We have had a recent spike in the number of clients who are asking us about social media. Some because they know they need to jump on the band wagon and start using it, and some because they are still wondering if their company or organization would benefit from it. Social media is like any other marketing tool, used correctly and in the right circumstances it can be very effective, but you need to know its limitations and strengths before you can dive in and see good results.
Please note: this blog post is NOT intended to be a lesson on social media, which has many books and articles dedicated to the subject. Rather, it is intended to be a quick introduction for those interested in potentially entering the social media arena.
Social Media: A Definition
Social media is the new buzz word in marketing. Even when someone doesn't know exactly what social media is, they've heard it could be a great tool for their business or organization. According to Wikipedia social media is "media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques… businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM)." Basically, when an organization uses social media, they are hoping to utilize their stakeholders' (customers, clients, members, etc.) social networks to spread the organization's message to their target audience. By doing so they are often able to bypass traditional (and expensive) methods of marketing such as radio, tv or print. How is this accomplished? A message is sent out (via Facebook, blogs, Twitter, etc.) to a select group of people. If that message is deemed worthy to pass on to a friend or acquaintance, it will be. Since people are more likely to view a message when it comes from someone whose opinion they trust the message has a much higher chance of being viewed than your average email.
What makes a message "share" worthy varies, but in general messages that entertain, offer an incentive (such as free or discounted product), or share privileged information have higher results. After all, you don't become part of an organization's social network just so you can see more commercials. You sign up to be part of a community interested in the product or idea that the organization is promoting. You also join to get information above and beyond what is contained in the average commercial. And when people are interested in, or passionate about something, they will want to share it with their friends, who will in turn share it with their friends and so on and so on. More people will join your social network creating an entire community based on your product or message. You then become a moderator fielding questions, starting new conversations and sharing new information with the group. This model works for both product and service-driven campaigns as well as educational and informational campaigns.
Should My Company be Taking Advantage of Social Media?
The biggest obstacle many of our clients face in starting their own social network is the time it takes to create and post content, moderate the community and answer questions. There needs to be someone with intimate knowledge of the company or product in charge of the program. Unfortunately these are usually the same people who don't even have enough time to answer all their emails. There is also that fear of the unknown associated with social media. Who will look at our posts? Will they write something bad about our company? Will my competitors be able to use it against me? Will it be a waste of time? How will I create content for it? These are all good questions, and need to be addressed on a company-by-company basis. The good news is that we can learn from the examples of companies who have embraced social media with great success as well as examples of those who were ill prepared for the viral nature of social media.
More Information on Social Media
Below are a few books and websites to get you started on your quest for social media knowledge. And please feel free to call or email us with questions, we would love to help you set up your own social media network.
Websites:
Books:
Cluetrain
Manifesto
by Christopher Locke, Rick Levine,
Doc
Searls and David Weinberger
Groundswell
by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
