By Amy Howell, CEO of Howell Marketing Strategies
2009 will be viewed as the year that the social media tidal wave hit, taking most businesses by surprise. But 2010 rings in promising new opportunities, more optimism in the economy, increased advances in technology, and with it, increased focus on digital marketing and social media marketing for most businesses.
In social media, like anything else, practice and learning by doing makes us better. We learn from mistakes and get better as we go—just like surfing. Kudos go out to those individuals and organizations who grabbed their boards, jumped in, and attempted riding this dynamic, changing wave.
According to MediaPost, 2010 will be the year of reckoning for marketers and social media. Forrester Research released a list in December 2009 predicting that companies will create cross-functional teams aimed at sharing ideas about social media and will get serious about budgets, efforts, and policies. The report also suggests that an “increasing number of marketers will adopt listening platforms to monitor social media.” A lot has been published online recently about predictions, trends, and stats, so I won’t repeat it all here, but it’s out there—just Google it!
So here’s the question: Boil all of this down, and what does social media really mean for businesses? As the owner of a PR and marketing firm, I have daily contact with every client of our firm, and many are still asking, “What does social media have to do with our business?” My response: Everything or nothing. We have advanced some clients’ strategies and have been able to point to some revenue generation due to social media engagement. And that is the key: engagement.
Social media itself is not a strategy. Success means using social media strategies to drive traffic to businesses to create opportunities, develop relationships (human interaction), and generate sales that actualize revenue. So from the daily trenches, here are some of my experiences that I share, hoping they are helpful.
- Expect and anticipate the continued debate over social media ROI, especially for small businesses. We hear a lot about large corporate users, but remember that they have the resources (both human and financial) to use social media. The irony here is that the smaller the organization, the better the results (and speed to market) of the campaign. So if you are a small business, that means you have really big opportunities. Large companies are often too bureaucratic and political to agree, collaborate, and move quickly, and some spend too much time letting lawyers and HR dictate strategy (which is not the right way to do it, in my opinion).
- View social media as a positive for your business! It’s giving us access like never before. You can ask a question on Twitter, for example, and get great advice and answers from some of the most brilliant people in the world. How cool is that? If you use Twitter correctly, you don’t need a research assistant.
- Use traditional marketing planning to mirror key social media strategies. Social media is not an alternative to traditional marketing but a vehicle to advance what’s always worked. Get your plan together, focus on creative ways to market your business (generate revenue), and then apply the appropriate social media strategies to the plan. Budget for the time—and the resources—it will take to implement social media strategies. That can be a challenge for small companies, yet the rewards are far too promising.
- Establish a corporate policy based on the appropriate culture, goals, and objectives of your organization. The best policies are the simple ones, and getting key players in the business together on the same page when it comes to social media is critical. Social media will fail if the stakeholders and/or owners don’t agree. For example, Kodak has one of the best social media tips and policies document I have seen. It’s brief, straightforward, and there is no way you can misinterpret its intent.
- One of the most important issues to consider when applying social media strategies is the value of communication. Never in the history of business has it been so easy and efficient to communicate with mass amounts of people (customers, potential customers, the media, etc). What price can you put on that?
- Pick your social media channel. The main channels and tools for businesses will be Web sites, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. There are certain strategies appropriate for certain vehicles.
- If nothing else, listen and learn! Use social media as a way to monitor what is happening and take advantage of information. For example, Twitter is a great way to listen and monitor due to its real-time search feature.
Never in my 25 years in corporate marketing has there been this much excitement, and 2010 will be the year for organizations to realize actual revenue for their social media efforts.
