As I was preparing to write my first blog post for Women in Consulting there were a number of possible topics vying for attention. However, the one that seemed most pertinent as a starting place was this.

Being passionately interested in social media I read and talk about it a lot and it struck me what a confusing topic it is for most people! There are so many different social media tools that it’s mind boggling, and unless you’re right on top of the subject it could be very disheartening to figure out where to get started.

Most people assume they need to be blogging, using Twitter, Linked In and Facebook but there are many new tools such as FourSquare www.foursquare.com that are gaining traction and finding a place in both B2C and B2B marketing campaigns. What to do, especially if you have resource constraints?

It’s tempting to panic and think you need to implement each of the more popular techniques such as Facebook simply because everyone else seems to be jumping on the bandwagon but I recommend a more studied approach. Social media may be very trendy but we shouldn’t forget that traditional marketing techniques still play an important role.

That’s why, before taking the social media plunge, we should get back to basics and remind ourselves who our audience is. Do they embrace social media and if so, where do they “live” online? Finding this out will entail googling some keywords and topics that would be of interest to your targets to find out where they congregate.

Once you get a handle on what communication method they favor you can select the most effective way to reach them. You may find that they prefer forums, which was the case with a colleague’s client, in which case your best efforts with Twitter and the like would be wasted. Being absolutely sure about where your audience communicates allows you to leverage the 80/20 rule and spend your precious time on one or two activities that will ensure maximum return on your investment.

What do you think?

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One Comment

  1. Avery Horzewski May 15, 2010 at 11:20 pm - Reply

    I love it whenever I hear someone advocating starting with the audience first and where they like to engage with you!! It should always be the first step. Always. Thanks Beverley!

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