Where social media and marketing collide, we’ve got a new brand of communication called social marketing.  Capitalizing on the community-building strengths of the early Internet, companies can be empowered to reach audiences in a deeper way.  However, the double-edged sword is the price for companies that are hesitant to participate.

While social marketing has been around for years among early adopters, it is still not widely embraced by large enterprises.  Marketers (trapped?) within these companies are starting to push and ask their senior management when they can get involved, but many feel they lack the knowledge to take bold steps in this realm.  To many, there are more questions than answers:

• What is all the buzz about?
• Where does this fit into the marketing mix?
• How does it apply to my company?
• Should we participate?
• What is the cost of participation?
• What is the cost of NOT participating?

Wendistry agrees that social media strategies are NOT mainstream, yet.  The weak economy adds to the level of risk most businesses are willing to accept.  However, it is those businesses who put off planning and defining a social media strategy NOW are at an even bigger risk.  Marketers (and companies) who are absent from these new conversations are missing out.

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Not just another marketing program to add to your list of options, social marketing is about engagement which is touching every aspect of our society and every level of a company’s communications… from public relations and internal communications to customer support, e-commerce and loyalty programs.  Social media enables and even deepens the conversation and what you need to realize is if you aren’t using social media to create these discussions with your customers… your competitors are.

While there is an inherent urgency, applying social marketing is not a decision to be made on a whim and without a plan.  In fact, just setting up a Facebook fan page and/or a Twitter account could be detrimental and/or devastating to your brand.  If your business doesn’t have the internal resources to develop and devote to a well-executed strategy, please don’t even venture online in this new media space until you do.  Another factor is having other priorities, such as updating an old web site, or perhaps your target audience isn’t involved in social media.  I’m thinking of industries like manufacturing, industrial, farming, chemical, etc.

Many companies may be hesitant to enter the social marketing realm because they are afraid of failure.  However, in waiting until they gain a better, more thorough understanding of this territory, they are losing out on “first-mover” status.  Now, is possibly the best time to get started… realize that this “trend” is not going away.  Consumers still find it interesting and refreshing when brands reach out to them in a conversational and friendly way through social media.  Consequently, companies are earning respect and good will by trying to participate.  Customers are also more forgiving right now than they will be in the future when the expectations are higher.

Social marketing requires new skill sets that can only be learned through experience.  Unlike traditional marketing, social media marketing demands a customer-centric approach that is focused on lifestyle content instead of product content.  It also demands that organizations learn to be comfortable with more transparency.  Both of these criteria take practice and time to develop.

Finally, if the customer loyalty and brand affinity reasons for developing a social marketing program aren’t enough, the financial benefits are extremely compelling.  The ROI studies are revealing phenomenal numbers.  According to Next Century Media, 66% of online community participants are likely to purchase as a result of their social experience with the brand, and 85% are likely to recommend the brand to a friend.  These numbers demand serious consideration, especially when compared to other marketing methods.  Time and effort spent now in considering social marketing’s potential could yield tremendous results and a multitude of positive changes beyond anything marketing professionals have experienced before.

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