Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing means many things to many people, but simply put, it’s the strategy of constructing your message using print, image, sound and video formats, and shaping the message in order to make it more accessible and personalized for social community Web sites.

Let’s take the traditional press release for example. In the past, it was sufficient to craft the release and mail it to a targeted list. Later, electronic delivery made it possible to greatly expand the distribution of the release without increasing the cost. With a social media marketing strategy, the message is specifically written to enhance Web usage and augmented with a variety of content formats. The objective is to target and appeal to key influencers on blogs, social sites like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, reference sites like Wikipedia and news aggregators like Digg and Reddit.

Developing your content for social media usage broadens the distribution of your message and involves consumers at a very personal level. By delivering your message in the format they are looking for - and in their manner of communication - there is a greater likelihood of engaging consumers, starting relevant discussions and eliciting feedback. The end result is that your message can often seem more personal, authentic and decidedly less corporate. But, there is also the potential your message can be reshaped by opinion-leaders on blogs and other social sites.

Want to see social media marketing in action? Shift Communications has created a comprehensive social media template that nicely illustrates what you can do with a news release.

Social media marketing is here to stay and savvy marketers are using it to extend the impact, relevance and life of their consumer messages.


Brian Agnes
Vice President-Sales & Marketing

Do you have any questions or comments about Family Features? Would you like to know how to modify your message for increased media usage? Call me at 800-800-5579 or e-mail at bagnes@familyfeatures.com.