Atlanta’s Own Home Depot Making Great Strides in Social Media Marketing

One of Atlanta’s highest profile corporations, Home Depot, is showing that they’re not only leaders when it comes to home improvement, but they are also taking the lead when it comes to leveraging the true power of social media marketing. But, the most interesting part of this story is Home Depot’s unique approach, which is essentially rewriting the roles of some in-store sales representatives and creating a uniquely new job.

Understanding the importance that social media plays in keeping Home Depot as the premiere resource for home improvement, the company is turning to its best possible assets – its store employees – to power its social media efforts.

To accomplish this, Home Depot has created a small handful of unique positions named the “social media store associate.” These associates divide their duties by working three days per week, performing their regular warehouse jobs and spending the other two days contributing to the company’s online “How-To Community” by posting video tutorials, answering forum questions, and updating the website blog.

The results have been very positive. Customers appreciate access to information and to the experts at Home Depot whilst the company has found a way to interact with its customers and give them a voice that they want and expect from their retailers of choice. Home Depot has found that social media marketing has enhanced their brand equity and strengthened their foothold in the DIY market.

This story is just one example of how social media continues to inform the actions of some of the most successful companies on the planet. And, if watching megaliths like Home Depot maneuver the ever changing landscape of the Internet with the kind of ease and agility that’s usually reserved for smaller companies isn’t inspiration enough for you to do the same, perhaps you should explore your options in the social media marketing channel.

The reality is that companies like Home Depot have a lot more resources than small companies do because of their size. And, those resources allow them to take greater chances at experimentation, but that doesn’t mean that social media marketing doesn’t work on a small scale to deliver similar results.

If your small business is ready to take advantage of the social media market but you can’t spare the resources, consider hiring third party experts like Flyline Search Marketing to design your strategy and help you achieve big-scale results on a small-scale budget.

                   

Follow the Leader: Taking the Coca-Cola Approach to Social Media Marketing

Residents of Atlanta may find it hard to ignore Coca-Cola’s colossal success. Not only is the city famous for having been the birthplace of the iconic drink, but it also remains home to the company’s world headquarters. It also houses the frequently visited tourist World of Coca-Cola Museum, one of the city’s biggest tourist draws. This year, Atlanta will be at the heart of an ongoing celebration to ring in the 125^th anniversary of Coke’s debut.

So, what does Coca-Cola have to do with social media marketing? Quite a bit, in fact. Although it is a company whose rise to worldwide prominence was accomplished without the assistance of social media marketing, the fact that Coca-Cola has embraced social media in its continuing efforts to grow and remain relevant says a lot. It’s an endorsement that’s a bit like watching the circus strong man, dining on fresh spinach after every single gravity-defying performance. Once you catch sight of that, it sort of makes you want to rush out and buy a pallet of the stuff yourself.

Coca-Cola’s move to adapt its marketing to encompass an able handling of social media sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter is a similar lesson that shouldn’t be lost on businesses that have yet to carve out a presence on the World Wide Web. You might wonder what you can do to follow the example of social media marketing adoption similar to that of Coca-Cola. Here are a few ideas, for starters:

• Have a company website built. You don’t have to hire a million dollar per year advertising group to create a website that’s effective. If marketing design isn’t your strong point, keep it basic with a few simple themes: information on your goods or services, a section of testimonials from satisfied customers, contact information, and a blog.

• Create a Facebook page that links to your website, and vice versa. Use your presence on Facebook to drive visitors to your website, but avoid using misleading claims or bothersome tactics to accomplish that.

• If you’ve had a commercial made in the past or have the resources to make more, create a YouTube profile and upload all relevant video files here. This is a free method of getting your brand message out there and it can be linked to your website and to your Facebook page

• Get on the Twitter bandwagon and build your list of followers organically as opposed to simply spamming the known universe and hoping that some of your message gets through. Use Twitter to send focused, targeted messages to your audience, always directing them to your website.

If you’re thinking that you could use a bit of help with any of the above suggestions but don’t want to have to approach four different professionals to get them all done, you’re in luck.  

Flyline Search Marketing offers services that range from basic web design to implementing complex social media marketing campaigns. You may not achieve the numbers that Coca-Cola has done, but at least you’ll know you’re on the right track and in capable hands.