Facebook. LinkedIn. Flickr, Twitter, blogs. The list goes on. Sometimes, it seems like social networks are taking over the world. And, let’s face it, people enjoy using them. Facebook has 200 million users – more members than some countries have people. Social networks give people a chance to communicate, share ideas, state preference and also do a lot of silly things like find out what great dictator they most resemble. But all joking aside, social networks are growing – and they’re clearly important.

We can agree that people use them. But they generally use them to connect with other people. Not look for products. When you’re sitting down for a drink and a chat with friends, the last thing you want is to be advertised to. Maybe a social network just isn’t the right place to get customers interested in your latest offering. Maybe they’ll too busy talking among themselves to listen to you.

On the other hand, people use blogs, Facebook pages and twitter to talk about products – whether they have negative things to say or positive. So there are important conversations happening. Customers and potential customers could be talking about your business and its products or services without you actually knowing. So, it’s probably a good idea to see if an I-hate-XYZ-widgets page exists on Facebook. And if it does, you might want to find out why, especially if you’re the Marketing Director at XYZ Widgets.

But running a campaign on social networks takes time and money – both of which are in short supply. After all, finding out what’s going on in your industry takes time and research. And blogs don’t just write themselves. When all is said and done, how can you prove your social networking strategy is successful? By the number of hits on your blogs? By the number of fans on your Facebook page. Or, is it the number of people who arrive at your e-tail site from a comment you dropped on your favourite forum? And how do you add all that up? Is one appearance on a popular blog equal to the same amount of space in a magazine?

So, the problem with social networking isn’t just how do we use it, but deciding how we measure its value.

Any successful social campaigns you’d like to discuss?

Marc Duke

No sweat? No, this is nothing to do with a New Year’s resolutions about getting fit. Instead, it’s a serious question about assets, that is marketing assets. The killer question is: are you sweating your assets enough? I am no accountant, but what I do know is we are in a recession and every penny has to count (it needs to in boom time too, but the focus is never as great when everyone is feeling positive). As an independent consultant involved in technology marketing communications, I get involved in loads of interesting situations. I have to deliver value or I have lost the client and the revenue. But I have recently been in a situation of managing a PR agency on behalf of a client. What scared/annoyed me was the lack of value being delivered, without getting into detail any marketer managing a supplier needs to ask the following:

• Does the supplier understand my business and what I have asked them to deliver?
• Have they delivered results or excuses?
• Have I provided the right level of support?

 A few answers to these questions is likely to result in getting the maximum from your agency and will ultimately lead to marketing generating growth for the business.

Contact Marc at marcduke@btconnect.com