It’s a brave new social media world.
Let’s start with a few statistics. ComScore ranks Facebook as the sixth most popular website globally, with 275 million users around the world. The market research specialist also revealed that worldwide visitors to Twitter approached ten million in February, up an astonishing 700% on 2008. And who’s driving this trend? On Twitter at least it’s the 25-54 year olds, a pattern largely attributed to the growing number of businesses cottoning on to the power of social media.
Doctors are discussing the affect of this on our health. The UK government is proposing that children in England should leave primary school familiar with blogging, podcasts, Wikipedia and Twitter. And all the while, it’s gathering pace.
Uncharted territory or marketing opportunity?
The success of social media is based on a very new technology platform and a very old business phenomenon. The former enables us to spread content and messages virally, without regard for who we are, where we are or what we do. The latter is nothing less than good old-fashioned networking which of course, has underpinned sales since it began.
But at the heart of all this is something much more human; namely, conversation and relationships. Social media allows businesses to connect with their audiences in new ways, paving the way for interactive communication. In the brave new world of social media, it’s not enough to talk. You have to listen, too. And beyond that, you need to engage in the conversation being had by your peers and your customers.
Social media and networking allows you to share information, ideas, opportunities, offers; all the while forging relationships that should create a positive connection with your brand. But it’s also a case of buyer beware. Whether you choose to tweet, poke or blog, you must do so wholeheartedly. You can control what you put out there, but you can’t control where this will end up – which is of course, the main appeal for so many devotees.
And then there’s the fact that these tools are relatively new. We are the guinea pigs and there are simply no guarantees. So no, social media will not single-handedly grow your business or its brand. But, used wisely, it will complement traditional communication tools and build relationships with your target audiences. Put simply, this uncharted territory is a marketing opportunity.
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