Message to publishers: social media is now your business

 The findings of my recent study should give traditional publishers a reason to take another look at social media. The study found that social media is currently used as a general communications tool in public relations and marketing, but is evolving into a major tool of customer engagement.

Research for, "The Coming Change in Social Media Business Applications", found that companies are now looking to social media as a primary way to engage their customers, enabling lead generation, immediate customer contact, and customer interaction.

As content publishers, consider that all ads and sponsorships now sold are for this same goal, customer engagement. If social media becomes a primary way that this happens you need to be a part of it. Luckily, a lot of building social networks is about leveraging focused content, something publishers know a lot about. For publishers who can see this, there is opportunity.

This study is the first to measure a coming shift in how companies will use social media.
There are several factors driving this trend.

First, with more people spending time on online social media sites and companies are realizing a lot of their customers can be found there.

Second, the shift to online communications has made it easier for potential customers to dodge traditional lead generation and sales strategies. Social media can help break the ice.

Finally, a recession is causing every company to rethink its customer engagement strategy.

The report offers a overview of the shift toward uses in social media as well as measurements specific to Twitter and social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn.

Along the way, I had to good fortune to interview social media gurus Brian Solis, Shel Holtz, Dan Schnabel, Ari Herzog, and Dan McCarthy.

If you are in publishing this is a real opportunity and an extremely important trend to get in front of.

Download the study here

Comments

[Education Consultancy]

Thanks for your information. Most of the posts in the blog is really valuable. Regards

[social media marketing]

Thanks for guiding me through this. Rarely do I find good entries that would walk me through. Great post.

-jomie-

[creative service agency]

I agree. Social media is now the new trend in business.

Daniel