For the past few years, people have been telling you that you have to be involved in social networking, but no one has told you why. What is the benefit, and is there any money in it?

Money is probably the bottom line to you, so I’ll get that out of the way first: Yes. And no.

Social networking in places like Twitter, Facebook, on this and other blogs, in videos and on forums is not about direct profits. It’s about brand building. It’s about taking your brand and putting it at the forefront of the minds of the right people.

There isn’t much point in directing marketing efforts for geriatric products to college kids, and vice versa. A skilled marketer knows who their audience is, and how best to speak to them.

Twitter for example is home to the 30-something middle classes who like technology. You know what else those people like? Coffee. By further expanding their marketing efforts into Twitter, Starbucks has seen their profits grow despite the recession.

A recent study put forth by ENGAGEMENTdb highlights efforts made by top companies in the social networking arena, and how those efforts have paid off. Starbucks ranked number one for best use of social networking. They are everywhere, offering an interactive experience to their customers along with that cup of coffee.

Blogs, Twitter, Facebook - you name it, Starbucks has a presence. Their Facebook fan page, for example, has over 3 million fans. That’s a lot of cups of coffee!

Their company is huge, and their marketing department is a force to be reckoned with. Small and medium business on the other hand, often needs to engage outside help to build this kind of brand recognition. More and more marketing and PR companies are offering this as a service to their clients. Social networking has become a staple of brand building, and as the web expands from 2.0 to 3.0, the demand for social marketing will increase.

Sorry, you children of the sixties…the answer to this question is NOT “absolutely nothing,” despite what you might be singing to yourselves now.

Listen to any marketing, PR, HR or customer service consultant these days, and they will tell you that social media is the wave of the future. You better get on board, because your competitors (and, more importantly, your customers) are! They’ll trot out case studies of companies that “get” social media - Whole Foods, Ford, Comcast - and point to them as self-evident examples of the absolute importance of social media in the strategy of any organization.

But if you really want to see a social media “evangelist” sweat, just ask him/her, “Why?”

Why does social media matter?

What can it do for my organization?

How will it help me make money?

First of all, let’s frame expectations. Social media is not the be-all, end-all miracle cure that some people make it out to be. Traditional tools for marketing, customer service and HR are vital and social media is not a replacement for them.

Here’s what social media does EXTREMELY well, when applied correctly: it helps companies build brand awareness and strengthen brand loyalty.

Tools like corporate blogs, Facebook and Twitter enable companies to connect with their customers - and when companies offer compelling content (exclusive discounts/offers, or even news and product announcements), their customers broadcast that content to the members of their network. Some marketers call that “viral marketing,” and that’s basically what it is - content getting passed from person to person until millions of people have watched the goofy video of the guy blending his iPhone.

These tools also help organizations foster loyalty among their customers by helping them feel “connected.” People who are “fans” of an organization on Facebook, or follow them on Twitter, feel invested in that organization and have essentially opted-in to receiving personal, relevant communications (NOT just marketing messages).

And, when they follow or become fans of an organization, they know there’s a real person behind those communications they receive. This is especially helpful if a company (*cough Comcast cough*) has a negative customer service history. In an article in the New York Times, a Comcast customer said,

“It’s one thing to spit vitriol about a company when they can’t hear you…I immediately backed down and softened my tone when I knew I was talking to a real person.”

So…if you want a relatively low-cost way to build awareness of your brand, while establishing direct lines of communication with your customers and improving their perception of your organization (and by extension strengthening their brand loyalty)…THATis what social media is good for.

 

A few days ago I told my younger brother to sign up for twitter so he could be my twitter friend. He first asked me what the heck twitter is and then after I explained it was a place to type little mini message updates - he told me it sounded a little too weird for him. “What do I have to update people about every day?” he asked.

