The Internet of Things has become a crowded global marketplace. Or has it? It is easy to think that you cannot stand out in the online crowd.
Amidst the furor of voices using short-form video content, hashtags, and a flurry of carefully composed or generative AI words to bamboozle you into buying what they are selling or influencing you to purchase something or another.
The Ease of Using Unified Communications Tools
My journey with writing and starting to express myself using my authentic voice. Began at the mere age of 12, when an essay I scribed was deemed good enough to win a writing competition at secondary school.
Fast forward a decade or so and I found myself fresh out of Uni and working in marketing.
This was before the social media age. But I do recall always wanting to modernise the way we sent messages to the end users. Queue the rise of using SMS marketing campaigns.
So what I am getting to is the fact that writing is an intrinsic part of any creative process.
And so as I hedged further up the ladder I found myself writing strategies and associated plans for executing the said strategy, and then leading on creating the associated campaign collateral.
Then of course came the rise in the use of social media marketing. And then we traditional marketers saw the shift from the billboard being a form of outdoor media signage to the screens that we carry in our hands.
Cue the rise of the use of the smartphone.
Initially, the digital communication shift’s impact was more so in the external world vs the internal world. But as time moved on we saw the shift towards using digital communications entering the internal workforce world of employee engagement too.
Where laggards and non-early adopting folks had no clue as to how to deploy unified communications tools. That of course is a whole other story (aka Medium post) which I hope to get to soon.
For now, let’s stick to the matter at hand. Which is GLOBAL MARKETING via social media. So, once the mobile phone became a smartphone it meant that by default anybody who had anything to say or should I say “market”.
Could use social media to speak to a GLOBAL 📱 audience 🌍. In the here and now that is circa 8 billion people. Wow-ser, shall we do the math of product price vs target market reach?
Social Media Targeted Marketing
And the beauty of social media marketing is that if you know how to use it, you can be very savvy with your segmentation.
By this I mean, that if you want to be super specific and market your product to a target market, such as black women who live in a certain area of a certain age – you can!
Cue the knowledge of knowing how to use hashtags, write search engine optimised posts/blog articles, and use location tags coming in very handy. As you begin your digital nomad chapter of your life!
This was mind-blowing for me. Once I saw the window of opportunity I partially began to use it. But did not exploit it quite as much as I wish I ought to have. Given the market was way less crowded back then!
My tool of choice was often Facebook. Back in those days you could get a decent organic reach and didn’t have to pay to get your content in front of the right people.
The Power of Facebook Marketing
As a digital nomad, I joined several Facebook groups affiliated with my chosen destination. I then began to comment on posts and if I found a kinship with anyone I’d move over into sending direct messages.
This semi-strategic use of Facebook often provided an ease of connection with new friends and soon-to-be business associates. In what was a very relaxed environment (the social media platform). Which is in effect a unified communications tool.
And then I moved into Instagram land and even more doors opened. Then I started to share a selfie a day on LinkedIn with a short story and more organic connections were made. Which over time became the beginnings of business lead generation for my business as an Interim Marketing Consultant.
How to Use Social Media for Business
My advice is to just begin. Most mobile phones now carry cameras that can take professional-looking images of your or your products. And also make great short-form videos. Within each platform is an easy-to-use editing suite too.
If you have questions, I can assure you that someone has made a YouTube tutorial that will help you learn how to edit an Instagram reel. Or begin to learn how to make a TikTok video.
So you have NO excuses. And I am pretty sure that everyone can write something suitable for posting.
If you can’t, it’s hello generative AI.
I love using copy.ai, to be honest. But have rarely used it to create content as I prefer to write stuff that oozes from my brain versus an automated machine.
You can find hashtags for your niche online too. A quick search in any search engine with hand the right hashtags on a platter. And then it’s just a case of copying and pasting them under your post.
As for posting videos, I am pretty sure anyone can teach themselves how to produce a 15 or 30-second video. These days on Instagram it is all about the reels, and on other platforms if you want to be seen you need to know what rules govern that particular platform’s algorithm.
If you ever get stuck, feel free to drop me a line and I can send you a tutorial made specifically for you. I have a screen recording tool that I use to make “How to use Social Media” style videos that I share on Instagram from time to time. So my friends can up their social media game.
I have not shared my Instagram handle here (yet) as it isn’t professionally polished at the moment. But if you would like to connect with me I’d pop over to LinkedIn and see if you can find me there using my ‘tag’ that I sign off with here on Medium :-)
So Let’s Get DIGITAL and use the Internet of Things for the purpose it was intended, which I believe was to GLOBALLY share information.
And as tools evolve so too does their PURPOSE.
So let’s make hay while the digital marketing sun shines on the power of internet communication, collaboration, and connectivity for GLOBAL MARKETING purposes.
And as promised here is my NikkiS intro video. I promised to help you put a voice to the written words!
Bye for now.
Nicola Aka #NikkiS
