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Social Media for Companies

John Scanlon  September 1 2010 01:52:19 AM
Large corporations are now appoint Social Media Directors and Strategy Teams.  It is being utilised as a revitalising marketing tool and it is being mined for knowledge by large companies.   The most common reasons for embracing social media tools are:

1) Companies or organisations take to Social Media for Marketing Brand and engagement, the Marketers approach is as follows:
  • Publish regularily on Social Media to create interactions with fans, thinking like a gossip magazine to create talk.
  • Give people a reason to join, e.g. virtual gifts, coupons or contests.
  • Expand relationships with prospects and fans by responding directly and recognising personal events, birthdays,etc.
  • Let users talk to each other when discussing the company or products and then respond in a conversational way.
  • Promote across other channels and media ensuring other content can be shared on social media too.
  • You must give Social Media initiatives sufficient support and you should target content to each niche.  Ensure you have management support before you begin.
  • Measure social media marketing efforts and their impact on your business objectives.

2) Companies also use Social Media for Recruitment - checking users facebook, Linked In  and My Space, aacounts, etc.  This includes their wider friends and community. Human Resource companies are becoming expert at using these tools for candidate profiling.

3) Media Monitoring  Companies can monitor their name and brand throughout these social media domains.  Then head off any bad comments or identify issues quickly.  This includes steering the dialogue back your way.

4) IT Cost Reduction Of course you get some free applications that can be used to interact with your users, but you must read the Terms & Agreements for potential downsides, especially related to content ownership.  

The specific approach you take depends on your business and products.  You should design a Strategy which includes your expected benefits, that states each of your product categories or user/customer types and how your marketing & communications strategy will target them.  Expect to see benefits within 6 months to 2 years.  Measure regularily and against your expected benefits.