In social networks, attention is earned and engagement is a privilege. Since social media started, it introduces a new problem of sorts, one where the answer is lost in the politics and corresponding burrows of debate as to “who owns social media within the organization?”.
According to the report that conducted by the Strategic and Public Relations Center at the USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism, there are more than 25 percent of companies placed between 81 to 100 percent of budgetary control over social medias compared to only 12.6 percent going to marketing. One quarter of respondents claimed that PR held strategic control over social media as a whole within their organizations and only 9 percent was bestowed upon marketing. An interesting point of note is that just over 25 percent stated that marketing held zero budgetary control and 22 percent said marketing maintained no strategic control whatsoever.
Jerry Swerling, Director of the Strategic and Public Relations Center explained the results, “Social media require a relatively non-commercial approach; they entail dialogue rather than monologue; they often convey objective information rather than product features; and they tend to be free-form in nature, which is just the opposite of the highly controlled world of marketing.”
Speaking of brands venture into social networks, according to Brain Solis , a globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media, a digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist,
… many are unwittingly contributing to the dilution of their brand image, value proposition, and mission amongst a new genre of social customers and influencers. The mission and vision statements of old no longer convey authority or inspire conviction in an era where the audiences to which we are trying to connect now possess audiences of their very own. The ability to connect with someone and inspire them to take meaningful action is in direct competition with the actions of social customers who are intentionally or indirectly building communities around their views and interests …
In the other words, it is the people who define companies stature in social media today while companies control the top down aspects of branding. Their views are emanated through the impressions, perceptions, and opinions, they not only harbor, but they also share via word of mouth in the real world and in the networks that connect us socially.
Social media marketing is a powerful channel in helping individuals, SMEs or corporations get their message out fast, get more exposure, supporters and customers for your website and business. And one thing that makes it happened is consumers’ trust in “people like them” – their friends, family and other online peers.
Data is important. It helps us to guide our decisions based on facts – not just gut instinct. Lately, this data from eMarketer has been floating around the web.
Based on the study towards venues and relationships affect how social media users perceive advice – postings by brands or companies were trusted less, but levels were similar whether companies posted to Facebook or blogs. Online community sites did not hold the same trustworthiness as Facebook or blogs, whether postings were made by companies or fellow members, and respondents had an even more skeptical eye for independent bloggers. And across all categories of content creator, Twitter streams were trusted less than other media.
Social media marketing is the process of promoting your site or business through social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get you links, attention and massive amounts of traffic.
There is no other low-cost promotional method out there that will easily give you large numbers of visitors, some of whom may come back to your website again and again.
To build better and more trust among the social media users, you need to serve well in the investment of time and energy that you put in, identifying the missing elements that currently prevent your business from embodying a true 360 approach in all you do, opens the doors to identify and apply specific value and resources to where it’s most critical and to specifically match capabilities with needs.
And don’t forget to shared equality and equity in the engagement of your stakeholders through the evolved mechanics of PR, Marketing, Advertising, HR, Finance, Sales, Service, Product, R&D, Strategic Alliances and etc to ensure that engagement is focused and genuine in order to meet the needs and expectations of today’s social consumer.
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