Current research by Harris Interactive says half of American adults currently use social media of some kind–anything from large social networks such as Facebook to web video such as YouTube to photo sharing sites such as Flickr.
With a footprint that large (and growing every day), it makes sense to integrate social media as part of your overall marketing strategy.
Should it replace “traditional” marketing, PR and branding? Of course not. But it’s another tool in the box. Social media makes sense for businesses of any size because:
• It’s inexpensive. To tackle traditional mass marketing, you need to have a sizable budget to reach your audiences. That’s just a fact of life. But social media is a level playing field; it doesn’t cost anything to participate in the many conversations happening online. That’s a huge opportunity for small and emerging businesses.
• It’s growing. Once again, half of the U.S. population has ties to social media of some kind. And those numbers are only going to increase.
• Its rules are still being written. Now is the time to jump into social media and create an ongoing strategy–precisely because so many businesses haven’t totally grasped the importance of this seismic shift (and that includes large companies). If you get in ahead of the curve, you can be a disruptive force in your business category or niche; if you don’t, you can bet one of your competitors will.
