Social media offers various fruitful possibilities in diverse matters and marketing is one of them. Numerous guides, written by the experts in the field, exist in myriad forms, but one of the most encouraging revelations is ‘The Zen of Social Media Marketing’ by Shama Hyder Kabani.
In the book, Shama brilliantly expounds how social media transforms the old, conventional marketing to a digital one. Also, she chronologically illustrates how the digital marketing differs from the preceding.
At some point in her writing, Shama canvasses why people, even those who are experts in conventional marketing, have difficulties in adapting to the novel form of marketing. Accordingly, the reason is due to the lack of knowledge and awareness of the nature of social media themselves.
Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube or Google+, Shama believes that there is a certain pattern that works on every single platform. The pattern, in addition, suits the nature of social media users themselves, which is social proof.
The pattern gives birth to a methodology in which Shama refers to ACT. It, additionally, is the abbreviation of Attract, Convert, and Transform.
Attract: Social Media Marketing and Building Awareness
The very first stage to the methodology is to attract users’ attention and build awareness of the products. Dissimilar from the conventional marketing which mostly is a one-directional delivery, attracting users on social media is a lively, two directional conversation.
To begin with, having an eye-catching and considerably unique brand with solid values is a necessity. Thus, maintaining consistent interaction with the audience is of paramount importance. This way, it is a good start to introduce your brand to people publicly which, in other words, attract them.
Convert: Making the Audience into Potential Buyers
In converting the audience, there are two categories for potential buyers which are customers and clients respectively. Customers are those who consume our content, whereas clients are those who potentially buy the products.
To eventually make people buy the products, Shama reminds that it might actually take a longer time. Immediate purchase is nearly not possible, but some might plan to buy the products at some point. The important thing is to sustain the communication and updates as frequent as possible.
Transform: Generating Influencers and Customers’ Endorsement
To transform the customers and clients into influencers is the last stage to conduct. Put simply, this is the step where people advertise and share our products to their relatives.
Sharing and advertising is a form of endorsement and, in particular, can be in the form of sharing products, testimonials, and so forth. For social media works by social proofs, these endorsements will be a content by which will, in the long run, attract wider audience. The cycle, afterwards, continues.
Writer: Lisa Ramadhani
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