Every online marketing firm, including ours, always includes some sort of Twitter marketing option. Most of the time it isn’t by choice, because our clients read all about Twitter and buy into the hype that it’s an effective marketing tool. But is Twitter really all that popular than say, MySpace? Most of us already know that with the dawn of Facebook, MySpace sort of took a backseat in the online social environment. Even with riding in the backseat, MySpace still is able to control more user attention than Twitter.

But why are we lead to believe that Twitter is top dog when it comes to user traffic? The simple answer is “the media”. If you look at a recent Google Trends chart comparing search traffic with Facebook and MySpace, Twitter ranks so far down it sits at the bottom of the chart. What’s even worse are the signs of decreased traffic, which also holds true for MySpace. The interesting part is if you notice the “News Reference Volume” section, which basically means news articles related to Twitter, you will see greater coverage than Facebook and MySapce.

My theory of why the media industry is focusing on covering Twitter more than Facebook and MySpace is primarily because they themselves (the media) are very active with Twitter in distributing their content to users. If you can provide publicity to a platform that you use to help promote your own stories, why not try to help bring more users? It helps to sell more advertising and possibly subscriptions. Smart. The only problem is that Twitter in itself is not as interactive as Facebook. Because of that, it seems as though users don’t feel as engaged or entertained as they would be on Facebook, so the traffic numbers don’t seem to improve.

So what’s my point? Don’t believe in hype and always look at hard facts before you decide on which social media platform to promote your business on. Having a customized solution is critical to understanding where your business fits in online.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Facebook and think it’s an effective marketing channel that can help build really great relationships. The big problem is how does Boost Labs as a brand clearly define what it is we do without being labeled as a Facebook only shop or worse go too long winded into an explanation giving the impression of a jack of all trades? Facebook is just one of many channels available in the social media marketing pie and there’s a ton of foundation work to get any company into the social media environment. So in light of this, I decided to try a new term to describe our service offering: “Social Marketing”.

Social Marketing to me is defined as: marketing to a crowd or a group online within a social environment. By removing the word: “Media”, I feel takes the focus away from a Facebook only service and really helps define the “marketing to a crowd” concept. Granted Facebook would definitely be part of any Social Marketing campaign, but my hopes are that it would be now viewed as a channel/avenue rather than a service.
To make sure I wasn’t crazy, I actually tested the new term out at networking events and guess what? It looks like we have a winner! The results weren’t a landslide victory but 80% of the people I talked to didn’t end up labeling us a FB only shop. Hurrray!!!

While most industries are trying to figure out what Social Media can do for them, the automotive industry has been involved in social media as early as 2001 (possibly even earlier). In fact most manufacturers were involved whether they liked it or not. The reason for the forced involvement had to do with car enthusiasts who had passion for specific automotive models and brands. Using “car love” as the common bond, millions of visitors would join various “closed communities” (bulletin boards) and engage in conversation with each other across the world. This opened the communication doors between the manufacturer and the owner. This also provided an opportunity for people like me to start a “closed community” and provide enthusiasts with something that they couldn’t find anywhere else. Hence the start of EvolutionM.net.

Unfortunately social media at that time was looked at as a negative because companies weren’t ready to hear what the customer had to say, especially if it were negative about their product. Even to this day, a few automotive manufacturers are still reluctant to utilize social media to its fullest, cough..Toyota…cough.

Even with the exposure to social media for nearly a decade, I feel the Automotive industry still has a way to go to fully embrace what the online community has to offer. A great example of lack of use is in product development. All you have to do is pick up the latest issue of Road & Track to see my point. The majority of cars that come out seem to miss the mark with the intended customer, however, if you look closely there are a few that seem to get it. GM is a great example of a company embracing more social interactions online with their blogging efforts. The end result, their Camaro for the first time in 16 years has outsold the Mustang. A company which was once in bankruptcy is slowly pulling themselves out.

So what’s my point? I have two:

1. Social Media is a long term marketing solution to help improve a company’s product and brand by interacting with the intended customers. It is NOT a short term sales solution. If it is treated as such, the ROI for your efforts will be ridiculously bad. Even with more than a decade of interaction, the Automotive Industry is still trying to tackle Social Media
2. Social Media is NOT a one-size-fits-all channel and every company needs to develop its own identity online. Having a custom tailored strategy for your company’s social media campaign is vital for success.

Every company needs feedback from their customer to become better. Open the lines of communication and embrace Social Media in a way that fits your company’s personality. If done correctly, your company will be here to stay for the long haul.

Since the early 20th century we saw a heavy shift of information and communication migrating to radio and television. They are entertaining mediums. Now with the internet, as we discussed in our lecture on “Blogging and Your Company,” we are not just accepting messages from mainstream media sources, we are now contributing, and opening channels amongst one another in our community.

The entertainment potential has now been multiplied by the number of communication channels we use which is rapidly growing. Finally we are seeing the emergence of organization and categorization of our conversations. Facebook, Twitter, Blogging are all opening lines of communication while at the same time allowing us to distance ourselves from the PEOPLE we are communicating with. This is the real heart of Dudley’s argument – distance. When I was a kid, any telephone calls to the house during family meal time were politely asked to call back and time was made for enjoying dinner together. I’m in my late 20′s now but it’s not uncommon for me to text somebody while visiting my parents for a dinner together. It’s not even rude anymore -but a consequence of our busy lives. Or is it?

As a final note, I always find it odd when somebody says they can’t afford something- a new pair of glasses, for instance. It’s not that they can’t afford it, but they have other priorities. They need to pay $150 this month towards that new car they chose to buy, for instance. The same is true for time. We all have 24 hours in our day. If your priority is to spend 10 of them at work, and another 8 sleeping, you have another 6 hours to budget for time with family, relaxing, driving, doing chores, showering, exercising, watching tv, reading, etc. Let’s just be honest with ourselves and not blame our “busy lifestyles” or “technology” for losing touch with friends and family we used to have close connections with. We simply chose to re-prioritize. If you are txting your employer while your baby is taking her first steps, you fouled up your priorities a bit. I had a hard enough time doing homework in high school in the 90′s. There’s so much information and time wasting tools available to us now, we all just need to step back and prioritize. We all have the ability to design our lives and time how we see fit.