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The series, the resource…
“Social Media: Promise & Peril” is a continuing series of articles by Edit30.com editors, who are communications experts with both traditional analog and digital media. Our objective in creating and distributing these articles is to help business communicators find value in social media for their companies and their stakeholders.
Our social media insights appear in two parts.
- The post pages on edit30.com, where each article is identified by the series log0, and can be collected by our readers by using the “Search edit30″ feature at the top of the left column of the main page.
- Additional and shorter insights are provided in this layer two location, which is accessed by using the “Social Media” button at the top of the initial edit30.com page.
These articles are protected by copyright. For reuse permission, contact editor@edit30.com. No unauthorized use of this material is permitted.
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42 million US women use social media
Is the jury still out in your mind as to whether social media matters in business? If so, a recent survey might make you change your mind. In fact, it may cause you to re-think your entire marketing outreach, especially if you market to women.
The study found that 42 million women in the United States (roughly 53% of the 79 million adult women in the United States who use the Internet) participate in social media at least weekly. As they spend more time with social media, women are spending correspondingly less time with traditional media:
- 39% less on newspapers,
- 36% less time reading magazines, and
- 30% less time watching TV.
That’s according to a recent social media survey by BlogHer, the women’s blog network, along with iVillage and Compass Partners.
PDF of full study; News release
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Social media brand building
Convince and Convert blog author Jason Baer recently made presentations on 1. brand building with social media and 2. misconceptions of social media. The two topics were presented at the Flagstaff, AZ Chamber of Commerce, April 2009, and at the Black Hills Ad Federation in Rapid City, SD, October 2008. Thanks, Jason.
Reputation Management
People are talking about you online, whether you choose to listen or not.
Customer Service
Social media customer service is the new 800-number.
Public Relations
Social media enables you to take your message to customers directly.
Customer Acquisition
Market sideways. Features and benefits are too boring to work in social media.
Create Brand Communities
Activate your fans and give them something to do. Don’t just collect them like baseball cards.
Thought Leadership
Everyone in the world has expertise. What’s yours, and how to you distribute it?
Networking
Social capital belongs to individuals, and is loaned to brands. You can use social networking to develop relationships online that you’d be unlikely to have otherwise.
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Social Media misconceptions
Social Media is Inexpensive
False. As Charlene Li said recently, social media trades media cost for labor cost. Done correctly, social media – even a simple reputation monitoring program – is a time intensive proposition that requires daily vigilance.
Social Media is Fast
No. Social media is about developing relationships, which takes time. This means months — perhaps many months — for them to become established.
Social Media is “Viral Marketing”
No. Social media can be part of a viral marketing effort, but it is not itself viral marketing.
Social Media results can’t be measured
No. Like the vagaries of reputation, social media results are very difficult in and of themselves to measure. They are part of the overall brand communications mix.
Social Media is optional
No. If you have a communications program, you must have a social media component.
Social media is hard
No. It just requires focus, attention and time.
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More marketers counting on social media
This is an excellent summary of the use of social media by Dominos Pizza and several other retailers. It was written by Benny Evangelista, Staff Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, and published on Sunday, May 3, 2009. Excerpts follow.
…Dominos
When a prank video of a Domino’s Pizza employee adding unsanitary ingredients to sandwiches became an instant hit on YouTube, the chain didn’t respond in the traditional way with a statement issued through the mainstream media…. “We needed to fight fire with fire,” said Domino’s spokesman Tim McIntyre….
Domino’s Pizza officials found they had to quickly engage the social media sphere when five video clips surfaced on YouTube on April 13…. Within 48 hours, the clips had been viewed nearly 1 million times and reposted to other sites. Social networks buzzed with negative comments about Domino’s by disgusted viewers.
…Nielson Reports
A Nielsen Co. report released last week found the number of social media users has increased 87 percent since 2003, and surpassed e-mail use for the first time in February. In the past year, the time spent on social networks increased 73 percent, Nielsen said.
…Twitter user
Gina Jacobs of ShoreTel Inc. said her Sunnyvale Internet telephony firm recently began using Twitter to increase brand awareness. “In just a couple of months we went from zero to 500 Twitter followers,” said Jacobs, senior director of marketing communications. “We monitor the Twitter conversation daily and find opportunities to directly engage with customers, prospects and partners.”
…Kayak maker
One small kayak maker in Sparta, Tenn., said sales of a new model jumped after the company used a Web-based social media release. In January, Jackson Kayak began marketing an expensive $1,600 two-person model and had hoped to sell 350 by the end of the year. So far, the company has sold 217.… Company spokeswoman Lee Hart said the release has been viewed about 7,000 times, which is a big number for them, especially because it reached the core audience – whitewater kayak enthusiasts.
…PitchEngine
Former journalist Jason Kintzler founded PitchEngine six months ago when he saw the need for a new style of press release tailored to the digital needs of social networks. The app, which came out of beta two weeks ago, has been used about 5,000 times, including by the American Red Cross, Mattel Inc. and Overstock.com.
The full San Francisco Chronicle report
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