Your customer has embraced social media. Have you?

To aid BrightBlue Marketing’s efforts to continue to enhance and improve our social media presence I’ve been knee deep in research about this rapidly changing and constantly growing addition to the marketing mix. By now you and/or your company have some sort of presence on the big three: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Shama Hyder Kaban, the author of The Zen of Social Media Marketing (a book I highly recommend) has found them “to be the best for marketing purposes.”

If you haven’t already jumped on the social media bandwagon, now is the time. As Michael Mothner of Inc. so aptly puts it, “Social media is no longer an option; it's a necessity.” Check out his complete article “How to make a Social Media Marketing Strategy" here).

The study What Americans do Online, released last week by The Nielsen Company, backs up Mothner’s statement. According to the study Americans spend 22.7% of their time on social networking sites and blogs, up from 15.8 percent just a year ago (a 43 percent increase). For more details, check it out here.

As BrightBlue Marketing is B2B focused, I’ve been looking at best practices in social media for a B2B business. Here is a link to an extremely informative guide that will help you if you’re just starting out in social media or looking for concrete examples of how to take your social media marketing to the next level.

J.J. McCorvey of Inc. has some great tips on using sites like Twitter and LinkedIn to market your services and establish industry contacts. Check them out here.

Tony Bradley of PC World shares some informative tips about using a Facebook Page to promote your site including a great explanation of the recent switch from “Fan Us” to “Like Us." (Article here)

The bottom line is that, whether you’re just joining the conversation or you’re right in the middle of it, always remember to really listen to what’s being said around you and enter the discussion when the time is right. Respond with content that adds value, be nice (i.e. don’t spam), be helpful, and be yourself. After that, everything will fall into place.

Join our conversation about how you’ve integrated social media in your marketing mix. We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback!