TIMA Seminar: What Can Social Media Do For You?

Hi, everyone! I'm Lyndsey, and I'm working with Springleaf Strategies this summer as their public relations intern. This is my first post and I'm excited about helping Springleaf increase its online presence!

It seems like everyday I hear a news story about tweeting, posting on Facebook, or using LinkedIn as a new method for communicating. So the other day Catherine and I headed downtown to the Marbles Museum for the TIMA (Triangle Interactive Marketing Association) networking and seminar on social media to hear what local experts had to say. Much to my surprise, the room was packed. The board of panelists were accomplished "social media experts," who helped to clarify the value of social media and offer tips on what businesses can do to build their online presence and raise awareness using these new tools. You can become a fan on Springleaf's Facebook fan page or check us out on our LinkedIn profile.

According to the panelists, everyone claims to be a "social media expert," inserting the line into their resumes just because they've used a Facebook account or posted a few "tweets" every now and then. But what exactly is social media? How can you use it in your business? And is social media even valuable to a company?

As I sat I contemplated social media and the ways I have interacted with it in my life through Facebook, blogging, creating a LinkedIn profile, and even through website comments; the panelists brought up an all encompassing definition of social media: it's anything shared and discussed in a digital format. This includes e-mail, instant messaging, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, all the different types of blogging, and even comments posted on product review websites such as Consumer Reports! It's sharing information between two people, or between one person and a mass audience, using a digital medium. These panelists are so involved with social media they even encouraged the audience to keep their phones on and to Twitter our questions to them throughout the event - talk about incorporating social media interaction!

Seeing as social media is all about digital interaction, it is imperative for businesses to create an online community - we ultimately can't interact without one. This doesn't necessarily mean creating your own "micro-community" on the web, but using one that is already established to build a "brand community," or a place where your target audience can find your business on the web. Take Facebook fan pages for example. Facebook is already an established site with its own community; so why not build your own page within it to attract your target customers that use Facebook? Since there is so much information available in the online community, you need to distinguish your site from others by providing your readership with high value content; original thoughts or links to interesting articles - just a few ideas to get you thinking.

Social media can absolutely add value to a company, if it is done the right way. In the past, businesses have looked at social media as an add-on to their traditional advertising campaigns. The panelists point of view is that social media marketing should be implemented from the beginning of your marketing campaign, tied directly to your business strategy, and have a clearly defined target audience and message. It is also critical to maintain the content and keep it fresh and dynamic.

When choosing social media sites such as Facebook, Myspace, and LinkedIn, businesses need to be aware of the different personality connotations associated with each site. The panelists concluded with the following similes: LinkedIn is like the office, and should be used for professional life only; Myspace is like the bar, and should be used for social reasons; and Facebook is like your backyard bar-be-que, including your friends and closest co-workers. It is important for businesses to choose the right site and personality for their audience, and for companies to monitor their employees so that their office and personal life social media personalities remain separate. If you can manage this, create an interactive community, and add value to your readers, then your business should be successful in its campaign and have a positive impact on the end result: sales.

I will leave you with one final thought: is there a distinction between business-to-business and business-to-consumer social media marketing? After all, according to the panelists, isn't it all just businesses communicating to people in general? Whether they are business consumers or every day consumers, isn't your goal simply to interact, add value, and package it in a way for people to reuse? I'm just saying, it got me thinking!

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