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First, a few stats (as of summer of 2010)
- Facebook has over 500 million active users
- The average Facebook user has 130 friends
- Recently, Facebook beat Google in site referrals
- 175,000 new blogs are created each day
- 1.6 million blog postings per day
- 7% of Americans use Twitter – that’s 17 million users
OK, everyone knows what social media is, but few really know how to implement a good social media strategy. It requires you to rethink everything you thought you knew about online marketing.
It is all about the relationship
Relationship marketing isn’t new. And most companies would like to think that they build meaningful relationships with their customers. However, social media turns relationship marketing inside out – the relationships are not exclusively between the company and its customers, but now they are between the customers themselves. You are just part of the discussion.
This can be both disorienting and troubling for marketers who strive to control the message. It just isn’t possible any longer to do that. You can control your message of course, but you can’t control what is being discussed.
Reflexively, many companies shy away from integrating social media into their online experiences. They may think “why should I provide a forum for someone to gripe about my product or service?” And there is a risk – if you allow someone to rate your products on your site, you can and will get negative reviews. However, keep in mind that this kind of interaction will take place either with or without your participation. At least when you provide the platform you can easily monitor and respond to negative posts.
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