Social Media Marketing for Corporations

Fellas, let me say this one more time: ignore social media marketing and you ignore your market.

Corporations of all sizes need to face the fact that their customers have already been using social media (Twitter, Facebook, Strategic Blogging, etc.) for some time where they readily discuss their experiences with companies of all kinds (their dry cleaners, their local fast food, their bank...).

These social media conversations have a rapidly GROWING influence that a corporation is blind to at its own peril. Your company, your brand, your market and your industry is already being talked about through social media -- I guarantee. 

Serious Statistics

A word about the "Growing" statement above. Did you know that Facebook alone grew over 550% in 2009. Did you know that 30% of all human beings on the planet use social media regularly (in all age brackets) and the numbers only continue to grow at ever-faster rates?

If you are not actively involved in that online conversation, or hiring social media marketing experts (like us of course) to extract the benefits for you, then it is like a ship with no one at the wheel. Your reputation is at the mercy of the wind and waves and sometimes they are flat out cruel. Sooner or later you are going to shipwreck. 

I can say with all certainty that the companies that are prosperous come 4th quarter 2009 are the same companies that took hold of the wheel of social media marketing (in a strategic way) and steered their ship towards profits, social media responsiveness, and a positive online reputation. 

Let me switch analogies on you: the other day I watched a video on how science has recently learned that bacteria in our bodies communicate through a complex set of chemicals with each other. They are surprisingly social creatures. 

An average human body has a trillion cells and a bacterium is just one cell. So no matter how pathogenic it is, it will have basically no effect on the body all by itself. 

In fact, science has recently learned that disease-causing bacteria are able to communicate with each other to learn when their numbers in our bodies are of sufficient mass such that when they launch their attack on our immune system (in significant numbers) they will succeed. Amazing little buggers! 

Your company's PR and reputation in the body of social media is a lot like that. One complaint (like one bacterium) is not very dangerous to the health of your business. But complaints have a way being shared and a way of snowballing. If unchecked by positive social media (ask us more about how we do this), the social media complaints can, and have, taken down entire companies.

Example: social media was recently used to show how to simply disable a Kryptonite brand lock with a mere ballpoint pen. This proves that Kryptonite could defeat even Superman, but not the power of social media. Talk about a disaster for the brand -- they had no one steering their social media and now the company, for all its 50 years of work and building a successful reputation, is in the toilet nearly overnight. 

The word on the street: "They're worthless. I don't trust them anymore." (full story) In fact, a video demonstration sits right next to the corporate web site on Google! Your company is equally vulnerable to rogue social media but it does not have to be.

Friends, colleagues and CEO's, don't be the next corporate disaster story. You know blogs get read; you're reading mine! Proactively embrace a strategic business approach to your social media marketing campaign starting with strategic blogging. 

A little action goes a lot further than massive good intentions. Let Promise Productions Marketing Communications put social media to work FOR your company. Our experts can be reached at 972-822-3587.