Ever since ‘Like Me, Follow Me’ - my book on social media for business - came out, I have been conducting workshops on the topic in Malaysia and Singapore.

The folks who attend these workshops are mainly department heads sent by their companies to find out what this thing called social media is all about.

They are usually managerial-level executives who are not decision makers. They can make suggestions but they don't decide whether or not the company should invest resources in social media.

People tasked with the job of maintaining social media pages have to concern themselves with technical and procedural considerations. But people who make the decisions on whether to invest in social media have bigger-picture considerations.

First and foremost, they have to decide where social media fits into the mix of new media initiatives on which their companies will embark. ‘New media’ is a very broad term and encompasses anything digital that can be delivered over the Internet.

Website, blogs, m NONE ultimedia content (like audio and video), mobile web and mobile apps - all these are part of what you'd call new media, of which social media is but a component.

I've said publicly many times that social media is a form of new media that's both interactive and that fosters relationship. And of the many different types of social media platforms out there, the two players that count are Facebook (well over 500 million users) and Twitter (now about 150 million users).

If you look at all the major websites and online publications in the world, the two things they have in common are Facebook and Twitter.

I've heard some people ask why not LinkedIn, which is supposed to be more formal and more corporate than either Facebook or Twitter.

While it's true that LinkedIn is very much a business platform, it is primarily used for headhunting and recruitment. It's not at all designed for communications, branding or consumer engagement, for which Facebook and Twitter are ideally suited.

The one new NONE social media development worth paying attention to is geo-location. And the leading player in that space is Foursquare. Recently, Facebook got into the geo-location game with the launch of Facebook Places, which many expect will kill off Foursquare.

Whether Foursquare survives or not in the long run isn't important. What's crucial is that companies start getting their feet wet in the areas of geo-location. This is a good way for them to reward regular customers who check in and let the retailers know they are frequenting their establishments.

Questions to answer

We know that social media is good for communications, branding and engagement. But what is it not good for? Sales lead generation. This is not something I would recommend people use social media for. Of course it could be used for such purposes but it's not ideal at all.

Since sales are not the kind of return on investment that decision makers can use to assess the success of a social media campaign or initiative, there are different kinds of metrics at which they can look.

At its most f internet media and print media undamental, they can look at how many fans and followers their social media initiatives manage to cultivate. One step further involves looking at how much interaction takes place. And if you want to take it even further, you can look at the depth or quality of the interaction.

Another important question is how much to invest. Do you create a dedicated team or do you get your staff to do it part time? That, of course, depends on what you want to achieve with social media.         

If you want to use it for customer service the way the telcos do, then you'll need a dedicated team for sure. If it is for branding purposes, then it is less resource intensive, so perhaps you can have the marketing or communications team manage this as part of its portfolio.

Some companies prefer to outsource their social media campaign to a third party. It is neither bad nor wrong to do that but again that depends on the use.

If it is for customer service, it can be outsourced just as companies outsource phone and e-mail queries to third-party call centres. But if you want to achieve a certain kind of connection and bonding with your customer base, it is better for the communications to be managed by an in-house team.

One thing's for sure, social media is not a fad. It is something that decision makers have to come to grips with sooner or later, because it's going to be the primary means by which companies interact with their target audience.

 

OON YEOH's new social media book 'Like Me, Follow Me' is published by MPH. You can connect with him via Facebook and Twitter .