There's no denying that Facebook and Twitter are both hot topics right now. We get a half-dozen emails each week advertising seminars, podcasts or webinars proclaiming they can teach us to turn tweets into dollars or status updates into customers.

Is social media really that powerful? Is it really a ground-breaking way to reach potential customers? The answer is..."sort of." In the opinion of many advertising experts, social media is like any other marketing tool. It only works if it reaches people who want your products and engages them in a positive way. There's nothing ground-breaking there. The greatest advertising in the world won't work if nobody sees it.

But social media pundits point out that what makes social media unique is that it's...well...social. People enjoy sharing things they like, and if they like a product, service or brand, they'll share that experience with others, sometimes in droves. That can certainly benefit a company. But the trouble is, if people DON'T like something, they'll share that too...often with venomous delight. 

So you cannot simply be "on" Facebook or Twitter. You must give potential customers something of value, be it tips and techniques, coupons or discounts, promotional giveaways or perhaps just a good laugh with a funny story! You also have to be responsive. If you DON'T interact on your social media site, it's like NOT returning phone calls or answering emails. Yet many companies jump into social media without making a commitment to maintaining an account and interacting with customers. So before entering the social media arena, ask yourself a few questions:

• Are your customers actually using social media?

• Do you understand the terminology and technology?

• Are you committed to providing resources to handle the extra work by assigning people internally or allocating money to pay an outside company.

• Do you have time to do it yourself or manage it with an outside agency?

• Are your other online marketing tools in order? It won't help to get people interested on Facebook if your website is poorly designed, written or outdated?

• Have you identified ways to get people interested in your product or service without "hard selling" them?

Some answers are no-brainers. For instance, it seems virtually everyone uses social media to some extent, so any company or organization can use it to their advantage. But maintaining a social media account can be incredibly time-consuming and even technologically challenging. So if you can't answer "yes" to the other questions, chances are you're better off NOT being on Facebook or Twitter.

Plus some types of companies will obviously have a harder time reaching people. A law firm or a company that makes engine parts or toilet paper may struggle to find ways to engage people about their products. But darn if there isn't a great toilet paper story (in the first link below) about how Charmin built a large fan base for its toilet paper via an iPhone app.

Remember, people have to believe they're getting something of value in exchange for their interaction with you or your company, and in turn the company has to provide timely information or feedback when it's needed.

Magnetic Image handles social media management for several clients and we'd be glad to see if we can help you. Here are links to other articles with great insight about social media's potential value to businesses.

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