Social networking has been around a while. Now Cheap NCAA Hockey Jerseys , social media is the hot topic for marketers. Yet, it's a confusing area for many marketing managers, CEOs and CMOs. In this article I attempt to de-mystify social media, especially for b-to-b marketers.
This article addresses:
The Emergence of Social Media The Landscape Embracing Social Media The Process What to look for in a social media partner
Emergence The pay off? You've experienced it. You've already experienced the pay-off of a "social" connection. You meet someone socially or in business or in your neighborhood, and you uncover a common interest: kids, gardening Cheap NCAA Basketball Jerseys , books, biking, golf, whatever. You ask what they do for a living. Later, a business connection happens, or Cheap NCAA Baseball Jerseys , a referral which leads to business. Social media is simply the explosion of this type of interaction, thanks to tools that have - and will - make social media more prevalent.
Emergence We (you) can't stop it Social media is exploding because it affords people new ways to connect in the online world to form relationships in both their personal and their business lives. It's Web 2.0 at its finest: user-generated content, growing exponentially, without a lot of push from companies selling product.
Landscape Social media defined People (who typically don't know each other) finding a common interest, then connecting and talking about that interest. It's the fastest-growing segment of communications today. Social media is a fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialog (many to many). Social media represents a shift in how people research Cheap NCAA Football Jerseys , discover, read and share news and information and content.
Landscape A cultural transformation Culture changes. Usually slowly. But not today, as "networking" transforms the information communications world. Social media, which is exploding exponentially, is both a result of, and an mirror of Cheap College Jerseys , our new information world. It's not a fad or "the latest thing" - it's here to stay.
Landscape Today, people get information from people, not just from enterprise Fact: 67% of consumers rely on information from other consumers, not from companies. This trend may not be as strong in the business environment as it is in the consumer world, but truly people have uncovered "social" venues for getting and giving information.
Landscape The buzz about your products, services People are talking about your products and services - and those conversations are going on without you. Wouldn't you rather be there to listen Cheap NCAA College Jerseys , participate, and promote and protect your brand?
Landscape Today's social media landscape: consumer brands Consumer brands are figuring it out: using Twitter, for example, to have customers and prospects "follow" them - and preparing to communicate socially on a mass basis in case of a PR emergency.
Landscape Today's social media landscape: b-to-b brands Business to business brands are watching more than acting right now, trying to understand the payoff. Both consumer brands and b-to-b marketers are seeking to develop a "social media strategy" - defining and maneuvering around the landscape. Since social media is here to stay, almost all marketers are at least paying attention to social media and social marketing.
Landscape Interesting statistics!
聲 68% of best-in-class companies have a process in place for monitoring social media. 聲 21% of best-of-class companies plan to boost their social media marketing budgets by more than 25% in 2009. 聲 Those companies that are investing in social media as part of their marketing strategy say they are getting good preliminary results. 聲 There are over 9 million blogs on the internet. 40 Cheap NCAA Jerseys ,000 new blogs pop up everyday 聲 1 in 20 Americans are on Twitter Source: Aberdeen Group (BtoB Magazine), Newsweek
Landscape YouTube stats! 聲 You think people (even b-to-b people) don't view online videos? According to data published by market research company comScore, YouTube had more than six billion videos viewed in January 2009. It is estimated that 15 hours of new videos are uploaded to the site every minute, and that in 2007 YouTube consumed as much bandwidth as the entire Internet in 2000. In March 2008, YouTube's bandwidth costs were estimated at approximately US$1 million a day. Alexa ranks YouTube as the third most visited website on the Internet, behind Yahoo! and Google. Source: Wikipedia
Embracing "But the payoff seems slow." Be patient. Your "social-connections-then-business" mentioned above didn't happen overnight. Twitter has crazily turned the term social media into a household phrase. But social media is much more than Twitter Cheap Jerseys From China , an done tool such as Twitter does not make a social media strategy (see page __ ). People are probably talking about your company. You need to monitor, mine (defined later) engage, and in some cases be ready with a reactive strategy.
Embracing On being human The biggest tip that experts give social media students is this: be human. Listen, observe, understand, and when you're ready to engage Cheap Jerseys China , do so in a social (not business) mode. When you meet someone socially, if you preach about your product right away, you turn people off. Again, be patient. Build relationships. The business connections will come.
Process Making it work: the B2B Inc. social media process Here's a basic process flow as to how B2B Inc. goes about developing and implementing your social media strategy
Assess: the social landscape as it pertains to sites and social networks which talk about your product category, your brand, your competitors
Monitor: a "watch strategy" to view and document the buzz
Mine: uncover the actual sentiment of your brand that is held in the minds of social visitors