Over on Being Peter Kim, Peter has a pretty significant list of companies jumping on the social media bandwagon. There are some great examples that he’s got listed, including Absolut’s Top Bartender on Facebook, a host of programs from Intel, and Jet Blue’s Twitter Account (which I previously wrote about here).
But there are also a few that I question such as the Wear Dated Carpet Fan Page on Facebook. There’s even a Kleenex social network for sharing videos of people sneezing, which I admit is kind of clever.
Just because it exists, doesn’t mean you have to use it! Not all companies should Twitter. Using social media is just like using any other marketing channel. You need to make sure that it addresses the needs of your audience and most of all, adds value to their experience.
A social media strategy needs to start with a real business problem to be solved and be crafted to address that problem. Don’t do it just for the sake of doing it.
Looking at Peter’s list, which programs do you think do it well and which do you think are lacking?
1 response so far ↓
1 C.B. Whittemore // Oct 20, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Ryan, I love that you are drawing attention to Peter Kim’s list. It’s a terrific resource.
I’m actively involved in Wear-Dated’s social media presence and I appreciate that you question the Wear-Dated Carpet Fiber fan page. As you note, not all venues work for all brands. However, it’s important to experiment and determine what works and what doesn’t work, and how they work. We’ve had great success with the Wear-Dated Carpetology Blog, and at some point Facebook may make more sense than it does now. In the meantime, I’m learning all I can.
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