Water coolers.  Pre-Internet, we met around our respective office water coolers for commraderie and to dish the latest office gossip.  Those water coolers were mini-communities where like-minded professionals met daily.

Fast forward to 2010. Internet water coolers are just a mouse click away, according to a recent online New York Times article:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/business/media/24cooler.html?hp . These “water coolers”, “birdbaths”, whatever you want to call them, come in the form of Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.

In fact, the combination of Social Media usage with other media (i.e. television and the music Industry, to name two) is the latest buzz among industry leaders. As the article points out, “The Recording Academy, which presents the Grammys, mounted a digital campaign to promote the awards show this year, signing up Facebook fans and monitoring Grammy-related Twitter messages.”

Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter allow people to get involved in communities that are larger than simply their local physical presence as well as communities that might not exist in a certain locale. They also allow for people to take place in real-time “conversation” and join ongoing conversation for a real group interaction. Just ask any “social media junkie”… they feel “disconnected” when they haven’t been active in their communities for whatever reason.

Another great example of this was this past Super Bowl. Millions of people met and took part in conversations that would never would have taken place had it not been for social media. People discussed the game, the commercials, the halftime show and the hoopla in general. Fans and rivals alike shared in the fun. It simply didn’t matter if that you might not be in New Orleans or New England (or Miami for that matter)… the cities became larger than themselves. This age of connectivity is amazing and invigorating to say the least!

Play like the big boys in the Recording Academy and wage your own super-effective and state-of-the-art digital campaign. Contact Chris Isaac (me) at birdbathBUZZ cisaac@birdbathBUZZ.com.

Top 10 Reasons for Social Marketing

Even today social media remains a mystery to most marketers. In the minds of most retailers and marketing executives, social media consists of teens messaging on Facebook, sharing pics on Flickr, writing in their blogs or tweeting all their doings on Twitter.

Perhaps they read a few news blogs themselves or have a profile on LinkedIn, but they’re still scratching their heads and wondering how any of this could possibly be useful to them in business.

Coming from the conventional marketing world myself and looking back to my first impression of social media, I can appreciate the retailing and B2B marketing establishment’s legitimate skepticism. That’s why I put together my top reasons for using social marketing for you to share with your colleagues and top management.

Let me caution you however, that social marketing requires its own mindset. Marketing strategies that work well with traditional media won’t necessarily be as effective if applied to new media.

These then are my top ten reasons to take social marketing seriously:

1. Social marketing is a logical extension of the multichannel marketing strategy of diversification. Social media sites can extend a company’s web presence far beyond the limits of its e-commerce, lead generation or information sites.
2. Social media builds awareness of products and brands by attraction rather than interruption, and by pulling rather than pushing. Consumers enjoy the discovery process and don’t feel annoyed by it.
3. Social media employs a community and list building paradigm that’s much more comprehensive, natural and intimate than conventional databases and autoresponders.
4. Social media marketers engage customers in dialog. They talk with the customer rather than at the customer as is generally the case with conventional media. Social media can also facilitate post-sale support and dissemination of valuable product tips to customers.
5. Social media used properly can build frequency less expensively than conventional media educating and informing the consumer over time.
6. Social media can help reach target markets that are too difficult or expensive to reach using conventional means.
7. Reach doesn’t determine cost, so social media can target a narrow vertical market while at the same time casting a wide net. Efficiency doesn’t really matter much in the context of social media reach.
8. Search engines like social media, and social marketing leverages free high-quality search exposure which is preferable to paying for low-quality pay-per-click or banner advertising.
9. Social media sites and your e commerce websites are available 24/7 more or less indefinitely. It’s much like having an ad run in every issue of a publication or like having a catalog or sales letter retained until the customer is ready to make a buying decision.
10. Using social networking sites it is often possible to connect directly with B2B decision makers without interference from protective gatekeepers.

Social marketing is different from other forms of Internet marketing. Larry Brauner writes about the unique challenges that social media marketing poses in Top 10 Social Media Challenges.

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