The AMI-Partners Blog

Last week, I was able to attend a webinar by Jason Weaver, the CEO of Shoutlet. The webinar was titled, “How to Conquer the Mountain of Social Data” and it discussed how businesses can collect data on their customers and/or prospects to shape their social media marketing campaigns. It is especially important for SMBs to collect data on their customers because it is an opportunity for them to be cost effective with their limited resources.

How can the data collected be useful? Well, from the webinar, Weaver discussed collecting data and integrating it with technology to give the data context. Once there is context, the data is easier to understand, which allows businesses to analyze the data. The context of the data can help businesses create hyper-relevant content to target their users. One way to do this is by making the content local, which helps SMBs to personalize their messages to capture the correct targets for business. There are even tools that can help to segment the different types of users, so that a business can further customize their messages. This allows businesses to have more than one message crafted to reach the specific segments of users they have, which allows them to optimize their marketing efforts.  Once a company captures the attention of users, Weaver mentioned that it is important to continue to collect data on users because the information will provide insights on how to engage and maintain interest of the users. Furthermore, the data collected can help a business measure the success and effectiveness of the marketing campaign.

Overall, shaping the marketing content on social media platforms to capture the attention of local prospects is a huge benefit for SMBs.  AMI’s Social Media Study shows that 4.8 million SMBs use social media for business purposes and 1 in 2 of them use it to help make an IT purchase decision.  It is also a cost effective way for SMBs to reach clients, especially with the number of people constantly connected to technology through their mobile devices (i.e. smartphones, tablets, and laptops).  Social media clearly opens opportunities for SMBs to have a competitive edge to compete in the marketplace.

- Kimberly Chau, Marketing Associate