  Tom Kubinski www.shapco.com
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WHAT IS SOCIAL MEDIA? -- The use of technology combined with social interaction to create or co-create value. -- A way for people and organizations to connect and interact with friends, colleagues, and fans. Basically, you create a profile that describes you or your organization, and then invite people to join you as "friends". (Some sites provide a micro-site for your business within the social framework.) For only a short period of time, social media has had a significant rise in the number of people accessing and sharing information online and through mobile technology. Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, plus individuals and organizations have been changing the way they obtain and share information.
1 Thank you to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for providing these charts and pertaining information. Let's look at the numbers - 2008 had nearly 116 million US user-generated content consumers and 82.5 million content creators. -- Top 3 social media sites had unique worldwide visitors to the tune of -
b) 200 million Facebook visits c) 126 million MySpace visits Different social networks have greater appeal for different age groups.
2009 showed 89 million YouTube unique visitors. 86% Twitter-- 7 million unique visitors -- 1 in 3 Americans have a profile on a social network site -- More than 4 in 10 with a profile visit those sites every day or more It is important to remember the relative size of MySpace and Facebook to Twitter, as the following Figure 3:
What can you do with LinkedIn, Facebook, etc?
b) Share photos, video and audio links c) Send private and instant messages d) Learn more about people and organizations< e) Join groups and gain fans DO'S AND DON'T'S: DO!
DON'T!!
Social Media Objectives: Here is a list of just a few -
Getting Started: What to do - On your own, begin using social media yourself, it's important for you to understand the benefits of the tools firsthand, then you'll be able to develop successful strategies. NOTE: you don't need to create an account online to search on many of the sites. You can listen on different platforms ie. Twitter, Flicker, Delicious, YouTube. In your company, listen to what people are saying about your issues and you in the social media space. Identify where your customers and potential customers are congregating online
Where are you now and where do you want to be?
NOTE: These are uncharted waters you are navigating. "Developing an effective strategy for integrating social media into the mix is a significant obstacle to the successful adoption of social marketing." 2 As Social Marketers mature the importance of the devices drops towards the bottom. CHALLENGES:
(All statistic percentages shown above on average) Social media is a beneficial tool. Yet, it is one that requires constant effort, follow up, changes and the integration and use of additional tools in order to convert into paying customers. TOOLS:
(Visit http://www.newmedia.hhs.gov/socialmedia101.html to see further definitions of all tools). Resources for this issue- 1 HHS Center for New Media-"Social Media 101 Overview: The What and the Why" 2 MarketingSherpa's Social Marketing Road Map Handbook-"A Method for Mapping an Effective Social Strategy" http://www.sherpastore.com/SocialROADmapHandbook.html Other issues of TK's Korners that may be of interest to you:
Hope this helps and stay tuned for the next issue of TK's Korner. You never know what might be covered! If you have a production issue not discussed above that you would like me to address, or a project that needs to be looked at, please give me a call or send me an email. I will do whatever it takes to ensure you get the best value for every marketing dollar invested. You can also check out my profile, join my network and view more client comments on LinkedIn at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tomkubinski Referrals are greatly appreciated, if you know someone I could help, or who might like to receive TK's Korner, please let me know. Take care and have a great day! Successfully,
Make sure to check out other issues of TK's Korner!
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