Social media and networking is the new buzz word in online marketing and everyone wants a slice of the action. It could be through blogging, customer discussion or other means businesses are sitting up and taking note of the power of the social internet community. But does it work for everybody?
This is a question I asked myself in the face of a company who were very keen to enter this sector and asking for guidance. The problem is that people take this buzz word, hear the hype around it and decide, “we need to be doing social”, without thinking about what that means to them as a company. I imagine what they think it means relates to myspace, facebook and bebo, but how do you engage these audiences when you are selling something which doesn’t fit, pensions maybe, of life insurance. That’s not to say that some of the audience would not be interested but the vast majority aren’t going to be.
The first question a company should ask itself is, “does my product fit with social media? What am I going to achieve by getting involved?” If the answer to the first question is no, then stop, look for other ways to achieve your goals.
This example relates directly to the common perception of what social media involves, i.e. social networking sites. When looking at the broader scope of social it may be you can find a small element which will work for you, customer discussion boards, integrated blogging, community engagement, they are all forms of social media and all have a use. Social media has a much broader reach than the websites people automatically quote when the phrase is uttered. So look further afield, engage an social media expert and take their advice on board. And at the end of the day, if social media isn’t for you, walk away. Just because something is the flavour of the moment, doesn’t mean its going to taste sweet to everybody.