3 Business Reasons to Use Social Media
I'm often asked by clients, vendors, and other stakeholders in CollegeRecruiter.com about the amount of time that we spend on social media such as blogs, Twitter, and Facebook. One person recently said to me that we seem to be everywhere all of the time. I took that as a compliment. But not all comments about our social media efforts have been so complimentary. Some have said that their organizations would never waste so much time playing when they should be working. But is it playing? And if not, what are the business reasons to use social media?
Mike Figliuolo, managing director of thoughtLEADERS, LLC, a leadership development firm, just posted a blog article in which he thoughtfully summed up three primary reasons that businesses should use social media:
- It's a sales and lead channel. He recently wrote a blog post that was then picked up by SmartBrief. His organization immediately had 700 new blog visitors. One of them read the post, then went to his corporate homepage. They requested information on his training programs and coaching services. Cost to Mike's organization? About 30 minutes of effort writing that blog post -- for a lead they never would have found through traditional means.
- It's a credibility builder. Mike's organization teaches and trains. They refer prospects to their blog to give them a view into how they approach business. Once there, they either love Mike's organization (and hire them) or shy away (which is fine, too).
- It's a CRM tool. For Mike's organization, "CRM" stands for Continuous Relationship Management. They may only see a participant in one of their courses once. But if they subscribe to the thoughtLEADERS blog after the class, Mike's organization maintains a weekly relationship with them. When they have a training or keynote speaker need, thoughtLEADERS will be top of mind.
That was a great post from Mike. Thanks for linking to it. Anyone who wants to check out the original can find it on SmartBlog on Social Media: http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2009/08/03/transforming-social-media-into-business-media/
Hi Steven, I completely agree with you and Mr. Figliuolo. These are the three reasons my company has a Facebook, Twitter and uStream account. Nicely articulated reasoning!