I’m often asked what Boost Labs does and I find myself always answering “social media marketing”. The immediate reply is, “Oh like Facebook marketing stuff right?”, which then prompts me into this long speech about how there’s more to social media marketing than just Facebook and usually ends with me suffering from dehydration and the poor person on the receiving side of my rambling with a glazed over look on their face. Has “Social Media Marketing” been forever branded as “Facebook Only Marketing”?
Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook and think it’s an effective marketing channel that can help build really great relationships. The big problem is how does Boost Labs as a brand clearly define what it is we do without being labeled as a Facebook only shop or worse go too long winded into an explanation giving the impression of a jack of all trades? Facebook is just one of many channels available in the social media marketing pie and there’s a ton of foundation work to get any company into the social media environment. So in light of this, I decided to try a new term to describe our service offering: “Social Marketing”.
Social Marketing to me is defined as: marketing to a crowd or a group online within a social environment. By removing the word: “Media”, I feel takes the focus away from a Facebook only service and really helps define the “marketing to a crowd” concept. Granted Facebook would definitely be part of any Social Marketing campaign, but my hopes are that it would be now viewed as a channel/avenue rather than a service.
To make sure I wasn’t crazy, I actually tested the new term out at networking events and guess what? It looks like we have a winner! The results weren’t a landslide victory but 80% of the people I talked to didn’t end up labeling us a FB only shop. Hurrray!!!