The other day, I was on the phone with a client, and the question was asked: “we get that social media is important, however we can’t figure out how you actually go about monetizing it!”
Good question. Tricky answer.
I tend to follow the belief that social media works in three forms:
- Socially – friend to friend
- Promotionally -as a tool, in conjunction with an overarching promotional campaign
- Proactively – a way to reach out, and build your brand
Let’s take a minute and go through each one of these, albeit at a high level.
Socially
This one is pretty self-explanatory. Essentially, social media works great for friends to connect with other friends, exchange notes, and share photo’s. At it’s root, this is what social media is all about. And it works brilliantly this way. The tricky part, is how does a brand insert itself into this picture, and leverage the potential opportunity successfully. Hopefully, that makes a little more sense in the next two points.
Promotionally
I think this is where social media really gets it’s best use, from a brand perspective. When used as a communication tool, in conjunction with online advertising and marketing initiatives – geared towards a given objective – social media provides a solid foundation to insert ourselves into our consumers’ lives (in an non-salesy way).
Proactively
Whether you’re a brand looking to field nasty “tweets” (a la Comcast), provide information (like Wachovia), or a sports figure looking to provide inside information to your fans (@martinhavlat), social media provides a bedrock of opportunity. You’ve got a quick way to access key segments of your target audience, and speak to them directly, in a casual environment.
The point here, is that social media isn’t a tool to make money. Rather, it’s a tool that poses as a doorway into the lives of consumers. When used properly, as in the points mentioned above, it can prove to be a highly valuable piece, to a rather complex puzzle.
- Written by Jeremy Heilpern
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