The Social Media Hype is Over

It’s time to create real value from online customer interactions.  Here’s how:

The tools of social media– blogs, mashups, podcasts, wikis, and widgets– sound more like characters from a fantasy novel than business tools.  But, these tools are what will shape Internet marketing in the years to come.  Already, hundreds of millions of people belong to social networks, thousands of blogs are created daily, and YouTube videos often rack up millions of hits over a few days or weeks.

However, this cultural phenomenon caught much of the business world by surprise.  Marketers are now scrambling to understand what it is, what it means for their businesses, and why customers are changing their habits to use these new tools.  Social Media is the buzzword du jour, which leads to a fluid definition of what it is as both startups and established companies all try to capitalize on consumers’ ever-increasing interest in it.

While there is no secret formula that encompasses all of the technologies available to businesses, thinking about social media tools as different means for achieving familiar objectives helps eliminate the mystery surrounding them. 

Measuring participation is what makes social media different from traditional advertising and marketing, but there’s no universal way to do so.  Which measurement is most effective depends on each company’s goals.  Number of members, postings, comments, time on the site, and the results of customer surveys can all measure engagement, awareness and brand affinity.  Like any audience, online communities don’t populate all at once… it takes time to build interest.  And, as with any CRM strategy, the key is to know what the customer wants, design a strategy that creates value for the customer and the organization, and then select technology to best support it.