Marketing Vox summarizes a social media study by Michael Stelnzer that set out to understand how and why marketers are using social media to grow and promote their businesses. The study found that Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, and Facebook — in that order — are the top four social media tools used by marketers.

Given that the study (“How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses” PDF) “began with a Twitter post, which was then re-posted by users onto Facebook and blogs,” it’s not surprising that Twitter placed high (approximately 2,500 marketers were sent an email asking them to take the survey as well). 

Other stats about the survey:

• Survey closed after 10 days with 880 respondents participating
• 70% of the participants were small business owners
• 26% of the participants were employees working at a company
• 78.1% of the participants were between 30 – 59 years of age
• 56% of the participants were female, and 44% of them were male

Read “Marketers’ Top Social Media: Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook“

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Nice little post by Joel Postman at Socialized PR offers seven rules for establishing a corporate presence on Twitter:

• Create a Twitter profile that helps people verify your legitimacy
• Let consumers know who they’re talking to
• Empower your Twitter representative to make a difference
• Protect consumer information
• Include your social media affiliations on your corporate website news page
• Be human, and have a sense of humor
• Turn control over to “regular” employees

I like Joel’s style. He admits there are other rules that he’s not covering, that these are just the ones he feels most strongly about, and welcomes suggestions from others. He also provides examples of companies he thinks are doing it right. They are, for the most part, the ones we hear about often; but I think it’s good to repeat the better examples, given that Twitter is still new for so many people/companies.

There are two other guidelines (I prefer guideline vs. rule) that I’d add to Joel’s list:

• Use Twitter to communicate not to sell
• Be authentic

Yes, there are definitely more guidelines that we could add to the list, but “communicating not selling” is really big in my book. Most people don’t like a hard sell, and they dislike it even more in the social media realm.  (Yes, I’m someone who is turned off by hard-selling, so I’m biased. It really annoys me, especially on Twitter.) That said, if you disguise your selling as communicating, people will figure it out and not like it and be even more annoyed. Hence, I included being authentic as a top guideline.

Yes, businesses on Twitter and other communities ultimately want to improve their bottom lines. Customers/clients understand this, but followers would rather companies do it by delivering good customer service, sharing useful information, and providing other similar customer-oriented Tweets. After all, that’s that what good business is really about — the customer.

So be good at what you do. Be customer oriented. And be authentic. And carry all of these components into Twitter (and other social media endeavors for that matter). If you do, your odds for success will be a lot higher — which leads to another guideline: know your goal(s) before you establish your presence (okay, so it really was “Plus Three)

Read “Seven Rules for Establishing a Corporate Presence on Twitter“

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MB Deans, a Women in Consulting member and a friend in my Facebook network, asked me a great question on Facebook in response to my “Skeptic’s View of Social Media” post:

“Great perspective. I agree; you can’t NOT communicate…. (Or you can, and let your customers and competitors do it for you.) Are social media just another channel, or are they really something new and reshaping communication?”

My quick answer: yes to both — social media is another channel and it’s reshaping communication.

The question and my answer remind me of a similar question I was given in college for a classical rhetoric midterm: Does Aristotle think rhetoric is ethical or unethical? During review prep, I asked my professor, “What if you think the answer is neither?” To which, she replied, “Great, I’d love to hear more about it. Build your argument.”

At the time, this annoyed me to no end, because I wanted to be told what the correct information was so I could spit it back out on the test and get an “A” just like kids are trained to do through most of their schooling. In hind site, it’s the best learning experience that I’ve ever had (thanks Anne!), because she taught me to:

1. Think critically, don’t just absorb ideas
2. Develop well-reasoned, well-supported arguments
3. Not be afraid to go outside established parameters

How does this story relate? Because my answer was that Aristotle didn’t think of rhetoric as ethical or unethical, but rather as a tool that could be used ethically or unethically. Similarly, social media is a channel, just another channel. However, that channel has the capacity to reshape communication, just like other new communication channels that marked a dramatic departure from the status quo: the printing press, radio, television….

As a channel, social media shouldn’t be ignored. Social media should be assessed like any other channel for effectiveness with your target audience. If you decide it’s a good fit, it should be entered into with the same level of commitment that you give any other channel, and it should be integrated with your overall communication strategy.

As a dramatic departure from the status quo, social media demands your attention. Follow it. Assess it. Keep track of what’s happening, because at some point it may impact your business. As I mentioned in my “Skeptic’s View” post, you don’t have to like social media, but you should pay attention to it. Time will tell whether it’s life-altering or a fad; but if it’s the former, you don’t want to be left completely out to dry. So keep tabs of what’s happening where, make decisions based on you and your audience and not just what’s the latest and greatest, and don’t ignore it just because you don’t like it or think it’s just for kids.

A side note on MB’s statement, “…you can’t NOT communicate…. or you can, and let your customers and competitors do it for you;” I think this underscores a core characteristic of social media that you don’t control — nor should you try to control — the conversation. Just because you’re not participating doesn’t mean your customers and competitors aren’t. Nice point MB!

I have a slightly different take on the “you can’t NOT communicate.” Even when you do or say nothing, you’re still sending a message by the very act of not doing or saying anything.

So, let the discussion begin…. Of course, I would rather have the discussion face to face over tea or wine or at WIC meeting featuring a panel debating the topic….

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I must confess that I grudgingly signed up for many of the social media tools. They simply aren’t the way I prefer to communicate. At the same time, the entire phenomenon intrigues me. The reason for my simultaneous disinterest and intrigue in relation to social media can be traced back to my education and that which I love and love to study: communication.

I much prefer to speak to someone face to face or over the phone, or watch/hear someone express their views on TV or over the radio. I like the richness that those modes of communication provide, both in the nonverbal cues that accompany the words as well as the depth of information that they provide because they’re not limited to 140 characters or a screen page.

However, so much about social media gets my nerdy side operating in hyper drive. What is it about Facebook that has people spending endless time sharing brief snippets of their lives, taking quizzes, writing notes, and the like–and why should businesses care (my consultant self asks the latter part of this question)? Why is everyone chomping at the bit to express their thoughts in 140 characters or less on Twitter? And why have these become almost the standard for hooking up with friends–and now colleagues?

I am on Facebook. I do Tweet (although right now I’m more in stealth mode, listening to the conversations). I blog. And I am active on LinkedIn. However, as I mentioned, I went on Facebook and Twitter reluctantly. I needed to, I didn’t want to. As a consultant who helps companies develop and implement effective customer communication strategies, it’s my job to understand the various mechanisms by which users want to interact–and more and more users want to interact using social media.

Bottom line: it doesn’t matter if you like social media or not, if your audience does, you need to consider it–seriously.

You CANNOT Not Communicate–this is one of my favorite phrases. I even use it as my company tagline. It’s also a good reminder that everything you do–and don’t do–sends a message. If you write off social media because you’re not interested in it, then you likely risk alienating at least a portion of your audience. More importantly, you risk losing a pretty amazing opportunity to get to know your audience in a way that you might not otherwise be able to do.

And it’s this latter component that has this skeptic convinced that there’s value in exploring social media. In addition to giving your customers something they want and expect, you have the potential to gain incredible customer insight and see a side of them that might otherwise remain hidden. 

My next post will be ”A Skeptic’s View of Social Media: LinkedIn” (a tool I’ve been using for quite some time and the one that I was least skeptical about). I’ll then do one on Facebook and the Twitter. And if someone wants me to cover another social media tool, let me know.

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