The Word Pro Updates SCORE Volunteers on Social Media Marketing

“Twitter Forces Marketing Strategy Switch.” This August 16, 2009 Chicago Tribune headline confirmed that my talk two days later was on a very timely subject. The Tribune article proclaimed that there had been 21.2 million Twitter visits in the U.S. in one month (July 2009), and while only 26% of companies polled were currently using Social Network Marketing, 70% said they were making plans to start.

The presentation, titled “Social Network Marketing: What it is…how it’s used…and why we should care,” was geared to SCORE Volunteers. SCORE is a national association of retired and semi-retired executives, who volunteer their time to counsel owners and prospective owners of small businesses. While these men and women have a wealth of experience and knowledge to draw upon, most of them were not completely up to speed on the newer Social Media outlets and how they were changing the face of marketing in the 21^st century.

The presentation contrasted Traditional and Social Media Marketing. While traditional marketing is an “outbound” strategy (think of the advertiser as the hammer; the consumer the nail) Social Media Marketing is an “inbound” strategy (think of a magnet drawing people in). 

Social networking provides a way for consumers interact with a company and each other in a setting built around the brand – a form of grassroots marketing that spreads through the community. To understand the power of this new way of marketing, Nielsen recently reported that 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations compared to 14% who trust advertisements.

I also highlighted some of the social networking “on ramps,” including blogs, business links (like LinkedIn) social links (like FaceBook), video blogs (like YouTube) and micro blogs (like Twitter). Each of these venues works in a slightly different way, depending on the specific goal of the user.

The SCORE volunteers were an interested and engaged audience. So much so, in fact, that I have been asked to return for Part II. Attendees will be invited to bring laptops and be led on a “hands on” tour of some of the more popular sites and a more in-depth discussion of how they are being used.

My only problem: With so much time being spent on researching and preparing talks for these and other members of the business community, I have not had much time to blog, “friend,” “connect,” or tweet on my own social network sites!

Tags: Blogging, Marketing, social media, social network marketing