A recent decision by the Federal trade commission highlights some important issues for users of social media marketing (SMM). The decision was taken in the context of bloggers who write about genealogical software without revealing that they have received an endorsement. However it is likely that this case could quickly be generalized to other situations. 

Here at SociaLNK, we have always argued that it is critical for Social Media campaigns to maintain the highest ethical standards. Building trust with your customer base is central to maintaining your company’s reputation. This means fully revealing who you are and any endorsement at all times.

SociaLNK has a strong ethical policy that focuses on building on the positive conversations that appear organically from the community. We would argue that deception, infiltration, dishonesty or any other method of manipulating customers is wrong. The penalties are high for companies that engage in this sort of behaviour. Bad news spreads fast on the internet.

Rather than focusing on negative potentially damaging techniques we prefer to facilitate conversations and create interesting things to talk about. By creating communities and identifying stakeholders within that community good ideas will naturally emerge to promote your brand.

When using social media in business, it is crucial to remember who your target audience is and how best to reach them using social media tools. Although it may seem surprising, it is not the young adult age group that dominates the world of social networking any longer. In fact, the average age of Facebook user is 35. Knowing who the target audience for your company is consists of finding out the demographics you are attempting to reach. However, with social media, you must also find out how best to reach them. This could be through any of the social networks, and also through blogging or even direct emailing.

Depending on your audience, it may be best to reach them through Twitter updates, or through joining an online community on Ning. No matter what age or specificity of your audience, remember to reach them where they are. Expecting your customers to find you through social media is akin to the methodology of traditional marketing. In advertising, for example, you would broadcast a message and think that those who are interested in the product would find a way to get to it.

With social media marketing, though, it is the opposite. Instead of simply promoting a product, the goal is to interact and present your company to the customer. You seek to find them and build relationships. This may seem tedious, but the long-term goal is a more loyal customer and potentially higher sales because you took the time to communicate to individuals, not just spout a recurring message.

How are you reaching your best potential customers?