Borring

1. What types of products or services would be most suitable for using this concept? Using social networks to promote potential business services and products will help you to grow your online-based business quickly. (Marketing, 2012) If you run an ecommerce business, chances are your customers – regardless of their age, gender or economic status – are active on social networks and social media sharing sites. (n.d, 2011) Any product or service can be suitable for SMM as long as your customer base is into Social Media. I’ve been able to find businesses from home sellers to outdoor activity equipment and they all have links to a social media site on their websites. 2. What types of products or services would be least suitable for using this concept? Because people aged 55 and older are not likely to be on a social network sites, any products or services geared to them would be least suitable for SMM. 3. What are the drawbacks to SMM? 1 – The wrong online brand strategy could put you at a viral social disadvantage (“put foot in mouth”). 2 – Social Media Marketing is more time consuming than companies expect. 3 – You need to interact on point at each location, though can automate some of the SMM process. (Pitsburgh SEO Lady, 2008-2011) With SMM marketing you will need to monitor comments/posts through out the day and you may need to respond. This will take up a lot of time. The company would also need to be prepared for the criticism that it may receive. Word of mouth is bad enough but at the click of a button, thousands of people will know how someone fills about what went wrong.

4. How does viral content contribute to the SMM strategy? What is the most probable target market reached by SMM? It can be difficult to come up with innovative exciting content that interests a variety of readers. “SMM should never be a stand-alone strategy. It should always be an extension of a brand’s overall marketing strategy – a tool to

References: Bonus, S. P. (n.d). Social Profit Formula Bonus. Retrieved Feb 25, 2012, from Identifying Your Social Media Target Market: http://www.social-profit- formula-bonus.com/social-media-marketing-2/identifying-your-social media-target-market.html Marketing, I. (2012, Feb 17). nmicrimestoppers.com. Retrieved Feb 25, 2012, from Social Media Marketing Service is the Best Service for You: http://www.nmicrimestoppers.com/social-media-marketing-service-is-the best-service-for-you/191/ n.d. (2011). Online Marketing Blog - 5 Social Media Tips for Ecommerce Marketing. Retrieved Feb 24, 2012, from TopRank Online Marketing : http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/03/ecommerce-marketing-social media-tips/ n.d. (2010, Feb 16). Pingdom. Retrieved Feb 25, 2012, from Royal Pingdom: http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/02/16/study-ages-of-social-network users/ n.d. (2012). WrightIMC. Retrieved Feb 26, 2012, from The Art of Conversation - Social Media: http://wrightimc.com/social-media-marketing/ Pitsburgh SEO Lady. (2008-2011). Retrieved Feb 26, 2012, from Social Media Marketing - Advantages & Disadvantages : http://www.pghseolady.com/2010/04/advantages-of-social-media marketing/