The uptake of social networking is obvious. Today, sites like Facebook and Twitter are being leveraged for various business uses, enabling people to connect and sustain professional relationships in real-time. Whether they’re engaging with clients, partners, or the media and analyst communities, people are leveraging Facebook and Twitter to help spread the latest news, events, updates, and requests for resources in the industry.
What is compelling about social networking in a business environment?
On the client side, using social networking and new media is another way to target customer prospects. Gartner predicted that by...
...2010, more than 60 percent of Fortune 1,000 companies will engage in an online community. For the most part, this is a good thing—communities create discussion, collaboration, and in some cases, can validate a market/product. By understanding trends in social networking, corporate businesses are finding new ways to communicate their brands and messaging (see Five tips for marketing on Facebook, Fast Company).
With some tools, social networking can offer companies a way to learn and communicate directly with their customers. However, that’s not to say every social networking outlet works for every business. When integrating the use of social networking and new media for professional uses, a few tips and considerations are useful:
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View the landscape – pay attention to patterns/trends in the market (i.e., key words, branding, competitors’ use of new media/social networking, and so on)
- How is your company/brand currently perceived in the market? Who is driving that discussion?
- Historically, where have your buying leads come from? What social networking sites and tools are your customers currently using?
- What are they using social networking for—news; product information research; user discussion forums/Q&As, other things?
- Put yourself in the mind of the end user – What do you want to achieve professionally by embracing social networking?
- Does the use of the specific social-networking site/service map back to your company’s overall marketing/communications objectives?
With the number of resources and social media outlets that exist today, how to obtain tangible ROI from social networking and online communities still remains in question and debate. The use of social networking and media tools works like a two-way street, and requires active involvement from the organizer and the community to make them a valuable marketing vehicle.
Next time… how PR embraces “new media” to create opportunities and results.
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