On July 16th, the members of ExactTarget’s Catapult Rotational Program and Slingshot Internship Program had the opportunity to meet with Kyle Lacy, the co-founder and CEO of Brandswag, one of the Indiana Business Journal’s Forty-under-40, and author of Twitter Marketing for Dummies. Since this dynamic entrepreneur has made a name for himself as a social media expert, he had some valuable insights about trends and strategies in social media marketing.First off, Kyle pinpointed exactly how social media has changed marketing for good. Companies used to be able to craft their own brand images by distributing their top-down messaging through PR and mass media. But the tables have turned. Armed with the voice that is social media, consumers now have the power to determine a company’s brand. Today, the challenge for businesses is not to distribute their own content, but to find brand evangelists and fans to distribute it for them.
Kyle also noted that merely distributing content – even on the scale of millions of impressions – doesn’t necessarily help your ROI. For example, do Andy Sandberg’s viral Youtube videos translate into more TV viewers for Saturday Night Live? And while support from fans of Facebook Causes is a positive force, does that actually translate into more donations?
Kyle’s company, Brandswag, helps businesses formulate a social media marketing plan to get the best results. In his blog, he emphasizes, “You should never think of social media as a quick fix solution. For one, social media is a tool to be used for an objective of an overall goal - be it marketing, PR, or customer service.” One such effective strategy is using social media for organizational story telling. Your business has its very own story, and telling it with passion can both cut through the media clutter as well as stand out from your competitors. Social media is the perfect platform for conveying your story.
He also reminds, though, that “In order to be successful with social media, you must be patient. Your social media goals won’t be met after a day of implementation.” Luckily, emerging social media marketing tools are making managing your social campaigns easier than ever. Kyle believes that current trends are pointing towards one universal platform – a perfect example being the comprehensive solutions offered by ExactTarget and CoTweet.
You can read more about Kyle’s thoughts on what ExactTarget and Cotweet mean for the future of social media on his blog here. In fact, he and 11 other experts contributed to our white paper, "Letters to the C-suite: Getting Serious about Social Media." If you're serious about social media strategy for your business, it's a must read!
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