Gary Vaynerchuck's post - You Down With ROI?…Yeah You Know Me - says that it isn't the social media companies that will be affected by the current financial environment, it is the traditional media companies like radio, newspapers and magazines. Spending large amounts on print ads or radio ads will not produce the ROI it has in the past, as people move out of those media.
One alternative would be to create a company Twitter account to follow and interact with real customers. Hubspot ran a recent webinar about using Twitter and pointed out some great examples such as Zappos, Comcast, Amazon and Whole Foods. Comcast apparently watched for 2 months before interacting with their @comcastcares account and now offers support via Twitter. Amazon offers new deals with its @amazondeals account. Zappos shows off all employee tweets at What are Zappos employees doing right now? Whole Foods lets customers interact, check inventory, and discuss experiences via @wholefoods. This whole operation could be staffed with several interns or some full time employees and could totally change customers views and appreciation for your brand.
Instead of print advertising, companies could place ads on related blogs for rock bottom prices and track the actual results. Impossible with traditional media.
The market may be down, but the shift to online media continues to accelerate. Now is the time to get going with Social Media. Ask us how to get started.
