Technology

Why social media?

For the past 6 months, people keep asking me “what is social media?”, “How are you using it?”, “Why are you doing it?”, “What exactly is your job?” I’ll try (hopefully) to give you a short introduction to social media, some tips, and why companies, from large conglomerates to small businesses, should use it.

Social media is an online conversation. It’s the ‘new word of mouth’ – conversations that once took place offline are now happening online in ‘viral ecosystem’ type communities. Viral is the keyword here, as if a topic is provocative / interesting enough to spread online like gossip in a small town; This is what we call Digital Interaction. Everyone has probably heard of Twitter, Facebook, Linked IN, Flickr, YouTube, etc. ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿??? In social terms, these communities allow us to interact with friends, catch up on the latest news, see who is flying high, who really isn’t, and generally have fun interacting online. In marketing terms, these are all potential gold mines.

If you put it in perspective; Facebook, for example, now has a user base that, if it were a country, would be the fourth most populous place in the world. Just this week it was announced that Facebook has passed 300 million users across all demographics AND is now making enough money to cover its costs. These are statistics that you can no longer choose to ignore. So what would you say to a company whose competitor is doing a lot of social media, but they see it as a waste of time, as they are lucky these days to have a large budget for conventional advertising?

I’d say break out of the old-school advertising model ‘shout our loudest message’ and go for it. Keep in mind that the average person is exposed to more than 3,000 advertising messages every day. 1. Note that messaging and interaction are no longer one-way, they are multi-directional between all stakeholders. So why invest all that surplus cash, when most people will ignore your message, your message will be too common and you will be able to reach a much more specific audience DIRECTLY online via conversation at a much cheaper cost and in real time? ROI is high with social media, as the only cost is human capital.

Social Media has evolved marketing, with a new ‘communication model’. Today customers want more; They don’t just want a source of information, they want interaction and brand recognition. When they buy products that they like to buy across the brand, this is particularly true among our future generations, the millennials, of whom 96% have joined a social network.

2. Don’t abandon traditional methods entirely, as social media is a compliment, not a replacement, and compliment is really the keyword here. You need to use social media to back up your existing posts, not to replace them entirely.

Using it is about being smart. Once you join you have to realize that you are no longer in control, you have to give up control, now this is where people freak out, but it works. There is usually much more respect for brands that are on social media than for those that are not.

But first you must listen, only then you must participate and interact and then involve your customers. You can’t just use social media to spread your messages, you have to talk to them about what they want to talk about and be honest. Of course, you can use social media to influence the conversation, but you have to realize that honesty is the ONLY policy on social media, and if you are too corporate or aggressive, it will put people off.

Some brands have official communities and accounts, as this can be a good way to try to link all the conversations, stay on track, and avoid profanity.

“But how can it really benefit my business?” I hear you ask …

o Facilitates conversations between all stakeholders, providing direct connections

o It is aimed at those consumers who have moved away from traditional media.

o Provides knowledge and innovation of behavior through connections

o Multiple profiles – leads to organic growth among search page rankings

o Increase the profile / reach of the brand

How have we benefited from social media?

Social media has opened up many new opportunities for us that we might not have thought possible before. We have had an interest in new markets and have started dialogues with people who are potential partners. We set up our own Twitter page about five months ago and were amazed at the amount of engagement almost immediately. Today, Twitter is one of our main referral sites, not only for our own website, but also for the campaigns we have worked on. By maintaining engagement levels, you constantly keep your customers / target audience engaged, bringing you closer and closer to your first-hand customers.

It’s the early days though, and right now we are looking for ways to try and quantify social media into a real ROI for our corporate clients as we constantly hear ‘the conversation is great, but where is the value?’ – this is where as marketers we need to see and tangibly demonstrate gray – it’s not just black and white anymore.

So … it’s here to stay, it’s not a passing fad, it’s a fundamental and undeniable change in the way we communicate with current and potential customers, so don’t be left behind! Even the government is on Twitter and if Barack Obama used social media to reach the White House3, we can all use social media to reach customers.

Footnotes

1. Shenk, David. Data Smog – Surviving Information Overload. HarperEdge, 1997.

2. The National Association of School Boards. Simply-speaking.blogspot.com. http://simply-speaking.blogspot.com/2007/08/social-networking-in-education.html

3. Brooks, Rich. What companies can learn from Barack Obama’s social media strategy. Jan 30, 2009. http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/rich-brooks/social-media-strategies-small-business/what-businesses-can-learn-barack-obamas-soci

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