Does you marketing plan include Social Media?

[Carl Taylor]

I'm curious to know if your marketing plans specially include sections on Social Media now?

If so what are you strategies and how do you test and measure them?

[Brendan]

We always suggest social media as part of any marketing campaign now.

The key to it we have found is to ensure you are actively involved in your market, provide useful information (not just spam your links) and interact with your followers and friends.

There are so many businesses on Facebook now its great for finding a resource.. just ask your friends if they know of a business that can help you, and you usually get a personal recommendation to a business they have used before.. cant ask for better marketing than that!

I even hired a web developer via twitter just a few weeks back, all I did was tweet that I am after someone.. I had 5-6 recommendations within a few hours.

I have also found linkedin to really be moving ahead in the social side of things as well, I have had a few people and businesses contact me purely based on who I am connected to, and there could be some big opportunities arising from those as well.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter & Industry specific forums should all be part of your marketing plan.. but dont let your online profile go stale.. its important to be active and contribute useful information consistently.

[Carl Taylor]

Hmm interesting Brendan.

And are you tracking these leads that are coming from social media? If so how?

Do you use things like ping.fm to send updates to all your networks? or are you doing each one individually?

[FletcherTax]

Yes, I'm on the social media bandwagon.

I've just finished a trial run on Twitter with pleasing results. I will dare to say it may not be for everyone or for everyone's business. There are tools to make the back end life a lot more easier and to track clicks to certain pages such as your blog or core website.

Currently dabbling on Facebook for business - will report back with any findings.

[JakeThomas]

I've been using social media for a couple of months now, happy with the results.

I personally use Hootsuite, which allows me to update all of my twitter accounts, Facebook and a few more.

- Jake