I am sure many of you are already aware of the fact that social media marketing can rake in free marketing through traditional media such as newspapers. However, it seems like most ignore the fact and the power of traditional media altogether. We all need to understand that marketing isn’t about selling products or services alone, it’s being able to capture that attention. Guess what? Traditional media such as newspapers, TV, radio, etc. has attention. True, social media is huge but why not ride on that wave and take it one level further and hit a home run by getting the most bang for your buck, that is if you have to spend a buck at all.

You see media isn’t limited to newspapers, TVs, radios, anchors, journalists, etc. anymore. We all have the power to use media today. The fact that social networks and social media are on the rise and new and innovative services lure us to make them a part of our daily lives, we are the media. We control what stays within the circle and what flows out of the circle to the masses. These services allow us to be heard, they are free and give us the opportunity to market ourselves quite easily without ever spending a dime. These platforms can be a stepping stool to reach the traditional media and reach to an even bigger crowd. What would you prefer – Buying a flip side ad on a frontpage of a popular magazine for $20,000 dollar or creating a strategy that works on the web for free and goes viral? Of course, you are going to opt in for the free stuff. The first thing this does is saves your marketing dollar which you can utilize to make your product/service better or develop something that accentuates the value of what you are providing to your end consumers.

I ended up a contract with one of my clients this year in January and one of the highlights was being mentioned on BBC. It was just a blog and the client’s sole goal was to earn revenue through banner ads (should shoot for more than banner ads) but that’s what he wanted. So all in all, the key here was to get the buzz going and get those stats peak. And boy did we get traffic? Within two months this new blog was over 400,000 uniques a month but that wasn’t enough. I wanted it on a major publication so we could reach out to the people that don’t really get their information from social media platforms. The site got mentioned on BBC! It was huge. That was the start of type in direct traffic and not to mention the best kind of traffic we wanted. It was featured on the web, on TV and publication and here we were trying to figure out where this sudden influx of type in traffic was coming from. The site now doesn’t generate much. My contract ended and I don’t work for the client anymore but the site could have been much more if there was more than just content and banner ads in mind. (I can’t mention the name of the site but will gladly direct you to my client if you want to verify ).

The point is we would have never been able to advertise on BBC, first there wasn’t enough money and second we were new and at the time nobody would have really even cared to look at us. How did we do it? Well our initial platforms were social networking sites and bookmarking sites. We created the buzz, we made content that rocked, we broke news before anyone else did, we stayed on track and kept an eye on long term goal rather than short term hype and there it was.

I wanted to make this a quick post but I love to talk (write in this case) so it ended up being longer than I planned. But do keep in mind that traditional media can’t be ignored. They’ve got the audience that pay attention. You build your community, engage with your clients and customers on social platforms on the web and leverage that. When you are trusted online and your stuff goes out into through traditional media, the trust factor that you have among your web peers will talk for you creating an even more robust effect. After all traditional media has the attention of us all.

Don’t just focus on getting traffic from the web and social media platforms, go beyond that. Shoot for the stars and you will see traffic, brand awareness or whatever it is that you are seeking closer, easier and much cheaper than you thought.

Although traditional media follows a “one to many model” remember that the audience of the traditional media will help spread the word. Once again, either through social media platforms or word of mouth.

Have your say.

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Tags: Marketing, Networking, Social Media, social media marketing // Add Comment »