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Social Media Mashup
By: Brittany Glenn
Issue: April 2010

Should you use social media as part of your marketing toolbox? Here’s what social media experts and industry sources had to say.


Ten years ago, everyone was talking about why it was necessary to have a company website. We got the message. We duly created a company website and chose our URL, marking our place in cyberspace. We beamed with pride at our accomplishment.

However, having a website is not enough, not in today’s Web 2.0 world. Nowadays, companies are sharing personal and professional insights on blogs, creating Facebook fan pages, sending messages on Twitter and polishing their company profiles on LinkedIn. They are posting videos on YouTube and digital photos on Flickr.

Even Google has gotten into the game, recently introducing its own social networking service, Buzz. Clearly, social media is all the rage.

But what does this mean to you? Should you get in the social media game? What are the benefits of using social media?

Entering The World Of 3.0 Sales
If you have a website then you know the importance of search engine optimization (SEO), the process of improving the volume of traffic to your website from search results. But did you know that one way to improve your company’s SEO is through social media?

“Social media is changing the face of how we connect with our customers past, present and future,” says Carrie Kerpen, queen bee of theKbuzz, a social media and word of mouth marketing firm, and instructor for PPAI Social Media Launchpad, a social networking certificate program. “It provides an opportunity to form deeper relationships and simultaneously listen, learn and grow with your customer base,” she says.

“Social media is driving search visibility,” says Lorrie Thomas, CEO of Web Marketing Therapy based in Santa Barbara, California, and professor of search and social media for the University of California at Santa Barbara and Berkeley.

Case in point: When Thomas conducts a Google search for her company name, links to her blog, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr accounts appear on the first page of the search results. Google definitely appears to be tuned in to the social media space.

Thomas says even small companies can leverage social media to compete equally in the marketplace. “But companies must think service before sales to win with Web 2.0 tools,” she says. “Social media marketing is all about building relationships.”

Communications Channel
Bobby Lehew, CAS, director of operations for Oklahoma City-based distributor Robyn Promotions & Printing (UPIC: ROBY0001), teaches classes on social media. Lehew, who maintains a blog and uses Facebook and Twitter to interface with clients, views social media sites as much-needed communication tools in today’s online world.

Lehew urges distributors to determine if their clients are using social media. If they are, then distributors should use social media, too, if for no other reason than to gain access to clients.

“I’m seeing buyers constantly hide behind their computer screens today,” Lehew says. “I used to come to my clients on my terms. They’re coming to us on their terms now. I have clients who will send me messages through Twitter but won’t e-mail me. The doors that social media opened have really stunned me.”

Mike Freestone, CAS, owner of Holland, Michigan-based AIA/Freestone Design (UPIC: FRESTONE), maintains a blog and uses Twitter to actively communicate with clients. “Social media has put me in contact with clients I would have never reached otherwise,” he says. Freestone maintains a company blog and actively uses Twitter.

“Social media is just another lane on the communication highway,” says Dana R. Zezzo, vice president of sales for Pittsburgh-based supplier Pro Towels, Etc. (UPIC: PROTOWEL). “It’s no different than a phone call, e-mail or text. Statistics show that a salesperson must make eight to nine ‘touches’ before a transaction happens. There is no better media to speed up the process than social media,” Zezzo says.

“I have been utilizing Twitter and Facebook to interact with people for more than a year now, and I find both to be invaluable,” says Bryony Zasman, marketing and sales director for promotional products business services company ZOOMcatalog (UPIC: Zoom-cat) based in Lafayette, Colorado. “I have been able to connect with so many people that I probably would have never met without social media.”

Sharon, Massachusetts-based supplier Charles River Apparel (UPIC: CRA) is also effectively using social media tools through a company blog, Facebook and Twitter. “Social media is a great way to communicate with our customers,” says Bill Zrike, inside sales associate. “The responses we’ve received to our social media sites have been overwhelmingly positive.”

PPAI has also entered the Web 2.0 arena and has found a very successful way of communicating with members.

“The important thing for us [PPAI] was to choose social media opportunities that offer the most value and that matched up best with our strategic initiatives, says Keith Vincent, PPAI director of marketing. “Equally important was to be sure we could manage our presence in each area. You can invest a lot of time in many different initiatives and really get nowhere.

“Our goal always has been to open the channels of communication with our membership base. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and our Did You Know blog afford us additional opportunities for two-way communication with our members,” Vincent says. “For us it’s less about selling products and services and more about creating awareness and engaging in dialog. After all we are an association that thrives on community.”

Time Trench
Perhaps the biggest drawback to social media is time. It takes time to write high-quality blog articles, create a Facebook fan page, respond to messages, update your LinkedIn account, post videos on YouTube and compose tweets of 140 characters or less.

Patrick Gray, president of IP strategy consulting firm Prevoyance Group based in Charlotte, North Carolina, believes participating in social media may not be worth the time investment.

“About 20 percent of these technologies and their content can be used effectively to boost the bottom line, and the other 80 percent are a massive time suck,” Gray says. “Four hours later, you wonder where the time went.”

Although the time investment is steep—and time is money—Gray points out that there are no hard costs associated with social media marketing. “I think the superficial attraction to social media is all this stuff is cheap,” he says. “It costs $12,000 to run a color ad in a newspaper, but you can create a Facebook page for free. So, hurry, send the interns—we’ll try it out.”

