One Toe or Two in the Social Media Water?

Wednesday February 16th, 2011

If you're not using social media to reach out to your audience, you most likely should be. Based on the following US studies, and the fact that Canada is comprised of mainly small to medium enterprise, it makes sense for Canadian organizations (and other) to jump on the bandwagon too. (we're Canadian eh!)

"eMarketer estimates four out of five US businesses with at least 100 employees will be marketing on social media this year, and US ad spending on social networks is expected to reach over 3 billion."

Start with one toe to test the social water — or go a step further and give your audience the stage with a fully integrated solution that includes Web 2.0 Hybrid CMS linked to your database. This puts your audience (and you) in charge. Today, customers prefer to "window-shop online" and "engage with the manufacturer or distributor" prior to purchasing.

In turn, you will also be providing your existing customers with a more dynamic and branded experience where they can learn about your new products & services from others who "participate in conversation on your website" (under your moderation or that of our Social Agents). This results in a more compelling and positive experience for new visitors to your website as well.

A custom solution brings your organization control over the environment, which equates to added security, safety and privacy for all. It also makes for easy integration with your newsletters and marketing campaigns, via your social media back-end. The result is a more dynamic and comprehensive solution all around. Later on, you can add e-commerce to accommodate for secure online payment processing, upgrade your metrics to be as high-end as you like, and more. Flexibility is the key!

New to social media and overwhelmed by all the buzz around new platforms, management, tools, content, analytics, security, safety, privacy and ROI? A custom solution gives you exactly what you need. If your organization is already on social, what could you be doing even better to increase your return on investment? Do you need to incur the expense of new employees to oversee your social communities? Answers to the above questions are becoming clearer now.

Why not bring everything together in one place - on your website? The beauty of a custom solution is that you can change directions on-the-fly - remember, you have control. You may opt to internalize the solution at a later date.

Where do you go from here? First, you need to determine your starting point. Contact Fluent ITS to find out how.

P.S. Personally, editing this content today made me realize just how much I miss the freedom of a user-friendly website. It's so easy - Fluent ITS builds a killer back-end!

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