Douglas Karr gives great advice to small businesses that want to start using social media in his podcast. He advises businesses to start out with a website before moving into the social media world; this develops a path for engagement for customers.  Douglas also gives great examples of social networking sites for businesses to use such as Online Form Builder, SEOmoz, Google Keyword Tool,  Google Insights, Twitterfeed, and Ping.fm. 

Unfortunately I couldn't get the podcast to embed into this post, however you can follow this link if you wish to listen to it; and I strongly reccommend you do!
marketingtechblog.com

The Coca-Cola Company has had great success through social media, and is very active in promoting themselves through various websites.  They have even gone so far as establishing 5 core values that they have about Coca-Cola in the online social media community.  On their website (http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/socialmedia/) Coca-Cola outlines the basis for their values and what is expected of employees that utilize such social media sites.  They share that any forms of communication/advertisements must adhere to the same rules whether it is on social media sites or a commercial on TV.  Coca-Cola states that 'These Online Social Media Principles have been developed to help empower our associates to participate in this new frontier of marketing and communications, represent our Company, and share the optimistic and positive spirits of our brands.' 

The company identifies that it has a responsibility to monitor what is written on social media sites to effectively manage the company's image.  Social media is a tool that can help a business achieve success, and as such this tool needs to be utilized in the proper way to achieve the results desired.  The 10 principles that are outlined provide an excellent template for other businesses to follow.  I especially liked that Coca-Cola mentions how permanent the internet is and then anything written about the company that gets posted on the internet becomes permanent, even if it does get erased it is never fully destroyed.  It is important for companies to always be mindful of what they say on social media sites, because they are representing the company as a whole.  In addition Coca-Cola has a Social Media Certification Program which all associates for the company's marketing must pass in order to promote the company on social media sites.  Effective use of social media starts at the top level of a company; if rules and guidlines to employee behaviour on social media sites are not established by a company they may experience problems.  However, with specific guidelines and close monitoring there is almost no end to the benefits that social media can provide a company.

‘26 Promising Social Media Stats for Small Businesses’ by Phil Mershon is a very interesting article that provides encouraging information about the use of social media for small businesses.  (http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-promising-social-media-stats-for-small-businesses/) 

Social media is changing the way small companies do business for the better.  As more and more people log on to social media sites every day, a company’s potential for their ads to be seen increases.  Over 80% of all Americans use social media, and nearly 23% of the time they spend online is on social media networks.  Another interesting statistic is that almost 40% of social media users access their accounts through mobile devices.  This means there is great potential for businesses to utilize social networking sites and mobile phone apps to promote their products and services.  Social media networking sites are global and not restricted to any geographic area; about 75% of Facebook users live outside of North America.  This means small businesses can compete on a global scale and expand their business. 

In this article, it states that Comscore released a study earlier this year that showed how business brands that post at least once every day will reach 22% of their fans in a given week.  This is quite a high percentage of individuals being exposed to a brand name or advertisement.  There is an increasing amount of elderly individuals that are using social media; however college students make up the majority.  The opportunities for small businesses to connect with customers are vast, but so is the competition.  If businesses can target their audience effectively through social media there is no telling how far they will be able to go.

Twitter launched a development in its advertising campaign for mobile devices this last February, which will allow promoted tweets to be posted in a timeline form on a user’s Twitter account.  (http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/74532.html)  These posts would be relevant to the individual based on their past history and the personality they have developed on their account.  It will be similar to the way Facebook promotes relevant ads on a user’s page.  This new improvement will allow companies to have their tweets seen by potential customers, thus increasing the advertisement of their products and services on Twitter.  This is just another great example of how businesses can use social media for advertising. 

There are many advantages to using social media for business, however if a company is not careful it can become more of a hindrance than a benefit.  This article (http://read.bi/HcjxEc) on Business Insider, gives great insight to some of the terrible mistakes companies are making on their social media sites.  The article thoroughly explains the blunders and is a great resource for companies that wish to utilize social media to the best of its abilities.  Some of the mistakes that popped out to me were the fact that many businesses do not have a plan or strategy when it comes to social media.  Often times they are jumping on the social media bandwagon just because everyone else is and are not looking at the long-term effect it could have on their profits and customer relations.   Ultimately, social media sites are to be used for building relationships whether this is personal or business relationships.  Companies need to understand that individuals are on social media sites to relate to other people; focus must be on the customer and less on promoting the business.  If a company can listen and respond to its customers well through social media the promotion/advertising side of things will follow through.  Social media sites must be used effectively if businesses want to reap the benefits of them, and this article is a good read for companies that are looking into social media as a form of business tactics.

When I think of businesses using social media sites I tend to gravitate towards the marketing/advertising tools that businesses can use. Yet these sites can provide much more than just advertising.
 

LinkedIn is a social media site that is directly related to business.  It is a place where individuals can make professional-looking profiles which are much like an online version of a resume.  Employers can list jobs, search for potential candidates, and include information about the application process on their account.  In addition, companies have the option of listing products/services to get reviews. LinkedIn is basically a virtual networking site for individuals and businesses alike.  Not only does it help spread awareness about a company but it can also help HR find better candidates and decrease costs of the hiring process.

