Everyone's been talking about social media, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogging. And there is certainly no shortage of information out there on the subject--in fact, there's way too much information. Trouble is, few really understand how to use it productively or effectively in a business context. Those that are taking the initiative are most likely doing it to plant their flag in order to say "me too."
You need to have a defined strategy and message to be effective. Brokers, much like any other professional, need to understand how to use social media tools to reach their current and prospective clients -- everyone from HR administrators to vendors who, increasingly, are gravitating to Twitter and using blogs to communicate. Indeed, keeping sales leads in the pipeline has become more challenging as brokers seek effective outlets to broadcast their differentiations and value proposition to the market.
What might have, at first, appeared to be a fad, another over-hyped technology, or mode of communications, is clearly anything but. The communications landscape has become scattered, which poses fundamental challenges to getting your messages out. For example, what were once magazines have become blogs, as blogs themselves have morphed into Twitter accounts. Hugely influential writers and consultants in the broker space are gravitating to social media -- particularly Twitter -- where they have amassed large followings. However, this changing landscape has added another dimension to the way brokers should think about getting their message out and finding new ways to use social media to their advantage.
Form and Function
Blogs have become the first step for many organizations looking to embark on a social media strategy. The success of a blog hinges on following a few simple rules--post frequently, post consistently, and post engagingly. The blog format is open-ended and can take the form of a general opinion piece, a perspective on a new study/survey/news item, even a new product announcement. A blog, if well written and conversational, can be far more engaging than say, a formal newsletter. Deploying a blog also sends a message that you are a forward-thinking, progressive broker that knows how to leverage media and technology.
To the extent that Twitter is a form of "micro-blogging," much of the above applies, though the methodology in leveraging Twitter for marketing outreach is different. The real challenge is in using Twitter to push out your messages, whether as a subset of your blog or as brief announcements. Say you are poised to make a major announcement--sending out a tweet or a series of tweets can be easily, quickly, and effectively disseminated to the list of people you're following, who are in turn following you, or to select people who need to be made aware of this important news. The brief tweet can refer to a Web site or a Facebook page where people can get a fuller message.
The emergence of blogs and Twitter -- to name just two of the more effective social media tools -- give just about any user, particularly a business user (i.e., broker), a powerful communications platform offering almost unmatched immediacy and reach whereby you can build targeted audiences for your messages organically, virally, and geometrically.
Integrated Approach
The ascendance of social media does not mean traditional media and what you might call traditional public relations and marketing practices have been pushed to margins. As long as national magazines are on the newsstand (or available online)...as long as trade publications have devoted and influential readerships (even as more content is moved online)...traditional media outlets still play a vital role -- and will for the foreseeable future.
Twitter and Facebook, as well as company blogs and business networking sites such as LinkedIn, are all important and increasingly effective tools -- but they are even more so when used in concert with traditional media. Social media function very much like an extended echo chamber where messages are conveyed, sustained, and amplified; to borrow a phrase, marketing messages are, for the most part "platform-agnostic" -- they may first appear between the pages of a magazine or on a mainstream Web site, and then get propagated through social media channels...or they may flow in the reverse direction. Their point of origin may not in the end be as important as the path(s) they travel. In other words, a successful sales and marketing communications strategy or public relations program partakes of all available media -- both old (aka, traditional) and new.
One of the lures of social media is its immediacy: any and every thought or piece of information can be communicated instantly and directly, without filters or constraints. Twitter's stated reason for being is to give you the ability to let people know what you are doing at that very moment. Communicating with family, friends, associates, and the greater virtual world in pithy 140 character "tweets" has obvious social use and value.
The question then becomes: what are the business applications? If used strategically and integrated within your over-arching sales and marketing communications strategy, Twitter can help amplify your messages and extend your reach.
The same is true of all social media tools -- each has its value as a communications vehicle and channel, but is only as effective as how it's used. Undisciplined use risks trivializing your communications -- and Twitter in particular is rife with such (occasionally embarrassing) triviality, even from noted media and business figures. It's imperative that you give your social media initiatives the same thought, consistency, and creativity as you do your standard sales and marketing communications.
Being social is hard work -- as anyone who's ever attended a business function will attest, the trick is making it look easy.
Charles Epstein is the founder and president of BackBone Inc., a public relations, marketing communications, and business development firm, specializing in Human Resources, health care, and technology. Contact Charles at che@backboneinc.com.
