Refresh button
It’s been debated for some time the value of social media for companies and organizations – Facebook, Ning, Twitter, Digg – what's the ROI? The problem is, most of those analyzing it from the outside, and even those within companies attempting to tap into the built-in audience of 350 million on Facebook, are looking through marketing, advertising, public relations, technology, business development or other lenses based on years of more traditional experience.

If we hit the refresh button on social media approach, better yet hit the refresh button after installing a needed flash download there may be a different result. I see it as much of an old school approach as new. The customer relationship that developed before the heavy dependency on television, radio, mail, phones and print advertising was a critical component to success. The smile, the handshake, the use of people’s name and the overall emphasis on customer service meant everything at one time.

Social media provides a new online platform from which to develop the relationships old school style, only rather than reaching a few at a time there is capability of reaching a mass audience. Rather than talking at customers and attracting them with sizzle and flare through your ad campaign, now there are multiple social media and online tools to share this information with them through video, audio and written voices but also to include them. Companies and organizations have the opportunity to put not only the company brand/face forward, but also share the many parts roles and values of the organization.

As an example we’ll use a chain grocery store that we’ll call Foodies. The regional store funds an annual toy drive around the holidays. To date the only way this information was shared was with a Foodies logo at the bottom of an ad for the toy drive and a one-day earned media covered by print, radio and TV. Social media provides an opportunity to not only raise more funds and awareness around the cause, but provides the company an opportunity to tell its story. The story of the many employees who give a remarkable amount of time to make the toy drive happen year after year. The story of the child who received a Christmas gift from parents for the first time in 3 years thanks to the event driven by Foodies. The story of the company executives who believed in giving back to those in need and investing in the community who had done so much to help them succeed as a company. With the help of social media, Foodies has a way to share their many stories which would have previously been cost prohibitive to purchase the air time or print space to share this information. It's an opportunity to deepen the connection and loyalty of its customers and to demonstrate Foodies loyalty to the community right back. After all, loyalty should go both ways. In the end there will be a strong ROI, especially considering most social media tools are free and advertising on these sites and online generally is reasonable compared to the cost of offline advertising.

I agree with John Naughton writer for The Observer who stated in an article Sun, Dec 6, that “Facebook is the most glaring example of an unsolved puzzle…”. I also agree that, “there's no point in advertising to them”. However, there is a point in developing a connection, advertising with them.