Comments on: What Business Alliances Expect From Social Networking

By: Carolyn Palo

Carolyn Palo — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 01:34:19 +0000

Hi Ralph,

I think your article is spot on – I believe the major challenges with social media will be to figure out which medium meets the (each) target market…they are a varied group. I’m not a fan of Twitter – but I like Facebook and LinkedIn. Each has its specific purpose – to me – the challenge is for a company/partnership to decide which will get the most eyeballs. Tough to know. Looking forward to how it all rolls out. Can a company cater to each persons/group preferred method of communication?

By: Ralph Severini

Ralph Severini — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:22:48 +0000

Thanks Erica…Here’s the URL I found on them.

http://www.socialmediamagic.com/

I have no knowledge of them one way or another, but it looks like they cover the bases as you say.

By: Erica Tuohy

Erica Tuohy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:06:52 +0000

If they need help, I just listened to a very good webinar delivered by Greig Wells of Social Media Magic – a company that also does in depth training on each of the key networks you mention. I assure you I don’t work for this company – I was just genuinely impressed by the webinar so thought I’d pass it on.

By: Ralph Severini

Ralph Severini — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:05:10 +0000

Stephane – I agree that connecting the dots between traditional and digital is important and the best companies are on that track. The amount now spent on social media in marketing campaigns is as high as 40% of the total budgets. Two years ago it probably averaged 20%. So the trend is there. The bulk of spend still goes to TV/Radio/print. But internet and social media are growing rapidly as we know.

By: Tom Halle

Tom Halle — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:44:43 +0000

I believe the key bullet above that presages success is “They do not have a clear set of goals in mind about which social networking technique is best, under what situation or for what purpose”. This open-mindedness will be critical as we all learn collectively what works best, and when.

I remember the early days of email that reached beyond the four walls of the company – perhaps the mid 80’s. Then as now, managers demanded to see the business case before deploying this new (and arguably risky) technology. Of course, this was an impossible task – who could have predicted the myriad ways that email would add value (and the myriad applications of the technology that were a complete flop)? Luckily it hit a critical mass of adoption anyway, and eventually folks got on board if for no reason beyond keeping up with the competition.

By: Stephane Boss

Stephane Boss — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:12:10 +0000

Right, we all want to start using or make a better use of social media but still wondering the best way to do it. I believe social media is a new media that needs to be integrated to the overall Marketing strategy. Twitter, Linkedin… yes, but not as a stand alone startegy. We need to connect the dots between different media using each of them differently but complementary as to address specific objectives. For decades the media we were using were Radio, TV and print then internet arrived and now the social nmedia. It’s now a question of setting the right expectations for each of the media available and resource allocation…