Social Media Strategy - Inbound Marketing Tool

Summarization

I read this article from Jeremiah Owyang, Corporate Media Strategy Director of PodTech.net,
Face it, we know technology constantly changes and we have to keep up with what is going on especially those in the Internet Technology, Marketing and Engineering sectors. Companies will benefit incorporating social media to not only their daily operations, but also many other departments including Marketing, Sales, IT, HR, and CRM. Whether your objective(s) are to increase visibility, increase business clientele, and revenues – a social media program will monetize in both the short and long run.

Recognize the new influences – Discover media, press, and analysts while thinking social media is another influencer.

Prepare for all scenarios – create an internal process and discuss how to deal during crises.

Do not shy away – Acknowledge any deficiencies no matter what, acknowledge discuss the current situation, act upon it well mannered - this will prevent outside forces from coming in. Stay relevant, address any issues.

Human media is at your disposal - KFC has demonstrated this well during a crises. Consider using video to humanize communications, during a crisis this could be a big difference.

Address the good as well as the bad – Planning for the negative, be sure to be responsive to the positive, if a customer raves about your service, plan a way to respond.

Track who’s who! Create an internal database (easiest a .CSV or .XLS) of all contacts and descriptions. Consider an internal friend feeder or company wiki or linkedin profile.

Appoint and Empower - For a large company, figure out the key employee to respond to bloggers and social media. Teach without bias while praising and empowering the key employee.

Employees will blog, embrace and abide by blogging ethics policy – Have your key employees that can contribute by discussing your current plan of strategy. Customers will usually trust the employee’s view of the company’s product/service.

Consider creating the "Air Traffic Control Tower." - Just like the airport create an internal process for your employees on how to blog, what to and what not to say and indicate what is happening in the blogosphere.

It seems to be the final or initial question at mind from business managers – “What’s in it for me?” How do you convert social media? – Three ways

A living whitepaper by your companies thought leaders
A rapid response tool. Think about how long a public release takes to craft.

A conversation starter. Encourage your sales team to send controversial topics and blogs to prospects and customers to elicit dialogue, event no agreements. Upload the FAQ’s.

I hope these have helped you get a feel about corporate social media and the advantages of incorporating this new technology.