At Robin Leedy & Associates Inc., a public relations and social media marketing agency in Mount Kisco, 2011 was “a phenomenal year” for business after two “really flat” years when clients”™ reduced advertising budgets and more conservative spending widely affected the industry, said Alyson O”™Mahoney, executive vice president and partner in the 26-year-old company.
The business rebound is due in part to the agency”™s revamped website and search engine optimization, in-house improvements made during the downturn, said O”™Mahoney. It also   points to a measure of restored confidence among clients and “intrigue” in what social media can do as marketing tools for their business, she said.
Marketing over-the-counter products and health and beauty aids for national clients, the 12-employee agency has carried its strong 2011 performance into the new year. It recently signed six new clients with eight brands that range from homeopathic remedies for muscle pains and teething babies to SpermCheck, a home fertility test for men.
Niche consumers will learn about those products across social platforms like Facebook, YouTube and in the blogosphere, said O”™Mahoney. Leedy & Associates was an early user of direct-to-consumer online marketing and blogs ”“ before bloggers were called bloggers, she said ”“ as well as Facebook to get out its clients”™ messages and products to potential consumers.
With Facebook, “Probably in 2008 was our first endeavor,” when The Mentholatum Co. Inc. turned to the social media phenomenon to market its Softlips lip-protection brand to a young audience. The company now has 860,000 Facebook fans, said O”™Mahoney, the Mount Kisco agency”™s social media strategist.
Though some clients choose not to use Facebook to market their health care products because of regulatory concerns, social-media marketing for most companies “does have a role, and it”™s almost now expected by the consumer,” she said.
Presenting the same look for every company regardless of size and budget, “Facebook is a real equalizer and a real neutralizer,” said O”™Mahoney. “That”™s what”™s so great about the Facebook environment or the Twitter environment.”
At Robin Leedy & Associates, “Building a brand on Twitter hasn”™t been a priority for us right now because it takes a lot of time to manage that”¦The value of Twitter over Facebook is that you can never post as fast on Facebook.”
Posting on Facebook and other social media also is inexpensive. O”™Mahoney tells clients: “The frequency you can get in these types of places, you really could never afford elsewhere” in traditional print and television marketing. Frequency in getting out one”™s message is especially needed to make a sale “in today”™s clutter” of marketing messages that confronts consumers, she said.
For clients with a product in search of its consumer base, “If you don”™t know who your audience is, you can test out in the social space very inexpensively and let the audience define itself,” O”™Mahoney said.
That was the case with Anti-Monkey Butt Powder, a client”™s cheekily named talcum-power- and-calamine remedy for irritation and soreness caused by sweaty labor and sporting exertion. Marketed only through social media, the product was targeted for males, said O”™Mahoney. But the company”™s unexpected Facebook audience led it to develop product lines for women and babies.
“Here you went from truck drivers to babies,” said O”™Mahoney. “Facebook allowed us to do that.”
“I see local businesses that aren”™t doing a lot with their Facebook presence,” she said. “I think it”™s something that everybody should consider and not be afraid of. It”™s very controllable, like any other marketing.”
“If you”™re not there yet, think about it. If you”™re there already, think about different ways of using this platform you have, and how to use it daily,” said O”™Mahoney.
