As I mentioned on an earlier post about the demographics of social media use, baby boomers are the fastest growing group on social networks.

But, what does that mean for marketers? Does it mean that they just need to set up a Twitter or Facebook page and they’ve done their job? Alternatively, will a LinkedIn page do?

The answer: it depends.

As in any sort of marketing, demographics and the purpose of communication matter. Twitter is not Facebook. LinkedIn is not MySpace. It’s not even ASmallWorld (and no, I don’t mean the Disney song).  Read more...

In today’s social media environment, companies are all scrambling to take part in the inbound marketing revolution. Social networking is an amazing tool that will continue to evolve weekly, monthly and yearly, while the social media gurus rush to be the first to figure out the best way to use the most recent mutations. When they do figure it out, the tools already will have changed, and once again we all will be chasing the next “best thing.” Twitter, as we now know it, will be like today’s film camera that in a few years we will have, but won’t use because we just bought the newest technology.  Read more...

After writing my last post about the ROI – the return on inaction –  of social media, one of the commentators challenged me to actually quantify the social media return on investment. This give and take is one of the challenges and benefits of social media. Companies can’t just stand behind pronouncements – they are challenged and forced to strengthen their claims.

The interesting thing about the question of “What is the ROI of Social Media” is that we can track this in ways that weren’t trackable with traditional marketing. Despite the fact that many people have difficulty giving real numbers to the ROI of social media, it’s actually far EASIER to track than traditional media.  Read more...

Social media is not the answer for everyone. More than that, the latest fad of Twitter is not the place every customer should be.  Read more...

Following up on my previous post about the ROI of social media, perhaps it’s worth explaining what social media is.

Social media is not so new. Even the technology is new and major social networks have been on for close to a decade. Facebook only started in 2004. Twitter in 2006. Blogger in 1999 and bought by Google in 2003, and WordPress also was first released in 2003. College seniors that opened up a Facebook profile in 2004 are now your 27- year old workers. Moreover, humans have been social since the first caveman shared pictures on the cave walls.  Read more...

Many people ask: “What is the ROI – return on investment – of social media?” Usually, they get two answers:  Read more...

1. Some people – usually those who ended up engaged in social media because they are young, use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr or whatever other channel in their personal life, but don’t work in marketing or strategic communications – respond that there is no ROI in social media. Those people – far too common in the fast growing field of social media – do businesses a disservice. Besides being wrong, this keeps busineses from hiring a firm that understands marketing. After all, why should a business invest in something without ROI?