That seems to be the question being asked by everyone, these days. Can social media be used to help the bottom line of a business? Is it hype or a practical tool for marketing products/service.
Knowledge Networks did a study about how people use social media and release the results this spring. It reported that 5% or less of people regularly turn to social media for guidance on purchasing decisions. While 5% is a low figure, the study also reported that 10 - 20% of the time people sometimes turned to social media.
In general companies large and small from Burger King (Whopper Sacrifice/ Whopper Virgins), Starbucks, SUN Microsytems, Blendtec, Zappos, to small a wedding shop in Milwaukee, WI have been using Social Media with some success. Those that are having success have a few things in common:
- A Plan - They have an overall marketing plan and a specific use for social media.
- Understanding - They understood what to to with social media, how to use it, and what to expect from it.
- Goals/Expectations - They had reasonable goals and expectations for the social media component of their plans.
- Performance Review - They have a method to measure the performance of their social marketing efforts. They reviewed the performance during their marketing campaign.
- Agility - They adjusted their tactics if their goals were not being met.
- Persistence - If it didn't work out as expected, they evaluated what went wrong and tried something else.
Some articles of interest I ran across researching this blog.
- There is a decent white paper which describes some viable uses for social media.
- DMNews What's the future for social network ads?
- DMNews Inside Blog marketing
- Making a Case for Social Media
- Mashable Why Big Brands Struggle With Social Media
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