Social media: what's in it for me?

Is your business ready for the world of social media marketing?

Many of the clients I write for— small to mid-size businesses, professional service firms, non-profit organizations— are still asking this question. More important, they’re asking why they need to think about this now. What’s in it for them? For their clients? Their customers? Their bottom lines?

A few have jumped in with both feet—from Flickr to blogging to Facebook pages.

Sure, there’s a lot of hype about social media and its implications for marketing and public relations. Maybe your competitors are blogging. Maybe other businesses in your industry are building campaigns around Facebook. And you’re wondering how much time you need to spend on figuring this stuff out and writing it into your marketing plan. Relax. Strategy and message first, then tools.

I’ve recently joined a couple of colleagues in exploring this issue over on the blog Social Marketing 2.0. We’re whacking our way through the hype and investigating the business side of social marketing firsthand. Be sure to stop by, visit us and share your feedback.

In the meantime, I’d like to hear from you about your own experiments in communicating through social media and the questions you have about how to make it work for you. Share them here. I’ll write about them there.