Social networking sites were once viewed as a place to speak peer to peer, but has quickly become a forum for companies to connect with their consumers. Opinion Research Corporation conducted a survey in September of 2008 which concluded that 63% of men and 52% of women (who use social media sites) felt better about companies when they were able to interact with them via social networking sites. 60% of men and 51% of women felt a stronger connection to companies that they were able to interact with.
Q: As a company, what social networking site is the best forum to become a part of?
A: Picking a social networking sites requires two things to be considered. First, which site are my consumers already talking about me on? Second, what is the demographic of the social site? The easiest way to determine this information is with a little Google searching. If I wanted to know whose talking about Strike Marketing – I’d simply type the company name into Google and look at the results. Wherever we’re talked about, is where I want to be!
Q: What kind of information do I talk about?
A: Talk about things that are going to provide value. Value is the key to social networking by a company. Companies can talk about events, promotions, new product lines, exciting news, etc.
Q: What kind of time does social networking require?
A: That depends. How much information do you want to provide to the community or how involved would you like to be with your audience? And who is going to disperse the information? Social networking could take as little as 3 hours a month to 30…it all depends.
Q: Who is going to take the time to do my social networking?
A: Again, it depends. Companies like Marketing Clarity offer services to aid companies in dispersing the information to consumers or an employee can be in charge. It all depends on how much extra time an employee currently has to devote to a potentially time-consuming project. But, the effects of social networking can be astounding when done properly.
