What in blue blazes is all this social media stuff about anyway?

What in blue blazes is all this social media stuff about anyway?

Where do marketing and social media intersect? Are sites like Twitter and Facebook just for fun or is there any business benefit to be had?

To answer these questions, Missing Link held a free talk on social media for the Christchurch business community in late July. Kaila Colbin talked to 50 business people from the public and private sectors and lifted the veil of obscurity about social media.

The main gist of Kaila’s talk is this: yes, social media is massive; yes, it’s a fundamental shift from the last 100 years of marketing; but at the end of the day, it’s not rocket surgery. The beauty of social media is that it’s all online; time and resources willing, you can research and implement it yourself.

So what’s the big deal then? Well marketing for so long has been a one-way communication; and it worked. Primarily because it was the norm; people accepted it. These days though, the average person is bombarded with well over 1,400 advertising messages a day; it’s clear it takes something special to actually reach them and genuinely affect their decisions.

This is what is so exciting about social media; consumers have been ‘told’ what to do and buy since the inception of newspapers – now, with social media, companies and customers can finally share a conversation.

The simple fact is, 67% of all Internet users worldwide use social media; more people use social media than have email accounts. Services and options like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs provide channels appropriate to each business’ needs.

Where do you start?

If you're using social media for business purposes, you need to treat it like any other business initiative, with objectives, resource allocation, and measurable results. To save you some time, here are eight steps to get you well on your way:

1. Become part of the audience – who's talking about your industry? What are they saying? Find out where the conversations are happening that are relevant to your business – and listen before you speak.
2. Articulate your objectives – what exactly do you want to achieve? Be specific!
3. Establish your metrics – how will you measure your success? Make sure that what you're measuring is connected to your objectives.
4. Allocate resources – do you have the time and people power to make this work? Like any worthwhile endeavour, it takes time and effort.
5. Allocate the right resources – make sure the people doing your social media campaign have the skills and temperament to be effective ambassadors.
6. Participate regularly – consistency is key for relationships – just ask The Little Prince.
7. Connect everything – email, blogs, web, direct mail, radio, TV. It can all be connected and consistency of message is they key. Create a web of communication to dramatically leverage your brand's online footprint.
8. Measure, adjust, rinse, repeat – constantly review these steps to ensure you are keeping up with your audience, and you are on track for success.

If you feel a case of information-overload coming on, you can always have a chat to some experts. There are heaps of them out there, but we’d recommend, well- us.

We are extremely passionate about what we do, and our Mums think we are pretty talented. So do some pretty dynamic clients as well, actually.

Ultimately, we have already done the hard yards; we have extensive media, marketing and business backgrounds, and we have done the research to be at the top of the social media heap.

Give us a call or an email, and we’ll talk about it over a cuppa.