Become Socially Acceptable —Sherburne
LAST MONTH, I wrote about the Apple iPad in this space, and what effect this new device and others like it might have upon your business. This month, I would like to turn back to the subject of social media.
At the crux of understanding what is happening in the world of customer communications is understanding how consumer behavior has changed, and how social media has driven a huge change in this area. If you are not participating in some way, whether business or personal, you should be. This is not going away.
The first things that come to mind, of course, are sites like YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace, as well as services like Twitter. But, the idea of social media goes far beyond that. I turned to one of my favorite—though not necessarily most accurate—Internet resources for a definition.
Wikipedia, which is a form of social media itself, defines social media as "media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media uses Internet and Web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogs (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers."
All About Interaction
That's really the key: Transforming people from content consumers into content producers. Today, many brand owners are experimenting with how they can use social media to not only promote their brands, but to build a community around their brands and to monitor what consumers are saying about their brands.
Yet, last February, eMarketer estimated that businesses will spend more than $2.2 billion on social media advertising in 2010. Those dollars are likely coming from traditional media such as print and broadcast, and even events.
Komori decided not to attend Graph Expo, and is using the time and funds saved to do some "out-of-the-box" marketing, which includes social media. You can follow them on Twitter—just search for KomoriAmerica. GoPrint, a printing establishment in Puerto Rico, is very active on Twitter, in both Spanish and English. The company occasionally promotes its products, but largely uses the medium to establish itself as a thought leader.
Social media includes the sites mentioned earlier, but it also includes blogs, podcasts, wikis and more. Blog is short for Web log. Anyone can start a blog, and anyone can comment on the original blog entries. It is a unique and compelling way to get a dialog going on a particular subject.
Unlike a magazine article or column such as this, a blog provides a ready way for readers to react to what is written. If you don't agree with what I am writing about in this column, which you are likely reading in the printed magazine, you need to go to your computer, bring up your e-mail software and write me a note. Your comment only comes to me, and I can choose to share it or not. With a blog, you are right there reading it online, and can easily enter a comment, which is visible to anyone else reading that same blog.
A podcast is like a radio show. It is audio commentary that can be downloaded and listened to at will, as opposed to having to tune in to a radio show at a particular time. Podcasts can be distributed in a number of ways, including being posted on your company Website for download, or even through Apple's iTunes Store.
A wiki is a collaborative Website that allows multiple users to collaboratively create and edit Web pages. Users contribute their knowledge and expertise, and other users can comment, add, correct and edit the content. That's why I said earlier that Wikipedia is not necessarily reliable, since there is not a passel of qualified researchers sitting in little cubicles writing entries for Encyclopedia Britannica, with layers of editors to check their work. By and large, though, Wikipedia can be a good resource, and wikis can be used internally in organizations to maintain all kinds of information.
Why should you care? Because your customers do. Whether or not they are speaking to you about their social media efforts, you can be assured that the majority are active or thinking about becoming active in social media. The key question for you is how you can generate new revenue and new business by helping your clients with their social media efforts.
In order to do that, however, you must have dipped your own toes into the social media pool. I have talked to several printers that have made the effort, including GoPrint, mentioned earlier. Often, they are hiring younger workers who are already using social media to help build knowledge and establish strategies. This requires a lot of flexibility, good listening skills and a truly open environment within your business.
Get Hands-on Skills
Keep in mind that social media is a two-way dialog, which means that companies are also interested in what others are saying about them online. And there is a business in helping folks track that information, as well.
There are several good books on the subject, so you can learn more about social media from good old ink on paper, or you can download them to your Kindle and read them electronically. Here are three you can start with:
• "The New Rules of Marketing & PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly," by David Meerman Scott.
• "Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business," by Erik Qualman.
• "The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web," by Tamar Weinberg.
Assuming that this column has encouraged you to dip your toes into the social media pool, where do you start? At a minimum, set up Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. LinkedIn is more business-focused, and you can actually link the two.
If you want to "tweet" something or send a message by Twitter, by having your accounts linked, it automatically pops up on LinkedIn as a status as well, so it saves you time and gets the message to a broader audience. You can go a step further and download TweetDeck, a free application that allows you to monitor Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn activities from one nicely integrated interface. You can link the three as well, and choose where your messages will go. You can also track "mentions" of you or your company to see what others are saying.
Put a business profile up on LinkedIn and keep it current. Make sure you get messages out once a week at a minimum. If you have just read something interesting, tweet it out! It only takes a few minutes and it keeps you in the forefront.
But, most importantly, once you have educated yourself and begun to get some ideas about how social media can benefit your business, and how you might be able to leverage your newly gained expertise into new customer business, get your team together, put a plan in writing, engage the necessary resources—partners, new hires, technology—and get to work. Keep in mind that this is a fast-paced environment. You will not be upgrading every five to 10 years like you did with presses. So, you must also keep an open mind, stay in tune with what is happening in the social media space, and be willing and able to adjust your strategy at the drop of a hat. PI
—Cary Sherburne
About the Author
Cary Sherburne is a well-known author, journalist and marketing consultant whose practice is focused on marketing communications strategies for the printing and publishing industries. She was recognized as a 2009 Woman of Distinction and was awarded the 2009 Thomas McMillan Award for excellence in journalism. Sherburne has written six books, including "Digital Paths to Profit," published by NAPL; and most recently, "No-Nonsense Innovation: Practical Strategies for Success," written with Bill Lowe, the Father of the IBM PC and available on Amazon. She can be reached at Cary@SherburneAssociates.com.
