Company Profile

Social Marketing Direct provides clients with an alternative to the high costs of traditional advertising, marketing, and PR. As the Web 2.0 boom hits the mainstream, traditional agencies and firms realize they need to “do social media.” But for all the talk about social media, how do you actually implement it? That’s where we come in.

Social media is the new way information gets exchanged. People are looking up their favorite blogs, references, forums, friends, colleagues, and gurus for recommendations on what to do, where to go, who to talk to, and what to buy. Search is giving way to browsing. People listen to conversations instead of ads. The way to engage potential customers, clients, and partners is by building relationships and starting a real conversation.

There are many out there who understand social media, but few who are able to implement it on behalf of a company or brand for the purpose of marketing. Community engagement must have a few key elements: credibility, relevance, and convenience. Brands usually fail in engaging audiences when they force ads onto social communities, hire spokespeople to spam blogs and forums, or offer money to thought leaders to evangelize. That’s all just another form of the same old interrupt and solicit model. It backfires.  

What we offer is training in social engagement of customers, clients, and business development contacts. There are a few ways to go. The best is to train your core brand experts on how to communicate directly with their audience. You can also have your agency do this, and we can train them, but the farther from the core of the company you go, the less authentic the message. Or you can outsource your social media marketing entirely by building a team, training them on your brand and strategy, and let them rip. We’ll consult, but that direction is up to you, your timeline, and your budget. Leave the rest to us.

Social Marketing Direct is a subsidiary of Direct Marketing Inc. LLC (1997) founded by Josh Bereano.