Mike Pusateri, controller for Chicago-based supplier Pacesetter Awards Co. (UPIC: PACE0002), agrees that the amount of time social media takes is eye-opening. “I believe there is value in social media, but it is time-consuming,” Pusateri says. “You almost have to hire a salesperson dedicated to the digital media market in order to fully immerse a company. Otherwise it’s just a hobby and will probably be a waste of time.”

Lehew admits that the No. 1 negative of social media is the amount of time it takes. One way to manage your time is to adopt a “10 minute rule,” Lehew suggests. “Devote 10 minutes every two hours to your social media,” he says. “This really sets some people free as far as the solution.”

Nick Dumitru, president and founder of Toronto-based search engine marketing firm Think Basis, Inc., believes if your target market is using social media, you should, too. “If you can determine that your prospects are spending time on Facebook or Twitter then it’s worth the time to invest in the social media space,” Dumitru says.

Better Blogging
One of the best ways to enter the social media space is to create a blog. “You can increase your company’s visibility by taking internal expertise and publishing it on a blog to become an authority,” Thomas says.

Posting high-quality content on your blog will not only attract visitors to your site, it will increase your SEO. “Blogs are one of the most cost-effective ways for a company to develop an online ‘voice’ while building relevance for the search engines,” Dumitru says. “The more quality content a company can produce, the better they will do in the search results and site traffic.”

The good news is that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time you create content for social media sites. “You can recycle your blog posts into a short tweet,” Thomas says. “And you can post that same article on Facebook and on article-marketing sites, like Squidoo. You can also re-purpose the content that’s in your e-newsletter.”

Lehew maintains an active blog, and he posts new articles regularly. He says one of the benefits of having a blog is personal development. “When you’re forced to start thinking about your business strategically it makes you a sharper professional. Writing helps clarify your thoughts,” Lehew says.

“Our blog was an instant success,” says Zrike of Charles River Apparel. “It shows a personal side of the company.”

Indeed, promotional products professionals seem to have taken a shine to blogs. Dustin Harris, principal of Chicago-based Eight Legged Media (UPIC: 8lmedia), which is an e-mail marketing services company for the industry, says clients’ e-mails that have blog links are more popular.

“We’ve got some clients who have built blogs, and the blogs seem to get a really good response in this industry,” Harris says. “Recently we sent out an e-mail for one of our clients that includes a link to their blog. While our typical click-through rate might be 300 to 400 on every e-mail, this company typically gets about 2,400 click throughs. It’s because of the blog link.”

Facebook Fans
You may already use Facebook, but does your company have a Facebook fan page? This public profile enables you to share your business and products with Facebook users. You can include a company overview, website and contact info, press releases, blog links, photos, video Twitter updates and more.

“A Facebook page is a very intimate way of communicating your brand attributes,” Dumitru says. “It also offers the ability to create an ‘in crowd’ feeling for members of your page.”

But not everyone is a fan of Facebook pages. “The amount of time and effort you put into a Facebook page typically doesn’t pay out,” Harris says. “E-mail brings in about $57 per $1 spent. However, the ROI for Facebook is below $1. Trying to build something relevant that people want to be friends with and keep coming back to is difficult.”

Gray also offers some cautionary advice. “If you know your demographic and you have a product that they’d love to hear about through Facebook, then by all means create a fan page,” he says. “However, when done poorly, it looks like the company doesn’t care about the demographic they’re trying to tap into. You would have been better off if you didn’t do it in the first place.”

Lehew says it’s generally harder for business-to-business companies to generate a viral fan following on Facebook.

“We’re having a harder time in the business-to-business sector making things like Facebook fan pages stick,” Lehew says. “Companies like Apple are massive brands that have a cult-like following. Trying to generate traction with our small businesses and in the business-to-business arena is a little harder.”

Industry Insight
Although Lehew estimates approximately five percent of industry distributors currently consider social media as a serious marketing tool, he sees two opportunities on the horizon for the industry.

“Here’s where distributors can really rock,” Lehew says. “We’re the kings of giving away free stuff. We sell it so that people can give it away. We’ve not yet capitalized on selling our merchandise to companies for their own Facebook fan pages.

“The other thing our industry is not doing is practicing what we preach,” Lehew continues. “Generating good will is the No. 1 reason why people give promotional products, and it just surprises me that we’re not doing this to develop fans. What you’re about to see on social media sites is we’re going to be kings of giving it away.”

A freelance journalist, Brittany Glenn writes about current issues, trends and the economy for consumer and business-to-business magazines. She is a former associate editor of PPB magazine.

Google Buzz
In mid-February, Google announced its own social media service, Buzz. Like Facebook and Twitter, Buzz lets you share links, updates and media with people in your Gmail contact list. Bloggers are betting Google Buzz will be a success due to its integration with users’ Gmail inboxes.

Nick Dumitru, president and founder of Toronto-based search engine marketing firm Think Basis, Inc., believes Buzz will eventually have an impact on search engine optimization. “Social media is most likely going to become much more important than it is now as Google Buzz is integrated into search engine algorithms.”