Archive for November, 2010

Social Media Promotions To $38 Billion By 2015

Marketers are expected to spend $38 billion by 2015 according to Borrell Associates in Williamsburg, VA. That means those not using social media now had better begin to learn something about it. Businesses are currently servicing existing customers and generating leads with their social media resources.

Directing Word of Mouth

No business can completely control what is being said about it on the Internet. But they can influence it. And they do it through social media.

Typically businesses will have people singing their praises and some that are somewhat hostile. Monitoring tools, such as TweetDeck and HootSuite, can give a business access to statements made about their product or company. And then businesses need to promote their praises and control  their complaints. They can promote their praises by quoting or linking to positive statements made about them. And they can control their complaints by identifying and contacting the people complaining. From there they can do what they can to turn an aggravated customer into a happy one.

Visit Business and Social Media for more on this subject.

What do you plan to do with social media in the next few years? If you need some help, then contact Huck Huckabee

I grew up in a small family business. We knew all of our customers and they knew us,  personally. Social media is creating the opportunity for businesses online to develop a personal relationship with their customers no matter where they are. And businesses are taking advantage of this opportunity.

Social Media Makes It Personal

Local businesses have always had the advantage when personal relationships are important to a business. Business contacts become friends. They learn about each other. They’ve seen their business associates in person.

Today, in the case of a national business, personalized interaction via a blog, Facebook and other social media gives some of this advantage to companies on the other side of the country.  A photo on Facebook that changes on a regular basis can add an element of personalization that was reserved for local businesses in the past. The appearance, the hobbies, the interests and other personal traits create character that makes your business contacts your friends.

What Should You Do?

Your competition is going to get personal with the customers you are competing for no matter where they are located. To learn how this is going to impact your company, you need to ask yourself two questions:

1. Will they implement social media before your do?
2. Will they use it better than you do?

If your competitors do it first and win over your customers then it will be hard for you to get them back. And over the long term customers will migrate to the company with better social media correspondence.

The key is for you to get started quickly and stay ahead of your competition in providing value to your customers. Value can be created on social media through the sharing of information. Everything from product information to the achievements of your employees creates an image of your company. That image has value.