Social media is a term that has slowly become a common buzzword used by people involved in online marketing. However for many they think of social media such as Bebo, or Facebook, which they believe to be for a younger generation and which holds little value as a marketing tool.

A common misconception is that social media is new. In fact it’s been around for a lot longer than people think, however its ease of use in recent years has made it a more attractive channel to explore and use.

What is social media and how is it different from “traditional” media? 

There are a number of distinct differences. The main difference is authorship – effectively anyone can become a publisher.  There are few “rules” or “laws”.  Information can be updated within seconds, changes can be made instantly and records of the information can remain for a lifetime.

Social media blurs the line between consumer and publisher.  A consumer may now become a publisher and a publisher can become a consumer.

The earliest form of social media can be traced back to pre-internet days to bulletin board systems, where computer fans could post messages to each other, read them and reply to them.  There was interaction between publisher and consumer.  As the internet became more available, online forums started to appear. These are places where like-minded people “met” and discussed different topics. The topics were usually specialised, for example, computer gaming, computer programming etc.  As such these sites were owned and managed by enthusiasts rather than corporations.

In recent times some companies have started to use forums as a way to help their users. For example Skype. They have user support forums, where employees and users help other users sort out technical issues.  This has many advantages, as many users will want to be known on the forum as the person to go to with any questions.  Thus they will help others and usually not look for any monetary compensation.  They psychological need of belonging and being recognised is enough for them. 

 Google has a blog, which is written by people within their organisation where they literally “talk to” the readers about what is going on within the company.  They post new information about their applications and programs such as Gmail, Adwords, Search, etc.  This allows a less formal approach to building their brand and showing them as not just a huge corporation with no human face.

Many companies were (and still are) wary of using social media such as forums or blogs on their website as they take a lot of work to manage and can be difficult to monetize. Another issue is in building the blog/forum to a level where people are actually interacting. A forum /blog with little use will soon die.

Social media has evolved in the last 2-3 years and is now becoming more mainstream and something that a lot of marketing professionals are looking at, asking themselves how can this be used to help get out message out there?

Facebook and Bebo are often mentioned in the news in a negative manner – sites where people “waste” time for hours on end … a captive audience perhaps?

So the big question is can these sites be used for marketing channels and if so how.  Over the coming months I’ll be looking at various issues within social media and how it can be used effectively.

However one thing has to be made clear. People who use such sites are there to connect, communicate and interact as a community. Marketing to these people has to be carefully orchestrated. Remember in the offline world they say if you have a bad experience with a shop/restaurant you might tell 10 people. Online this number is substantially more. If you undertake social marketing and get it wrong the consequences can be far-reaching and devastating.

Social media is a medium you have to be looking at. If used right it is cost effective, very easy to track results, and you can pinpoint and advertise to your target market with ease.