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But All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!

Posted by on October 11, 2007 at October 11, 2007 5:26 PM

Let’s face it. Sometimes using social media as a marketing tool is not worth a company’s time. If your company is considering implementing a social media strategy, I recommend asking three important questions before doing so:

1.) Is your target audience heavily involved in the social medium you’re looking to use (e.g. MySpace, FaceBook, Digg, Blogs, etc.)? - If your audience doesn’t spend a significant amount of time on the social media scene, it’s probably not worth your time. This may sound a little, “Marketing 101,” but not surprisingly, we see this again and again.

2.) Do you offer something interesting that will make people want to share it? - Many companies think they can create a MySpace page, have a cup of coffee and watch as the friend requests overload their inbox. However, if your primary message is too “salesy” and doesn’t provide anything all that interesting, chances are no one will care, let along share it with their friends. WOMMA (The Word of Mouth Marketing Association) defines word of mouth marketing as: “Giving people a reason to talk about your products and services and making it easier for that conversation to take place.” With that definition, who would have guessed this company would only have 1 friend on MySpace (which happens to be Tom, the creator, who “friends” you by default when you sign up for an account)?

3.) If social media does make sense for your company, do you have the time and resources to keep it up to date? – Companies will often invest in a social media campaign, get it up and running, then leave it alone until it becomes more lonely and depressed than social. Keeping content fresh, interacting with your audience and adding new ideas is what will keep them engaged.

Much like high school, being cool can have its drawbacks too.

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Comments

Jason, I completely agree with you. I also think a company should understand that the impact of social media can't necessarily be measured in the traditional ways we have tracked results in the past. In going along with your point about whether a company is ready to embrace social media tools; before implementing them, a company should definitely judge its readiness to deal with both positive and negative "chatter." After all, the primary goal of social media should be to cultivate relationships and build community and I doubt there is one company that receives nothing but positive feedback both internally and externally. The company needs to judge whether it is prepared to address the negative should it arise.

Posted by: Susan Iskiwitch at October 11, 2007 6:44 PM

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But All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!

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