A competitive market demands a competitive social media marketing plan. The first mark of any successful business is the ability to fill a need – offering a service or product to people that will increase their happiness or well-being. Yet, in today’s extremely competitive market, it is no longer sufficient to simply offer goods that are superior to other companies to be successful. With the drastic increase in social media and web-based marketing, name or brand recognition is equally as important, if not more so, as the quality of your product. There are thousands of companies, many of which did in fact have something of value to offer, that are defunct today only because they did not extend their reach as far as they could have.
Strong Web Presence a Must in Today’s Market
In the modern era of the internet, the speed at which information is shared is mind boggling. Think about it – just a few decades ago, people would wake up to grab the morning paper while their coffee was brewing in order to read about events that happened a day or two before, sometimes even longer. Now, with the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and the powerhouse of all search engines, Google, just a few keyboard strokes can keep you up to date on things that happened just moments ago on the other side of the planet.
But current events aren’t the only thing that the World Wide Web is good for. Studies over the past few years have shown over and over that consumers increasingly prefer to do their shopping online. They research companies and their products online. They can even get a package gift-wrapped and sent to a completely different state or country, and they can do it online. Now, more than ever, in a time where walking into a physical store is optional, a strong web presence is necessary for any business to thrive, no matter how exemplary their service or product may be.
In the rehabilitation industry, the product virtually sells itself – we offer a way for people to turn their lives around and leave behind their addictions that have caused so much pain and angst in their lives. So, how can I, as a service provider, set myself apart from the rest in order to maximize my company’s potential and impact the lives of others in a positive way?
One way is through community outreach – and this can be accomplished in several ways. Donating to a charitable cause, sponsoring an academic scholarship or athletic camp, or even acts of community service, like helping at a food pantry or animal shelter, are all excellent ways to get your company’s name in the minds of the public while supporting the community that supports you.
Secret Santa Event with Best Drug Rehab
For example, this past holiday season, representatives from Best Drug Rehabilitation, one of the recovery centers that I founded, took a trip to the local K-Mart Superstore in Manistee, MI, the town that our treatment facility calls home. A few staff members and patients, dressed as Santa and his Elves, handed out gift cards that would help unsuspecting shoppers in their efforts to share a little holiday cheer. This not only gave the patients the opportunity to find the happiness and personal reward of helping others, which is a big aspect of shedding the old selfish habits and ways of thinking that they become accustomed to in addiction, but it also showed our support for our local community and for those area residents that might have been struggling to keep the holiday spirit.
From a humanitarian standpoint, this charitable act is the physical representation of the spirit of the season – to bring joy into the lives of others and thereby enriching our own lives. From a business standpoint (and contrary to popular opinion, the two are not mutually exclusive), it is an opportunity to promote the very nature of my company’s mission, which is to provide a better quality of life to all that we come into contact with. The K-Mart trip was a success on both of those counts, to be sure, but it can’t end there.
This is where your media marketing team should spring into the action. Footage from the K-Mart excursion was combined with clips from interviews with some of the participants, and edited into a short video that highlights the day’s events. That video was, in turn, uploaded to the Best Drug Rehabilitation YouTube channel and shared across several social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, as well as linked to a blog entry on the BDR website. In today’s digital age, where a large segment of our population is wired into the Internet almost constantly, as smartphones get smarter and businesses get more tech-savvy, this is a critical step in any company’s effort to create significant brand recognition.
The goal behind producing and sharing web-based content like this video and its corresponding blog entry is not to give ourselves a pat on the back, or to say “Look at us, people, and look at all of the good deeds that we do”. Instead, it is a means of extending our reach and maximizing the potential of our company to be successful in the long run. It is useful in creating a positive image of our company and the service that we provide, and gives us an edge in our field. As a rising entrepreneur in the modern age of the Internet, you absolutely must have a solid social media marketing plan, with a skilled staff to execute it.
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