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The Next Stage in Social Media Marketing

Long before my professional career started, websites were built and controlled by high school students and information technology departments.

A decade later, when those same high school students became college students, they started an internet revolution called social media. The movement led to many companies to rely on interns and recent graduates for navigation through this new communication phenomenon.

In both scenarios, marketers and communicators were somewhat limited in how well they managed the messaging. However in 2010, I think we have entered a phase where social media marketing is now better understood and better controlled by upper level management. Seriously, how many events can a marketer go to without sitting in on at least one social media presentation?

With that comes better planning of resources and content. This is contrary to the issues raised by Jason Fried of 37signals in an interview with Forbes.com. He argued that the biggest problem with social media marketing is that the social websites are just tools and that most companies have yet to decide who they are and what they stand for on social media.

In just a few years this will no longer be an issue. Much like marketing departments starting taking back control of their websites asking their IT department to turn them over the keys so they could optimize the site for search engines, they too will start asking questions about how to start a successful group on Linkedin.

The next stage in social media marketing ready to start flourishing will be more meaningful content publishing and consumer interaction led by senior marketing professionals, who are no longer too naive to ask tough questions of interns and recent graduates.

Is your organization ready for social media?

If you work in marketing or communications, you probably have little doubt that your organization should start utilizing social media, but are you ready?From my experience, C-level executives often worry about what could go wrong. They worry people will say bad things and even worse that no one will do anything about it. The reality is that if you have company, people are already out there talking you. And if you don’t know about what they are saying, chances are you are already doing nothing about it.I put together a series of questions that might help you decide whether your department or organization is ready to join the conversation on social media.

  • Do you have a marketing or communications department?
  • Does your marketing or communications department produce news articles, press releases, videos, photos and/or events?
  • Do you know who your target audience?
  • Is your target audience on social media platforms?
  • Do you have key messages?
  • Can your social media administrator answer common questions posed on social media?
  • Do you have the ability to call on experts within your business to help with complex questions and situations?
  • Does someone in your department have experience utilizing social media platforms?
  • Have you contacted a lawyer or your legal department to see if there are any subject areas or statements you might want to avoid?

If you answered yes to all these questions, chances are you organization is ready. If not, your problems may be bigger than deciding if your organization is ready for social media.