Studies have shown that the majority of jobs that people find are found through networking.  The New York Stock Exchange launched a new program called 'The Big StartUp'  just a few days ago and will be sponsored by LinkedIn.  According to this news release.
(http://www.citytowninfo.com/career-and-education-news/articles/linkedin-microsoft-yelp-join-nyse-startup-to-help-create-jobs-12032102)The program is geared to help young companies partner up with larger, more-established companies and to look to them for mentoring and advice. LinkedIn plans to help its users connect with one another to form the relationships and networking that are beneficial to new entrepreneurs.  This program is being implemented in response to the lack of jobs in the US; hopefully this will increase jobs and help stimulate the economy in the US.

News can travel fast through social media-so fast its almost mind blowing!  In just a few weeks YouTube videos like Rebecca Black's "Friday" can can get over a million hits.  Or Twitter accounts grow from 65,000 followers to over 200,000 like Brad Keselowski's did when he tweeted while waiting during a red flag at this years Daytona 500 race.  

Recently, I have seen posts on my Facebook account from my friends who commented that the new release of the movie "The Hunger Games" was "Oh. My. Word. I was BLOWN AWAY by The Hunger Games!! FANTASTIC MOVIE!!! Go see it, you will NOT regret it! :)"  or "Hunger Games = epic movie!". 

It seems my friends aren't the only ones that are using social media to advertise this new movie.  According to this news article from CBSNews (www.cbsnews.com/8301-501465_162-57403323-501465/the-hunger-games-marketing-team-turns-to-social-media/)
the marketing team for the movie have been actively promoting the new release on numerous Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and even a Tumbler site blog for weeks now.  It is not known exactly how social media has effected  ticket sales, but needless to say, this movie will potentially break box 0ffice records in the next few days.  I think I can accurately say that it is because of the use of social media that this film has gotten the great reviews that it has.

As I was searching the internet for new social media sites, I came across this article: http://www.onlinebusinesswatch.com/online-business-from-home/using-digg-for-business-marketing.html 

Digg.com is another social media site that can help businesses with their marketing strategies.  There are so many people on social media sites every day that having a social presence on those sites can increase awareness of a business’s products and services.  At Digg users can create profiles and post their ‘diggs’ (bookmarked links to other sites) for other users to see.  Digg can help companies gain traffic to their business’s website through the popularity of their posts, which can be tailored to meet advertising needs.  By ‘digging’ companies can uncover new found exposure to new potential customers and gain a social presence on the internet.

Facebook is one of the most used social media sites in the world; with more than 845 million active users as of February 2012.  The potential for businesses to reach and interact with customers through Facebook is incredibly large.  Most businesses don’t understand the power social media has in today’s society.  A Facebook fan page creates search engine optimization for businesses; when a business’s name is searched for in Google their Facebook page is usually one of the first to ‘pop’ up.  Not only does Facebook allow businesses to create specialized pages, it also provides targeted advertising (with specified fees per click on ads) that allows businesses to reach any demographic.  Facebook also helps businesses Transform their website into a social experience with plug-ins and custom apps.  There are countless benefits of having a fan page for a business; when individuals ‘like’ a page it gets posted onto their news feed which is then seen by that persons friends and increasing awareness for the company.  Whether a company is large or small a fan page is a great tool for businesses to use to interact with customers, and to set up polls, surveys, contests and more.
Want to start a business page? Facebook makes it simple, just visit http://www.facebook.com/business to start one today!

It seems fitting that Toyota, which has the highest owner loyalty of any automaker, would be at the forefront of businesses utilizing social media.  In May of 2011 Toyota announced that it would be teaming up with Salesforce.com to create a virtual online ‘hangout’ for their customers.  The site dubbed ‘Toyota Friend’ would allow vehicle owners to interact with dealers, manufacturers and other owners like themselves.  Toyota is currently also using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter as a means of communication with vehicle owners.  They have also run video contests in the past where they got consumers to create short video clips about why they are the most loyal customer, other customers then voted on these videos and the winner received a Toyota vehicle.  This, along with other social media attention has helped to generate customer loyalty.  The following YouTube video is a short promo about the soon-to-be ‘Toyota Friend’ a must see!

Social media is becoming more and more of a hot topic for businesses, yet research has shown that businesses aren’t using social media to its full potential.  Think of how much you use social media in your every-day life.  Even I, like many people, use social media sites as a method of connecting with others on a daily basis; logging on to these sites sometimes multiple times a day.  Just imagine how useful these sites could be used for businesses for their marketing, advertising, selling and much, much more!

Over the course of this blog I will be exploring the vast applications that social media has for businesses whether it be for advertising products or getting customer feedback.  Social media is a great way for businesses to get in contact with their customers and discover what their real needs and wants are in order to make strategic business changes to accommodate to ever-changing customer needs.