 

It wasn’t until I told him that Joe Sugarman was following me (and I was following him) on twitter, that my brother got excited. You see my brother has been faithfully studying copywriting for the last couple of years and Sugarman is one of the greatest copywriters of all time and one of my brother’s personal heroes. 

 

Twitter is being used by the most innovative marketers to make a HUGE impact. Just to give you an example - at my company, we do a lot of work with online product launches and twitter has now become one of the best ways to announce a new product and quickly get it out there.

 

I know that when I first signed up for twitter (not too long ago), my first question was “How do I actually use this thing?” I had a lot of friends who were constantly updating me about everyday things - i.e. going out to lunch, coming back from a workout, hanging out at the airport… Although I didn’t get it at first, those little messages started to become addictive. Even though what they were doing was somewhat mundane, I still was interested because they were my friends.

 

Once I got into it a little more, I began following business gurus that I admire. I find it so cool that I can keep up with what Eben Pagan is reading or what seminar Joe Sugarman just returned from or see the CEO of Zappos warming up a pizza with his iron in his hotel room… all of this on twitter.

 

All of this is “cool,” but what is really amazing is how twitter can help you market your business.

 

The following are the top ten steps to successfully marketing your business on twitter:

 

1. Pay Attention To Your Name: Your username is very important. It is listed in each post and is a part of your business or personal brand. Be sure that it doesn’t contain too many letters or odd symbols (like underscores).

 

2. Be a Proactive Follower: Search for people to follow right when you sign up (you can follow me at http://twitter.com/lauraroser - that is - if you want). The more you follow, the more likely you are to be followed. The following links will get you started searching: 

• Twitter’s search engine: www.search.twitter.com 
• Twellow.com: more targeted searches by categories
• Twitterati.com: lists the top tweeters (for a list of the top click here)

 

3. Manage Your Replies: I recommend downloading a program called tweetdeck (www.tweetdeck.com) - this will help you to organize who is on your list and your responses. It also makes it easier to send personal messages. TweetScan can also be great to manage your replies (I haven’t used this, but it’s gotten great reviews).

 

4. Advertise Yourself: Add your twitter account ID to your email signature so people you email can start following you. (your ID, by the way, is just www.twitter.com/YourUserName).

 

5. Say Something That Makes People Say “Wow!”: For example, if you are selling pizza ovens, you may say something like “did you know that president JFK ate 200 pizzas a year? http://tinyurl.com/blah.” The url at the end would direct them to your pizza oven site. (I just made up that stat, in case you were wondering).

 

6. Read The Bios Of People Who Follow You: See what interests them and send a personal message. This is a good way to form a relationship. For example, if someone who enjoys art just started following you, send them a personal message about an art blog they should check out. This gets the conversation going in a positive way.

 

7. Don’t SPAM: In other words, don’t send a personal message to a bunch of different people with the EXACT same question or content. And don’t just try to sell your products or services. Twitter is about providing useful information. It’s fine to mention what you do, you company, etc… but change your mindset from one of “sales” to one of “information giving.” Make it your mission to help others, give useful information and build relationships with no ulterior motives… If you find someone who can genuinely benefit from your company, offer your help in a very genuine way.

 

8. Say “Thank You”: I have to admit, I don’t do this one very well. But, it is an excellent idea to thank people for taking an interest and following you. The more interest you take in someone else, the more interest they will take in you. Also, if someone decides to follow you, it’s nice if you start following them. 

 

9. Keep the Conversation Going: Make sure to update your posts often. This keeps you in the minds of your fellow tweeters and increases the odds of people building a relationship with you. The more information rich your posts are, the better.

 

10. Direct People To Your Sites: If you have an interesting article you just posted on your blog, post a link for people to go check it out. If you just released a new product, post a direct link to it in your twitter post. Get people going to your website. Twitter has a limited number of characters, so you may need to use tinyurl.com or a similar service to shrink your url down.  

 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at laura@virtualmg.com (follow me at twitter.com/lauraroser)

 

Happy Tweeting!