As much as the doors have flung open for social media marketing and the world has embraced Facebook with open arms, when it comes down whether or not it actually produces results there’s still a very “wait and see” attitude. After all, it is still a relatively new and often parodied medium whose abilities are tough to determine. Thankfully, there are no shortage of opinions, inspirations, and thoughts on the effectiveness of the genre.
This blog by David Berkowitz recently rattled off 100 ways to measure social media. What sounds in theory like it could potentially be a dull read, turns out to be a quick no-nonsense approach to metrics and social media. Looking at  fans, followers, and friends listed at 11,12, and 13 respectively, on Berkowitz’s list we see that social media is like every other form of marketing. It works by speaking to fans of your products and those who Tweet to others about your products while turning to your friends to supply even more word of mouth. What’s also great about his list is the mathematical equation that we see building up with all of the elements we add into our social media marketing strategies.
My own two sense on the effectiveness of social media marketing is one of the “don’t knock it until you’ve tired it” variety. Social media requires low risk and lots of creativity, things any savvy business owner should be in no short supply of anyway. I recently heard a friend describing how her daughter used her Facebook account to sell Girl Scout cookies and ended up with the highest sales in her troop. This small scale picture of social media in action proves that all people really need on Facebook and Twitter is a note that says”hey, I’m here and I’m selling something you like”. It is truly that simple. Twitter works wonders with hot off the press company news and Facebook is great for building your online presence. Now with geolocation, easier-to-load videos for smart-phones, daily developing applications for mobile marketing and social media marketing are starting to merge as well.
So the question for the day is not does social media work, but how do you work social media?
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