SocialMedia Talk

Update: At the end of this post I have added two new links that show some of what is being done in the corporate world. The first article is titled "A Day in the Life of a Twintern." The second is "The Big Money Facebook 50."

When I saw this article last night it right out smacked me in the face…. in a good way. I have been harping on the need to leverage social media as a corporation. Most companies really don’t get it and seem endlessly stuck in the same patterns of marketing and sales like a hamster on a wheel. However clearly change is afoot. Those companies who grasp the power now are positioning themselves as the thought leaders in the area, are building the customer relationships and brand loyalty for the future. Those that aren’t will increasingly find themselves marginalized and the topic of digital conversation rather than driving the conversations. We see some companies clearly “getting it.” Google with their recent announcement around building up a Social Web Team (see Google beefing up new 'Social Web Team'), Dell with their clearly defined profits via Twitter promotions (see Twitter drives $3m sales for Dell). Really shining a light on the use of Social Media is Pepsi. This year rather than spending $20 million on a Super Bowl Commercial they are using the money for a Social Media campaign (oh what I could do with $20 million to spend on Social Media for Microsoft…. never happen… but with even a fraction of that…). Here is a company  looking to engage their customers rather than simply market at them. If they stay the course they have the opportunity to truly do something special.

Use of social media requires commitment and staying the course to be effective over the long haul. The payoff in terms of customer relationship, product improvements, and brand loyalty however are tremendous. My hat is off to these companies and others who “get it” and are moving forward transforming the way they reach out to their customers. They are showing the way to move forward in this new virtual social age. So the question is how are you and your organization formally engaging in social media?  Do you have a focused strategy with the right folks in place? Or are you still stuck in the old way of marketing and sales or worse yet packaging up old school marketing and trying to pass it off as being social?

I highly recommend reading the two Mashable articles on what Pepsi is doing as they  really point to a positive model of engagement. Then if you have time check out my three posts from a few weeks back where I discuss the social media evangelist role and some areas of focus. They are done with an eye to a technical company but you can easily abstract the ideas to a number of industries.

My 3 Series Post on Social Media Technical Evangelism and tools:

Updated Article Additions:

• A Day in the Life of a Twintern
• The Big Money Facebook 50