To tweet, or not to tweet? That is the question.

AuthorBohi, Heidi
PositionTECHNOLOGY

When it comes to social media marketing and networking, the mania surrounding the top media channels--Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, blogs and other online communities--is dizzying. On Facebook alone, there are more than 300 million active users who are 35 or older and 50 percent of these log on daily. More than 8 billion minutes are spent on Facebook every day, worldwide. "Twitterholics" have more than 18 million followers and that number is expected to hit 26 million over the next year.

Rumor has it that in a matter of weeks you can watch your brand grow from wallflower to wowza. And it's free--so what do you have to lose?

ONLINE TOOLS

Social media marketing includes using social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other collaborative Internet form of media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service. Although well-written, informative, entertaining content remains critical, the difference between this method and old-school marketing tactics is that it is about engaging the customer, not force feeding them a sales pitch. In fact, content is primarily published by users, not employees of the company. The success is based on conversations and user participation, or what is referred to as a "pull" medium, not "push." As media consultants remind: "People don't care that you know until they know that you care."

Although businesses don't have to be on every social network, they do need to be where their customers are and they expect to find every business there. "As a default, I recommend a presence on the big three: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. LinkedIn is your business suit, Facebook is business casual and Twitter is the 24/7 ongoing cocktail party," says Paul Chancy, author of "The Digital Handshake: Seven Proven Strategies to Grow Your Business Using Social Media."

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In today's economy, being able to find innovative, inexpensive ways to market is one more reason businesses need to understand these applications that are turning out to be priceless promotional tools. However, signing up then failing to maintain this online presence will be counterproductive and could actually damage the brand.

"What can be misleading is that when you start using it, you can get a massive following list within 90 days," says Sarah Browne, The Guru of New, an expert on social media marketing and author of "How Not To Be An E-Hole: The Ultimate Guide to Online Etiquette."

"It's like...

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