On the corporate 'awakening' toward social media

The exponential rise in interest in Social Media is pressuring business to sit up and pay attention. And it's happening fast. Not only is there a significant number of mainstream media reporting on this phenomenon, but it seems like the lion's share of bloggers and micro-bloggers with their sights trained on business are also espousing the virtues of facilitating a dialogue with customers. The value of this engagement is now being seen in every aspect of business:

• Brand-building
• Lead-generation
• Research and development
• Product or service launch
• Customer retention
• Partner or channel communications
• Thought leadership
• Internal communications
• Media relations
• Crisis management

And more.

Business is starting to "get it" now – we're starting to understand how transformative this new perspective on marketing can be, if executed properly:

• Business needs to stop talking at customers and prospects and begin to talk to them
• The vaue of these conversations relies on authenticity - soclal media is not a new advertising platform
  
• People congregate around relevance and value
  
• Brands are shaped and influenced by dialogue
• The customer ultimately determines brand value
• Social capital belongs to individuals, and is loaned to brands
• Businesses that don't begin to let go and engage in conversations are neglecting the opportunity to influence and shape the very brands they hold dear
• Not engaging opens up the door to the competition, who may come in and build meaningful relationships with your customers

This being said, our customers are asking for counsel and want to know, "what is the value of social media to our business?", and "how do we proceed?" We believe it's important to push forward and explore the tenets of these new communications channels, but not without a plan.

One of the hallmarks of our organization is strong strategic planning for marketing communications, and we will bring the same level of forethought and eperience to bear on this exciting new medium.

Stay tuned.