Social Media Changing the Landscape

As more projects come through the doors from clients who need to reach out farther than traditional advertising and media has allowed, we find ourself integrating social media more and more. In these times where information sharing is an everyday part of life, we find ourselves helping clients connect and share information on a social media level. Our client base is diverse and their service offerings and service base is just as diverse, needing everything from PR to creative services.

I recently asked a simple question to those within our agency, “How has social media influenced your clients’ business, their needs and requests?” Here are their responses:

Zoe Tennesen: “My clients are starting to learn about social media. They all know it’s out there, they talk about wanting it, but have no idea how to go about it. It’s like a bright shiny new bike that they can’t wait to get Christmas morning, only to realize they have no idea how to ride one.”

Shawn Wood: “Real time results on product offerings. The instant nature of social media allows some clients to get a rapid return on their product investments which ranges from interest from possible consumers and Web traffic to mentions of a press release or a news interview.”

Heather Capps: “In client meetings over the last 6 – 8 months I’ve had several clients mention that a colleague, friend, parent, or competitive business has embarked on various social media tactics, blogging at the top of the list. Yesterday a client said, ‘even my dad’s company has a blog for God sakes.’”

Ginger Greenberg: “I have a client who’s site is blog-focused and the main feature of their site. Another client is creating a facebook page to build a following and will be including a community on their Web site.”

Stephanie Mayo: “Many of my clients (all B2B) are just now having us become involved in what they are doing, but the consumer-focused clients are much more into it. I have made some observations on how companies with a B2B focus are venturing into the social media world… some technology companies are embracing it better than others but all are still exploring what works for them. Companies with a business-to-business (B2B) focus are exploring how to leverage ‘social media’ outlets and tactics without getting lost in the consumer-driven chaos already flocking there.”

One of the important things to remember when a client asks you to help them take their business into the social media realm is that not every opportunity is right. Consider carefully how the source is used, and how the business will use it.

The funny thing is that some clients think that they can just “sit back” and let social media do its thing. What they fail to realize is that social media is just that, social. It’s up to them to embrace it themselves and be social using it. There are a plenty of companies using social media correctly to their advantage — having open conversations with consumers and clients alike while gaining much-needed insight to help them sell more products or connect with consumers on a whole new level — but there are also a large number of companies going against the grain who are creating noise in a bad way and turning off potential customers. Social media for companies is an open-conversation tool to connect with consumers, not a dedicated QVC for them. Consumers want to talk, you should listen.