Should you be using social media? Gee, I don’t know. While the media is new, the question is old – “should you be using TV? radio? newspaper? direct mail? billboards? or any number of communication tactics that might help you connect with your audience?”
Again, I’ll admit my strategic bias. The question, I think, shouldn’t so much be framed from the standpoint of *what* tool you should be using, but *why* you would want to, in the first place.
Yes, you should definitely should
be learning about social media – in its various forms – right now. I’m also spending a lot of time learning about social media by reading about it, listening to podcasts about it, viewing webinars about it, visiting blogs about it – and, most importantly, experimenting with it myself. You should be, too.
In particular, you should be paying attention to the audiences each social media outlet reaches, the segmentation opportunities and the very interesting database marketing opportunities that can allow you to target specific messages to very specific audiences.
Yes, maybe you should be using social media.
But, that’s really the wrong question. The right question – and this has *always* been the right question, even “back in the day” when the only mass media available were newspapers and that nasty upstart radio, is:
“What communication tactics will be most cost effective in reaching my target audience?”
The communication tactics will change – and change rapidly in our technology-driven environment. The question won’t.
Tags: Social Media
Linda, I couldn’t agree with this blog post more. When looking at social media, so many people get caught up in the “newness” of it all that they forget to look at these tools in the context of their audience.
Ultimately, having a presence on 15 different social media sites does no good if your audience is not there or do not respond in those environments. Before businesses even think about whether they should be using Facebook or Twitter, they need to stop and analyze what the ultimate goal of their presence on these networks would be. That important question of “Why do I need to be on social media?” can from there help shape the tactical side of the equation.
Great post!