Think of the huge melting pot that is social media, creating a non-stop conversation of converging customers and colleagues, bringing together people you know with those you don’t.
It is well known that the medium that carries the message shapes the message. The freedom from deadlines and news slot constraints and the sheer pleasure people derive from its viral nature explains why social media has become a sensation, revolutionising businesses and tweeting countries towards revolution.
Social media boosts brand awareness, drives lead generation and engages communities. It influences every level of the sales funnel and customer lifecycle - and as it engages customers it extends those lifecycles, accelerates deal flows, reduces churn and improves the delivery of a better ROI.
But it is also a medium that is moving fast, in multiple directions, all at once. Companies can easily feel they are being left behind. They may begin to “tune out” and do the bare minimum or avoid it altogether. Social media can quickly become anti-social!
Yet for all that, businesses must understand the relevance of social media because their customers will expect them to have a social web presence. It is no longer “nice to have” but “must have". Leveraging its power is then about how well and how often you do it. Half-doing it can easily cause more harm than good.
We are who Google says we are. Well, perhaps not totally!
Social media allows us to write our own online profiles and participating in social networks can turn this into personal, search engine optimisation that can go on to dominate Google’s results pages. You have the opportunity to be the author of your own professional reputation and Google is taking a lot more notice of the traffic generated through social networks.
In years gone by, it would cost £Ms to access a mass audience. Not now. Social media opens up the vision of access to huge audiences. Its ability to target our messages to specific communities is fundamental to building loyalty, understanding, and engagement.
Social media also gives you millions of voices who can spread your message and give you feedback- if you listen and learn from what is being said to improve what you do.
It makes perfect sense that your company is active and participating in the social web.
Source: Grand Guide. Social Media for the CMO. Eloqua. 24th February 2011