Business people prefer to take calculated risks. Thus, it is no surprise that despite the rapid growth of social media use, many companies are still testing the waters.

In “Most Businesses Still Only ‘Experiment’ with Social Media” on WebProNews, Chris Crum reports that a recent E-Consultancy survey of businesses reveals that 61 percent “have experimented with social media, but not done that much.” On the other hand, 90 percent of those polled said they expect their social media use to increase the next year. In other words, regardless of the slow start, by 2011 the way businesses reach out to its market could go through some revolutionary changes involving social media.

The SSN Take: Market still changing under social media influence.

John Sniffen, March 10, 2010

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One of the most intriguing demographic developments in today’s marketplace is that the economy is expanding while the work force is declining.

Social Networking in the Enterprise: What’s the ROI? describes two popular solutions: to outsource or physically relocate qualified candidates. However, another approach that is gaining momentum is the implementation of  a social networking community. If you are directly or indirectly involved in your company’s efforts to keep a healthy employee retention rate, it’s time to look at the potential ROI of a social network inside your firewall. The article states that the replacement cost of an entry-level employee makes up 30-50% of their annual salary. A private social network can provide a low cost solution by giving employees a common space where they can interact and share knowledge. By connecting workers through personal profiles, polling and instant messaging, a business leader can identify organizational strengths and areas where employee dissatisfaction is high.

The SSN Take: Let employees blow off steam in house, then figure out how to fix it.

David Thimme, March 10, 2010

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At first glance when reviewing Twitter and Facebook accounts, you can be foolishly impressed by the number of followers or friends they have as their total.

According to the article “Social networking: Influence, followers, and ‘Nexus leaders’,” you must dig a little deeper in who you want to choose to promote your company through the social media outlets. Total number of followers may mean popularity, but it doesn’t always translate into influence within the group. The metric that means the most is the number of people who follow the leader that trust and act upon their judgments. These are the people you want to endorse your products and services throughout the social networking sites.

The SSN Take: Not all metrics read the same when reviewing potential “nexus leaders” for your products and services.

Belinda Sissom, March 10, 2010

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This OfficialWire article “Use Social Media For Getting The Word Out“ claims that “the main use of social media is to get the word out,” and gives a basic, almost lackluster overview of the social media landscape.

But “getting the word out,” like a boring TV spot, does little besides throw your brand in the consumer’s face. The power of social media is just that: social. By creating conversations around your brand and developing a community of followers, current consumers will speak about likes and dislikes, and potential consumers see an easy way to try out something new (be it a new service, product, or company). Tweeting and updating Facebook about a new sale or hot item is important, but it’s also important to seek out what people are saying about your brand, and respond in kind. Consumers want to be heard, and social media is the best platform for their voice. Make it your platform for the best customer service.

Social media has many uses, so make sure to spend some time involving your company in all aspects of it.

Sam Hartman, March 9, 2010

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We often speak of promoting brands or products through social media, but in this case, the image – one of glitz, glamour, and makeup – shines through, climbing to the top of charts.

Advertising Age documents Lady Gaga’s quick rise to fame in “Gaga, Oooh La La: Why the Lady Is the Ultimate Social Climber,” noting her 2.8 million Twitter followers and 5.2 Facebook fans. She has achieved as many milestones as in 18 months as her counterpart and idol Madonna did in 10 years: her own make-up line, Virgin Mobile-sponsored headlining tour, and a spot as Polaroid’s creative director. This in addition to 20 million digital downloads and 8 million albums sold. Clearly, she’s doing something right, and the magic lies in debuting videos on her web site and riding the viral wave of YouTube and Twitter. Like Lady Gaga, working to share and interact with your fans can pay off big time.

Sam Hartman, March 9, 2010

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Facts show substantial evidence that customers are being reached via the web through marketing which can be highly successful when done properly.

