One of my great clients invited me to a Social Media seminar yesterday. The seminar was put on by eBoot Camps and was three hours well spent. At break, I spoke with Corey, the owner of eBoot Camps and enjoyed sharing information on the industry and where it is heading.
Here is my take:
Social Media is not a fad and is here to stay. It will not replace Google. Google will continue to reinvent itself and will acquire companies along the way to always dominate, for the foreseeable future.
The big question I was looking to get answered yesterday was this. Should businesses invest their time in Social Media? If so, how and why? It took me about 24 hours to fully digest the content and here is my conclusion. Yes, businesses do need to invest time into a Social Media strategy as a segment of an overall marketing budget. So why should a business be Tweeting, Facebooking, LinkedIn’ing (is that even a word?) and all the other options available today? Well, in my opinion there may not be direct ROI of time and dollars invested (certain industries like food & beverage, retail etc. can see an immediate ROI), but the indirect cash flow may really be where the benefit is earned. In my humble opinion, I see the real benefit of Social Media it creating “Top of Mind Marketing” awareness for your business.
The more people see your logo, brand, images and information the more they begin to develop trust in your business. Good consistent content that is relevant to the user and has the user’s benefit in mind is what will eventually pay dividends on your investment.
So, should you be Tweeting, Facebooking, LinkedIn’ing as part of an overall online marketing strategy. Yes, but proceed with caution and understand what works in the Social Media space. If you require assistance, I am here to help.