Social Marketing: Don’t Underestimate the Basics

Social media is a hot topic these days.  Seems like wherever I go small business owners and marketers are both interested in the topic. They want to know what they should be doing.  Most ask questions about a specific platform, especially the latest new technology, right now it’s Pinterest.

I believe we would all be better served by taking the “media” out of social and discussing social marketing.  Recently Neal Schaeffer asked me to explore the topic of integrating social into marketing as a regular contributor to his site Windmill Networking.  You can find my first post on integrating social into marketing here.

Neal understands social marketing. Although best known for his books about Linked In, Neal also has keen insight into the future of social marketing. I am very excited to be a part of his new initiative to bring together professionals from different disciplines to build a resource that will harness the power of an expanded community.

Media is certainly an important part of marketing; however, it shouldn’t be the launching pad of social marketing.  There are cultural and organizational implications to effectively leveraging social media.

Organizations that are social will be more effective on social media platforms because they will:

• have a strategy and goals in place
• be commited to measuring results
• know how these social media initiatives can benefit their customers and prospects
• approach new initiatives asking good curious questions that will guide insight and actionable responses
• be focused on providing a great customer experience