According to “Social Media increases 82% Worldwide: Nielsen report confirms growing power of Bloggerwave’s Business Strategy,” customers are reading blogs more today than ever for news, facts, and reviews on products/services. Bloggerwave has proven that getting your product or service into a blog and having it reviewed increases your traffic, sales, and credibility within the market. Knowledge is power, and this type of data proves that not pursuing blogs and social media as marketing outlets may be an error in judgment more now than ever due to the rising number of potential customers. Go where the customers go to ensure the biggest bang for your marketing dollars and market presence.

The SSN Take: If you blog about it, they will come.

Belinda Sissom, March 9, 2010

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I think the question isn’t “Should Your Company Have a Social Media Policy?” as Mashable.com recently asked, but more precisely what should be “in” the social media policy?

We are so far past the question for needing policy around social media guidelines. It is here, it is happening and it is impactful – whether we want to face up to it or not. So let’s dig deeper than should it exist and look more closely at what should it contain.

In their article, Mashable.com addresses the 5 W’s of social media policy content: Why, What, Who, Where and When. That is a very good start. But I contend the order may not be priority-based. “When” seems to be first in the need-based ranking. When is the right time to implement a policy? Considering Twitter itself is growing at a 1,382% rate, based on a Nielson Online study from February 2009 to February 2010, the time is now.

Where do you start in establishing guidelines and policy around social media? And even more important, where do you start the education? Formal policies can drive effective business practices, not just police abuse of social media. When set up properly and sufficient training around the appropriate and beneficial uses of social media is provided to staff, employees can begin to use this innovative and immediate tool to reach out to customers in a whole new way. The author uses Zappo’s as an example. They train their staff during new-hire orientation on the proper use of Twitter. They don’t start with the rules of what they can’t do, but actually show them the best way to use a social media platform as part of their responsibilities. The result is a personal connection between management and staff, and between staff and the customer.

Who should use social media? It isn’t just for marketing as once believed. Customer service, shipping, and research and development find positive uses for social media on a daily basis that not only benefits their work, helps to achieve their goals, and ultimately increases the bottom dollar, but also makes the experience for the consumer richer and more rewarding. As a result of this positive experience, they become a return customer; the prize of all prizes.

Social media has become a respected form of communication and in some markets, an expected form of communication. It is no longer an afterthought but an integral part of a good communication plan. Building policy and guidelines for social media use will only add to the effectiveness of that communication plan.

Melody K. Smith, March 9, 2010

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While some businesses still ban Facebook from employees’ work computers, others are seeing business potential for networking applications that mimic the popular social network.

Salesforce has launched a private beta version of its new Chatter application and plans to make it generally available later this year. “The key aspect of Facebook that Salesforce wants to replicate is the continuous stream of updates posted by friends,” writes Pete Babb in “Salesforce steps up enterprise social networking” on Infoworld. Instead of “personal inanities and Mafia Wars updates,” the information exchanged will be actionable business data. Chatter also offers a Twitter-style “following” mode that allows users to follow data sets like price lists and client lists. And, yes, users can also say what they are doing, but in this case it’s supposed to be what projects one is tackling and asking for input or advice. Sounds like a good idea, but one wonders if an enterprising soul won’t find a way to Photoshop the boss’s photo onto one of those Mafia images.

John Sniffen, March 9, 2010

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“Hey, first peaches of the season are here. Come and get your peach pie @ 10am.”

This simple tweet helped a small pie shop in San Francisco drum up interest in its mouthwatering array of sweet and savory pies, reported The Economist in a recent special feature, “A peach of an opportunity,” on social networking (available as a reprint at Economist.com/rights).

And yes, it did help increase business—dramatically. Mission Pie started tweeting its wares about a year ago and today has more than 1,000 followers who, in addition to buying pies, multiply the word to others following them. Says the owner of the shop, “It (tweeting) has a sort of street credibility that’s not there with traditional media.”

