SOCIAL MEDIA + YOU

How much does your company spend on Social Media per year? Do you pay for a service or do you have a full time individual running your social media sites? Have you decided to skip out on this whole “trend” because it’s just a “fad”?

Did you know 79% of B to C companies use social media campaigns to reach their audience & 13% who are not active users plan to be active in social media next year. By 2012, 92% of B to C companies will be active on social media. So what about B to B companies? 83% will be involved by 2012. 

Don’t get left behind. Research shows that the average marketer is choosing to spend $166,000 on Social Media this year, a 45% increase from years prior. (via MediaPost)

So why do marketers use Social Media?

(via: MediaPost)

Social Media provides an opportunity for a broad reach. Customers simply utilize these mediums most often. It only makes sense that your business or organization has a prominent presence on these sites. The goal of any good marketer is to get you to think about their brand/service when you otherwise would be thinking about something else. If a brand pops up in your Twitter feed, they have reached you. Social Media opens up lines for communication and personal reach that is impossible to achieve otherwise.

I’ve seen far too many companies join social media for the purpose of having a presence. There is a strategy to social media. If I do a search for your brand and I come up with a Twitter account that has 3 tweets from 2 years ago. You are not utilizing social media effectively. If I visit your Facebook page and you have a whole list of unanswered customer questions. You are not utilizing social media effectively. Having a Facebook or Twitter account with your branding does not mean you are apart of the Social Media movement. 

Being effective in Social Media means putting money/time/resources into it, because you believe in it. It means that Social Media strategies are a regular part of your management meetings (and it means that your company finds value in the efforts). And it usually means that you’ve hired some one (or some thing) to monitor and track those mediums to ensure they are being used, and used well. 

So, where is your brand/company/organization when it comes to Social Media? Will you be left behind in the dust? Or are you utilizing these mediums and putting time+money into them to make them good and worthwhile?