Daily Article of Interest - Social Media Tips

Here is today's "Daily Article of Interest" (must be said with loud, booming voice for full effect).  Today's entry comes from the Web Worker Daily website and blog.  Here is a quick preview of the article.

Why Social Media Marketing is Still a Red-headed Stepchild

January 6th, 2010 (1:00pm) Aliza Sherman 

I’ve been discouraged in recent months to find that in the wider business world there is still an enormous resistance to embracing newer communications tools such as blogs, microblogs and social networks as part of a fully-integrated marketing strategy. I watch as public relations and marketing departments all but ignore the social media marketing vendors they bring in. I see print ads still going into newspapers failing to mention that the company or organization are now on Facebook or Twitter. I hear PSAs and radio ads failing to mention these new consumer touch points in addition to a web site.

I have to admit that I'm constantly amazed that businesses still don't see the benefits of social media.  And I'm not only talking about major businesses, in fact, the larger corporations are actively leading the way in social media experimentation and success.  Companies like Nike, Apple, Dominoes, etc, are using social media in ways that will impact overall business online practices for years to come. 

There are also small business and entrepreneurs who are creatively using social media to raise their profiles, generate interest online and draw customers to their organizations. 

Meanwhile, there are public relations firms, ad agencies and about a million small to medium to large businesses and non-profits across the country who not only don't get it, but they aren't actively doing anything to learn about or use, social media tools to expand successfully.

I think the tips in this article are very effective and thought-provoking.  In a sense, we're all still learning this crazy thing called social media as it continues to grow and change.  But while we know there will be growing pains and many lessons along the way, if we can establish some rock solid basics that we can jump off from, the process will be much smoother and we can all grow successfully together.