And that rings true. A recent Nielson survey on ‘trust in advertising’ revealed word of mouth from a friend was, by far, the most relied upon source of confidence.  About 35 % of respondents trusted friends’ recommendations without question! Overall, almost 90% of the sample trusted friends’ recommendations to some degree. Brand websites, consumer forums, editorial content, brand sponsorships, TV, newspapers, magazine, radio and billboards all rated progressively less trusted.

A big surprise? Not really. Perhaps those findings then are a key as to why Twitter may be the most dynamic of the social media tools out there today.

Now here’s another (not so) secret. Twitter is also the most timely, often offering response in an instant, which is why tweeting a pie-available time of “10am” plays on the ‘right now’ and creates its own buzz. Instant gratification is the name of the game.

Just how ‘timely’ can Twitter be? Remember the “Miracle on the Hudson?” The first news of the miraculous landing came as the plane was still in motion… by a passenger’s tweet. Don’t think that went unnoticed by CNN and the like.

Now, about the cost: As one TV commercial now promotes… priceless! But in this case, that has two meanings… 1.) It works. 2.) Out of pocket costs are zero.

Ahh! The power of the tweet.

In another case history, The Economist noted regular customers of a popular Korean food vendor, Kogi BBQ, always know where and when one of their several roving trucks will be serving. How do their ‘foodies’ find them? Kogi BBQ has 52,000 Twitter followers when I last checked.

Sprinkles, a nationwide cupcake bakery, promotes special offers on its Facebook site and posts a password of the day, redeemable for free goods. Sprinkles has 112,500 Facebook followers.

Wanna have some fun? Go to Sprinkles Facebook page and see what is happening now. On Oscar night, the Facebook posting read “SPRINKLES CUPCAKES Sprinklemobile has arrived in Santa Monica on Arizona and Ocean. First 10 people to whisper ‘Oscars” get a free cupcake!”

When I looked there were 35 comments posted: “god bless you precious cupcakes! J” , “Oscars!!!!” — “OOOOhhh—wish I were there. Love Sprinkles!!!” — “Quietly desperately whispering Oscars” — “maybe the Sprinklemobile will come to Missoula MT… then I could get my cupcake”– etc. It would make any CEO blush. In fact,  I highly recommend you go to Twitter and search Mission Pie and Kogi BBQ  and view the power of the people for yourself.

So maybe this is one way to play with the big boys. No doubt, some small businesses can have the world by the tail if the medium suits their message. And talk about feedback… you can KNOW how your core audience will react, faster and more believably than any ‘focus group’ finding could tell you. It is instant trial and error in a controlled-by-you environment with a self-limited risk level.

A recent survey in Britain showed 17 % of its small businesses were using Twitter to promote to current customers and find new ones. Many post “Follow me on Twitter” signs in their store-front windows. Some claim dramatic savings by eliminating other forms of marketing in favor of using social networking channels.

The SSN Take: No, one size does not fit all, but if this is your size, congratulations!

Jerry Constantino, March 9, 2010

Jerry Constantino was President and Publisher of PJS Publications, a group of 20 special interest magazines owned by VS&A Venture Capital and later, Primedia. He now writes fiction and blogs irrelevantly at itsnutsoutthere.blogspot.com.

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The fact that social media is an ever-increasing part of a company’s online presence is no secret.

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are a great way to get information to a particular audience. However, Benzinga, in “Capitol Communicator: Beware the Legal Issues of Social Media,” warns of being prepared for the negative that comes along with the positive. The article details how American Airlines lost millions due to an angry customer’s parody song on YouTube and the way a company can squander customer trust by not being fully transparent in its postings. If a social media backlash does occur, a company must be prepared in advance. The speed of today’s information demands that marketing and public relations have an immediate response to negativity. This undoubtedly gives customers an incredible amount of power. Will your business work with or struggle against that power?

The SSN Take: Don’t underestimate chance for backlash.

Patrick Roland, March 9, 2010

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