beneficial aspects of a social media initiative. Quite simply, a deeper and more profitable relationship with clients and prospects than has ever before been possible.
TopRank® Online Marketing provides Fortune 1000 companies holistic Internet Marketing services, including search engine optimization, social media marketing, and business blog consulting.
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