Social Media: The Next Step in Marketing

by Samir Balwani on November 17, 2008 · View Comments

Social media is a new field. It’s relatively untested and is considered the Wild Wild West of online marketing. It’s still in its youth and because of that many businesses are afraid to take the plunge.

Not only is this an obstacle to adoption for many businesses, but the fact that social media costs are front loaded (meaning you invest up front in the hopes of turning a profit in the future) creates an even larger hurdle for many.

Recognizing that there is value in social media is a marketing first step. Business owners need to know that social media is the next evolution in marketing.

It’s next after direct mail campaigns, after tv or radio advertising, and after ads in your newspaper. Except it’s better than all of the above. Instead of the one way communication of traditional advertising, social media has made it a conversation.

No longer do you have a 30 second piece to convince consumers to use your product, but now you have a community at your disposal. Build a relationship and convince customers to stay with you and advertise for you.

However, it’s important to know that social media’s true power is not lead generation. Instead, it shines in pushing consumers along the “selling funnel”.

With all the positives of social media there come some negatives. Because of it’s youth there are very few metrics. Determining success is difficult when you consider abstract ideals like community building and branding effectiveness.

It may also be too soon to know if social media really works or if it’s just a fad. Is social media just another bubble thats about to pop?

In my opinion social media can be an powerful tool when wielded properly. A good social media strategy with built in tracking can lead to a positive ROI.

In reference to it being a fad, consider the growth and value of digg and Facebook. There’s already talk about the next generation of web users who will do almost all their surfing in a social media site whether it be Facebook or Microsoft’s new Live social network.

Social media is here to stay, and businesses and corporations better learn to leverage its power or be prepared to be left behind.

Regardless of your business size, deciding on a marketing budget that your company can sustain is an important aspect of company growth.

Small businesses that fail to invest in long term marketing projects will continue to be small businesses. A powerful branding campaign or new online community can help push a company to the next level.

Do you agree with me? Is social media marketing a fad? Is it of little use to small businesses or can this new marketing strategy work for the ma and pa store down the street? What is a good marketing budget and how much should go to online advertising? What do you think? I’d love to know.

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Brian November 17, 2008 at 1:59 pm: Great post, I think there will definitely be a pop in social media at some point, there are just way too many platforms and tools available right now that’s its starting to dilute the overall value of social media a bit. That being said, I think when a few of these major players (ie facebook, Linkedin, digg, twitter) start to combine and collaborate more efficiently there will be undeniable ROI for businesses using these means to create brand awareness and advertise. Social media is here to stay, but I think that we are still very early stage in understanding the efficiencies of it.
Ed Richardson November 17, 2008 at 2:20 pm: Pretty much what Brian has said.

I think social media is here to stay and it also represents what digital media (in the broader sense) does best, engages.

With social media especially you can engage with customers knowing their interests and backgrounds like we’ve never seen before, far greater than even the insight that cookies have been providing us.

I think we’ll see social media around for a good while yet, although I suspect we’ll see some evolution in our interfaces we use. We’ll also see a settling in the number of products that we currently use to engage ourselves with Social Media.

I’ve already been caught in the repetitive trap of getting my posts posted between Friendfeed and Twitter, republishing themselves after posting in one and having it configured to post in the other . . .
Samir Balwani November 17, 2008 at 2:58 pm: @Brian I agree with you that there will be a pop in social media at some point, but I don’t think we’ll see a convergence of social media tools. They’ll remain separate, and it will be up to us to find a way to make them work together.

In reference to ROI, I think there already is an ROI just lack of concrete measurements. It’s difficult to measure how much good your customer service provides, but does that mean you stop offering it? Same situation with Social Media.

@Ed One of the greatest things with Social Media is the insight it offers. We know who we’re talking to and just what they’re interested in. It’s for that reason why I think, in the long run, Social Media will be successful. It’s just a matter of figuring out how to take advantage of the information and to market a product without disrupting the conversation.
DeAndrea November 24, 2008 at 9:38 pm: I agree that social media is here to stay. I think it will ebb and flow, just like other things out there. Right now utilizing social media is “all the rage” in a year, or two years, it will fizzle, but it will not burn out entirely. It will change by ways of tools used, and by ways of communication strategies and site loyalties, but all in all I think it will only grow in use. Rather than Social Media only being engaged by the SMB, large Enterprises will (hopefully) more and more see its value and begin to engage. (right now there are only some odd 1% or something to this nature of fortune 500 companies utilizing social media)