“Social media is incredibly important...and incredibly time consuming. Many small business owners must choose between properly promoting their companies on Facebook and Twitter or actually running their companies. The solution is to delegate some of the social media work to an employee or outside consultant.”-Minda Zetlin, technology.inc.com
One of the hottest new jobs is a social media representative. What does this job entail? Big companies are utilizing the fast growing social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Facebook had 111 million visitors in 2009 which creates a very convenient, cheap way for companies to utilize this new technology for both customer relations and marketing. These sites promote building relationships with consumers, and that is exactly what companies want in order to obtain and retain a strong customer base.
A detailed look at companies utilizing this new social media technology one can look towards the auto industry which has been hit hard. Automakers have been one of the hardest his industries by the decline in the economy and they are trying everything to get back in the green. Companies like Ford, Honda, GM, and Toyota have looked to their PR department to join the Twitter, Facebook world and reach out to possible customers.
Mashable.com, “The Social Media Guide” has ranked the top 40 brands that are utilizing twitter the best. In the car business Honda and GM are among others that lead the industry. An example of a Tweet from a Honda, done by head of corporate affairs and communications, Alicia Jones is “Honda outboard engines are 65% cleaner than what’s required by the U.S. EPA and Environment Canada”. The social networking sites are primarily used by younger people from the late teens to 30 years of age. This bracket is an extremely important segment of the market a car company wants to reach out to. Car companies build relationships with their customers and if successful make consumers life-long buyers of their brand. This is why the companies utilizing the new technology in Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites are new, innovative and looks to be very profitable in the near future.
http://mashable.com/2009/01/21/best-twitter-brands/
http://technology.inc.com/internet/articles/201003/socialmedia.html
Employing the use of social networking sites can be both a great thing for certain companies. I think a key to any business's success is to master the concept of contacting and building relationships with their customers. But, it is important to note that not all companies should participate in building these relationships through social networking websites. It's important for these companies to examine their target audience beforehand because they may not be a member of Facebook or Twitter; they could be spending millions of dollars on marketing and advertising costs for virtually no reason. On the positive end though, this is just another up and coming way to build relationships with consumers in a world where online and m-commerce is greatly expanding.
ReplyDeleteI think that companies should monitor their click through rate of these ads on social networking sites to see how susccessful they prove to be. Either way, I think it is a good way to reach young people who are probably looking into buying their first car. I also think tweeting interesting facts about your product is a very good way to grab people's attention. If they see an alluring fact, they may go to the companies website to read more informtation regarding the tweet. This will increase the traffic on the companie's website. Environmentally friendly facts are especially important as becoming "green" is a poplaur motive for many companies.
ReplyDelete