Kara's Blog: Social Media: Can it really help sell my brand?

Kara's Blog

Social Media: Can it really help sell my brand?

I tried very hard to remain resistant to Twitter. With my e-mail box already overflowing with more e-mail than I could ever possibly answer, I could not bring myself to tweet. Anyway, what is tweeting? Every time I even hear that word, my mind wanders back to childhood and my musical obsession, the Jackson 5. Then all at once I hear: he rocks in the tree-top all day long, rockin and a boppin and singing his song, all the little birdies and the jay bird sings love to hear the robin go tweet...tweet...tweet.

I have succumbed, I am now a tweeter.

Really, how can tweeter or for that matter any social media, networking site help your business? The key, at least with, Twitter, is that it opens you and your company up to a whole bigger network of people, who may some day use your services. Twitter, is worldwide and virtually anyone can follow your "tweets" is you allow them. A lawyer friend of mine recently told me that he has had referrals of business through social networking. Facebook and Twitter are the two he mostly uses. More and more companies are stepping up to the plate when it comes to using social media as a marketing tool. Mars Snackfood's Skittles division earlier this month launched a marketing campaign embracing social media, and according, to the Wall Street Journal, the Skittles brand is the first brand to use social media to the degree that they are using it. As a result, Skittles was the most tweeted word on Twitter on March 2, leading the company to post some of the tweeted messages on their newly designed Web site Homepage. Skittles' objective with social networking the article goes on to site, is to capture and engage the teen audience. These days, social media is the chosen marketing medium to use when trying to reach the 18-25 age group with a message or brand. Most brands don't dare go so far, says Charlene Li, founder of digital-media consulting firm Altimeter Group. They are getting so much buzz on it, it is unbelievable. They are showing people, this is redefining the way you think about brands. The brand also has allowed consumers to use Wikipedia to write comments about the candy. While some applaud Skittles for going the social media route, others are not so sure the brand has made the right move with its marketing strategy. Some experts feel, according, to the article that Skittles have opened themselves up to negative postings and comments by consumers, however, they do agree that the social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are spreading the globe like a fire storm.

I on the other hand, believe that the potential for any negative risk is worth it. Ford Motor Company recently used Twitter to avert a potential crisis communications problem when only part of the story was being tweeted by non-supporters. Because Ford's PR person was on Twitter, he was able to head-off any potential severe damage and set the story straight. It may have taken Ford Motor company weeks even to find out about the problem consumers had and months to years to overcome any fallout from the negative consumer comments, if they had not been on Twitter. If you need to be convinced further, think about this, the breaking news of the US Airways plane landing in the Hudson came from Twitter not a traditional news outlet.

Is social media/networking a fad? Maybe. And maybe not. One thing for sure, these sites more and more are becoming an influence with consumers and possibly they are influencing what consumers are buying and talking about. Many companies are becoming social media believers, and they should, for now anyway. These companies have decided, just like me, if you can't beat them, join them!

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