Susan is the only “PR Only” public relations firm in the Green Bay area. She’s got some very interesting results to share from a recent survey that they released recently. [check out the results of the Leonard & Finco survey here]
56% of the business people that L&F surveyed use social media, and the rest, ou guessed it, they’re not. What’s really interesting is that the media, by and large, are using social media to conduct interviews, generate story ideas and keep up with the issues and organizations in the area. So, what’s that mean? Well, if you’re seeking media attention for your organization, you’ll find the media hanging out in social media!
Networking (79%) seems to be the main area of social media success for northeast wisconsin business people.
An interesting tidbit from the survey that MarketingSavant did with the Chamber was the response from 31% that said that social media is “important but not critical”.
Here’s the fascinating thing - nearly 90% of the survey members said that social media will be part of their future marketing plans! Similarly, 87% believe that social media WILL impact the way that they business. At least most of us can agree on something.
100% (how often do you find that in stats) believe thst social media has a place in the business world. Whew. Glad we got that settled.
What does this all mean?
> Social media has been embraced by the media the cover you
> Younger, better educated folks have embraced social media, so you should too!
> Encourage your organization to learn all that it can about social media as soon as possible
> Sure, it’s still developing, but it’s developing rapidly. The time to jump in is now.
> Put social media into your marketing plan, and make plans for social media
It’s imperative to understand that social media will be part of your brand. You react, respond converse and promote in traditional media and while there will be some transition, the right approach right now (and for the forseeable future) will be a blended/integrated approach.
Susan mentioned that ‘not every social media app is right for you’ but that doesn’t mean that you can ignore it. If you don’t blog, fine, but that won’t stop bloggers from talking about you. You need to be aware engaged, even if you’re just observing.
Susan doesn’t advocate a hard core ’social media policy’, but as Pat said earlier, you need to have some training and some media understanding amongst your team members.
