Social Media is gaining popular attention. It might be because of Ashton and Oprah, it could be because of the economy, but more and more companies and non-profits are enquiring about the subject. The same question comes up in each discussion …
“Does social media work?”
The problem with this question is you first have to decide what you want social media to work for. There are many things social media tools are great for …
- Fun
- Raise your personal profile
- Foster community
- Gain visibility for your business
- Attract an audience
- Customer service
- Market research
- etc
And some that I would not suggest social media be used for, such as making direct sales pitches.
When you play to social media strengths you do get results. I just read this in an email newsletter from Bob Bly about my friend Mike Stelzner’s social media survey report:
Surveyed 900 social media marketers
Three days later, more than 15,000 people read it and hundreds posted comments.
Within two weeks, nearly 30,000 people had read his report, more than 100 media outlets and bloggers wrote about it, and it was reposted on Twitter more than 1500 times! He also was offered $30,000 to do some work directly resulting from the buzz around his report.
I know he got those results without spending a dollar on advertising or promotion, just time.
When you have something that you want to spread then social media is not just proven to be effective, I would say it is an essential part of your communication now.
If you would like to learn more, check out this free mp3 audio class where Mari Smith, Denise Wakeman, Mike Stelzner and I talk through the major things you need to know to be effective. It’s being offered as a thank you for signing up to hear more about the social media summit we are running, and you can opt-out any time.
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