Social Media and the Corporate World
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Social media is hot. So hot, in fact, that corporations are starting to take notice of the power that social media can bring to their marketing campaigns.
Of course, those of us that are comfortable with Internet technology have known for a few years now just how much fun and how popular social media, like Flickr and FaceBook and myspace.com, can be. To corporations, however, it’s all still fairly new.
Earlier, we posted about how BusinessWeek updated their classic article on blogging to include social media. That post also mentions that many corporations are starting to take advantage of social media.
Today, we’re going to give a few examples of how social media is impacting the way that companies present themselves online.
Without too much effort my part I was able to locate the site of Pluck, which is one of the companies that are springing up (founded in 2003) to help corporations make use of social media. It appears that Pluck offers three main social media products: SiteLife, BlogBurst, and MyNews. Pluck has also already attracted a bevy of high profile corporate clients including Circuit City, Conde Nast, Discovery Communications, Gannett Corporation, McGraw-Hill, and the Washington Post (to name just a few).
A quick jump to Circuit City’s CityCenter shows social media already hard at work. Customers can register and create a profile that includes a photo or nifty image and other descriptive information. Once registered, customers can participate in the discussion forums, upload photos, enter a photo contest, or leave comments on the CityCenter blog. Of course, while they are at the site they can also purchase Circuit City products.
Gannett Corporation (the publishing power behind USA Today) is another one of Pluck’s social media clients. Once a reader is registered, they can snazz up their profile with a photo and a description. They can receive messages, make comments, download photos, “friend” other community members, and leave comments. By the way, as one would expect for a company in the publishing business, USA Today has not one, but many, blogs. Oh, and while you’re on the site you can also become a subscriber. (In addition, the USA Today site is monetized with advertisements.)
As you can see, social media is not just for fun any more. Any company that leaves social media marketing out of it’s planning process is likely to be left out in the cold.
Does your company have a social media marketing strategy in place? Why, or why not?
Tags: buzz, company forums, pluck, social marketing, Social Media, Social NetworkingRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Blogging, Corporate, Social Media, Social Networking
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