PR 101

NOTE: Because of the Memorial Day Holiday in the United States, I will not be posting a blog next week. The next blog will be posted June 1.

Someone once asked bank robber Willie Sutton why he chose to make his living the way he did. He replied: “because that’s where the money is.”

The same holds true for social media. Why should you and your company be involved in it? Because that’s where the people are. More and more people are forgoing traditional media. Now, they want to talk about a product or event before spending their money. They want as much information as possible before they buy something. They want to hear from the most authoritative sources. They turn to social media for that information.

What smart marketers know is that social media is allowing people to form communities. A community can form around a cause, an event, a product or a company. But it is a community where people talk to each other. As I said last week, there are conversations going on right now about your brand. You should be part of it, but whether you are or not, the conversation is going to happen. What you want to be is the host, determining the conversation’s directions and subjects. As the host, you want to give people the best reason to join circle.

Many companies are starting to get it. It can been seen in the remarkable growth of  social media in the marketplace.

Consider these examples:

•    Forty-two million American women use social media tools on a regular basis, according to a recent social media survey by BlogHer, the women’s blog network, along with iVillage and Compass Partners. That’s over half of all adult American women, according to an article in Small Business Trends.  As they spend more time with social media, women are spending correspondingly less time with traditional media; 39 percent less time on newspapers, 36 percent less time reading magazines, and 30 percent less time watching TV, the article noted.
•    The 35-year-old to 54-year-old demographic led the growth of Facebook in 2008, with use jumping by 276 percent, a study conducted by iStrategyLabs found.
•    Toyota’s new campaign for its revamped Prius hybrid will for the first time make use of Facebook, Twitter and HowStuffWorks. The social media effort will be integrated with other sites and Toyota’s consumer sites. Many, many other companies are moving into social media campaigns.
•    Small businesses across the United States are finding social media levels the playing field for them. They can now compete with much larger companies in building awareness. Implementing a social media plan costs a lot less than traditional methods.

I could go on for a long time about what is happening in social media. But, I know all of you are following the trends, because you are all smart entrepreneurs and marketers. I also suspect you are more than a little overwhelmed by all of the social media choices out there.

Right now, I have over two dozen social media websites bookmarked on my web browser. A lot of people would see that as confusing and wonder I need that many different sites.

Let me use a somewhat lame analogy. I used be a professional bicycle mechanic. I still do a lot of work on bikes. I have a very large tool box with many specialized tools. Each does something different, from tensioning a brake cable to installing pedals. I need them all. Owning a just a few would severely limit my ability to do what has to be done on my bicycles.

The same is true for social media.  Don’t think of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Digg and all the others as individual sites. Instead think of them as hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, and pliers. You need a complete set of tools to do any job. You need a complete set of sites to do a campaign.

Of course, just having the tools, as opposed to knowing how to use them, is a very different thing. Just signing up for Twitter and tweeting about a client is not, in and of itself, going to build much brand awareness.

As social media expert Brian Solis has said: “The conversations that drive and define Social Media require a genuine and participatory approach. Just because you have the latest tools to reach people, or have played around with them, doesn’t mean you can throw the same old marketing at them. And, it doesn’t qualify you to attempt to do so without first thinking about why and how, as it relates to the people you’re trying to reach.”

As another social media expert Simon U. Ford has pointed out, social media is made up of social networks, blogs, vlogs (video podcasts), podcasts, social networks rich media platforms, distribution channels, and micro‐content and content aggregation. Each of those areas is made up of many different applications. It is confusing to a newcomer.

Ford is perhaps one of maybe a dozen people who have solved the puzzle. He has made very effective use of social media. He has coordinated events, sold EBooks and run very effective campaigns.

Besides Ford and Solis, there are few others who really get social media. That list includes Josh Bereano, Chris Brogan and Sarah Evans. Right now, social media is kind of like Oklahoma during the land rush. A lot of people are trying to stake claims. Not all of them are going to succeed. It will take awhile for things to be sorted out.

However, there are things you can do right now to learn social media.

Let’s  review the sites I consider the Big Four of social networking: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube. These are four tools that must be in your social media toolbox. Facebook has some fantastic business applications. LinkedIn has become the place where professionals talk to each other. Twitter provides a way to instantly contact potential customers to tell them about your product. If you are going to provide any kind of video endorsements, YouTube is a must.

The key, and this is where you need an expert, is how to link those sites into a single campaign. We will talk about in my next blog.

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My background: I worked as a reporter for 25 years in central Illinois, upstate New York, suburban Detroit and Milwaukee. I now help clients with marketing communications through my company – JJC Communications LLC. If you want to know more about my company, and myself, click the link. It’s a cliché, but it’s true for me: no job is too big, no job is too small. I have worked with companies on the Fortune 500 list and I have worked with companies that have one employee. The service I provide is the same for all.

Email me at jjcole54@gmail.com