Where’s the social media beef?
June 23rd, 2008 by Ken Burbary
Do you eat your own dog food? Practice what you preach? Walk the talk? When I look around the marketing landscape right now, few professionals seem to be actively participating in social media or using social media platforms in their business. I’m not talking about simply having a MySpace or Facebook profile to post pictures from your last birthday party (although those are platforms every marketer needs to pay attention to). Why aren’t more people blogging, micro-blogging, podcasting, vlogging, producing media and sharing media? Perhaps it is because of the overwhelming amount of social media services, platforms, and technologies available to marketers now? I think that’s one of the big problems for brands, marketers and agencies. How can they build, share, and innovate in the media landscape if they aren’t engaged in using the same tools are the consumers they are trying to reach?
Sure, some of the technologists and technically savvy folks prone to being early adopters are already doing this. Many of the individuals that contribute to this blog are heavy media producers and consumers. We have incorporated services and tools like Twitter, Ning, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Pownce, Digg, and Brightkite into our daily lives. But why?
Why you should start participating in social media now
The point is that there are now an entire ecosystem of social media services and platforms available to marketers, agencies, and brands that have become valuable marketing tools. There are examples of companies increasing sales, improving their customer service, or building their brand by effectively and intelligently applying the social media tools that are available. And in each case, the only way they truly understood the value was by rolling up their sleeves, getting their hands dirty, and starting to use them.
It’s time to get involved. That means YOU. As experts, what can we do to help facilitate that? We’ll guide your journey through the complex landscape of social media services, tools, and platforms. On this site, we’re going to provide a social media tools and technology series. An upcoming set of blog posts that will give you the information necessary to begin using these tools immediately. I hope you’ll find them valuable. And they provide you with the fuel for innovation.
First up in this series: BrightKite - a mobile communications tool
Coming soon.
Tags: brands, digg, Facebook, marketing, ning, Social Media, social networking, twitter
June 24th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Another aspect of social media that marketers should realize, is that the barrier to entry is extremely low. Just sign up. It’s costs zero dollars to enter the social media space. It just takes some time and genuine commitment, and could make a huge difference.
June 24th, 2008 at 8:45 am
John - Good point. And that’s what I intend to demystify in the upcoming series on Social Media Technologies.
June 24th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I got in to social media for online radio in the form of Last.fm about six months ago, and I love it! I tell all my friends about it and quite a few have joined. I’ve learned tons about music and artists I never would have considered because they have been recommended for me by other users or matched by the software. It also seamlessly integrates with Skype (so my status says what I’m listening to!) and Facebook, as well as keeps track of what I listen to in iTunes and on my iPod.
June 26th, 2008 at 9:54 am
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