Companies should realize that investing in social media actually is low overhead because the setup, for the most part is already taken care of, it is just a matter of managing the content in its various forms whether it is marketing, public relations (PR), etc. Social media is no longer about the why, but the how does one or a group of individuals leverage social media to be an advantage over the competition. Your target market and competition is using social media, why aren’t you? It is about attracting the consumer on a personal level and bringing them back in house to be a brand loyal customer. Every new client I take on, that is interested in social media business strategy and marketing, gets some homework. They get two quick pieces of literature to read in order to better understand why it is important to their business. The first is known as the Edelman Report: The Social Media Pulpit – Barack Obama’s Social Media Toolkit.(#) Probably the most well known case study and best example of the power of social media is that of the 2008 Presidential Campaign between Republican candidate, John McCain and Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. The second is by popular marketing strategy author Seth Godin (#) and his book appropriately titled, Tribes.(#) Seth’s book is a quick read and doesn’t go into detail about the “how-to’s”, but points out the fundamentals of marketing as it applies to social media.

Right now there are no definable tools per se about measuring the ROI of social media, but if done right businesses have to look at it as an intangible extension of their growth stage business. Companies like Sway, Inc. and Radian6 are starting to fill that need for ROI tools through distribution and monitoring products to show the decision makers the advantages of a good social media marketing campaign. Social media levels the playing field for small businesses, with little to no budget, to go up against mega brands that live off of the brand alone and are doomed to fail due to a superior, “holier than thou” attitude. How are you going to improve your business, if you are too busy dictating to listen to the customer (i.e.- GM)? There will be winners and losers once the dust settles and the economy gets back on track. Casualties of brand wars and the economy in 2008 include, Circuit City, Chrysler, Pontiac, K.B. Toys just to name a few.(#)

I still have a lot of friends who don’t understand the concept or bigger picture of the applications for tools like Twitter and at first I didn’t either.(#) However, Twitter is more than updating your status, being a networking, marketing (promotions, trendwatching, statistics, polling, feedback, focus group), and brand/PR tool, but it is also an educational tool. Some people want to charge you money for the same thing that you can get for free, if you know where to look. The best thing that anybody can do is educate themselves. The first thing to tell yourself is that no matter what level of education you have, you don’t know it all. The question you have to ask yourself is, “How are you going to improve if you are too busy dictating to listen to the customer?” Being an original thinker and forming your own opinions keeps you from repeating the same mistakes. Read, Cross Reference, Learn, Educate. This helps in allowing you to form your own opinions and deciding whether to act on it or not. When the Internet first began, I learned Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver via the Internet over the years. Seth Godin would be proud.(#) Now I can apply the same theory and practice to network applications like Linkedin/Facebook and social media tools like Twitter. The only difference is that it is at the speed at which it comes in ‘real time.”

The idea and implementation of social media is also changing old web standards, like Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Google has had a big influence and is also an early adapter of these practices. Twitter will and probably already has replaced the RSS feed. I know I keep mentioning Twitter, but really Twitter, in its current form, is just a conversation starter. It is “speed dating” for business to business (B2B), business to customer (B2C), and customer to business (C2B). I add C2B because, now more than ever, customer service is as important as a marketing campaign due to globalization, the global economy, and niche marketing strategy. Companies can no longer afford to throw money away at broad marketing campaigns. Instead of having an initial business meeting that normally would take some time and money to setup, it is instant and more efficient. It takes the guessing out of how to approach new business opportunities. The problem that most companies have is they want the Swiss Army knife an All In One (AIO) tool to do it all, but that just is not going to be the case. What works for one individual, group or industry most likely will not work for another. Customizing your social media business strategy and campaign implementation plan is key to your success. The two most important components of any social media business strategy and campaign implementation plan is attention getting content and customer/target market engagement. You are starting to see the companies that “get it” posting positions for social media marketers and public affairs types who have an understanding of all of the above. Again, advertisers are trying to figure out how to monetize something like Twitter, by placing ads, but that ship has already sailed with Twitter apps like Tweetdeck, Twhirl, Tweetie, and the ones to come in the future like Twitterface. Alliteration is fun with names like those. Twitterfon has implemented a framework to place ads, but you hear a lot of users decide not to update or go somewhere else. This again places pressure on developing better content rather than repetition, like we see and hear on TV and radio. Even clones of Twitter, like Yammer for example, a closed internal company communications tool, improve efficiency and productivity on many levels as well as create new ideas for competitive strategy while hopefully breaking down silos and improving organizational culture. (A good friend and Senior Consultant for Nationwide, Shawn Morton, formerly of CNET, implemented Yammer as an internal communications tool. However, Yammer has its critics.) (#)

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