Social Media for Business -interview series has a panel of prominent Internet professionals from all over the world who are at the cutting edge of the latest Social Platforms. During this exciting and truly international interview series our experts reveal what are the most useful Social Media Tools and what you need to consider when you start using Social Media as part of your marketing mix.
Matt Wilson is from New York, USA and is the co-founder of Under30CEO urging people to drop the 9-5 and get passionate about something. You can follow him on Twitter as the Gen-Y spokesperson looking to help every young entrepreneur on the planet.
Q1. What are the most important Social Media Platforms at the moment?
The Big 3 – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, they are the most populated most advanced systems out there; you have incredible reach when trying to find anyone in the online space on these platforms. Now that these platforms are open its incredibly easy to cross promote your messages across all 3 with tools like Tweetdeck. Send your status to all 3 with just a click of the button.
Q2. How do you see Social Media has changed the advertising communication?
Social Media hasn’t changed advertising, but marketing strategies have shifted to having actual interaction with the products/services consumers use everyday. We now look to get to know the companies behind the things we like and give them permission to market to us. If we walk by a North Face store, some of us like text messages when there are sales. We want to get to know the people behind the company and consume content that has to do with our favorite brands.
Q3. How do you measure the effects of Social Media Marketing?
Return on Marketing Investment for social media should be measured just like any ROMI equation, take the amount of investment and divide it by your revenue. Tracking your marketing ROMI incrementally allows you to track how your efforts are affecting your revenue. The best part of social media is that it costs very little to use these platforms, the main expense is manpower. However, long term brand awareness and trust is invaluable and cannot be measured over short periods of time in this equation.
Q4. What are the key points to remember when a business starts using Social Media?
It starts with listening! Instead of just making noise, social media’s main purpose should be to hear what is happening in your industry and what people are saying about your company. Start with search.twitter.com and Google Alerts to find out what conversations are happening. Start tracking the blogs with Google Reader and following the movers and shakers in your industry on Twitter. Then, find out where to make your mark on the industry by joining the conversation.
Q5. Do you think every company (that has a website) should have a Social Media Strategy? Why?
Yes, but not necessarily on a large scale. Social media should not be everyone’s focus. Many B2B companies have trouble marketing with social media because their target market simply does not use social media on a large scale. B2B companies can however, thrive on social media by networking with people on their industry. B2C companies should use social media. Your target market lives online.
Q6. How do you see Facebook as a Social Media Marketing tool?
Under30CEO uses Facebook.com/Under30CEO to update our fans when there are new developments on our blog. This gets pushed out to our fans in their newsfeed; it’s a great way to stay in contact with our people on their time, in their space, instead of them coming to our website. People want to go on Facebook to see whats going on–they love seeing Under30CEO. We most recently launched our Limitless VC Contest giving over $3,000 of startup capital and mentorship from 5 multimillionaires.
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Kris Olin, MSc (Econ.) * Editor in Chief at Social Media Revolver * Web Designer * SEO Specialist * Author of the Facebook Advertising Guide. Follow Kris on Twitter and LinkedIn. See his photos at Flickr.
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