As Paul says; we’re just trying to figure it out, see how it works and how we can all benefit in positive ways. Cool stuff. Good questions, and we’ve all come back a bit…

Engaging people. Have you seen http://www.Pearsonified.com? That site only has a few dozen articles on it, but wow. If you’re a blogger, he’s really got a candystore there… every article is something you want to read with valuable, actionable info. No fluff, no whiny opining.. just quality goods. And he’s got the traffic that proves he’s onto something.

Thinking he’s got a good model there. I, for one, am pretty tired of reading ‘editorial’ from a bunch of folks I don’t know… a million little soapboxes.

Am looking at a strategy around this. Thanks for your thoughts.

As a marketer in a small web content management software company I’d like to know what has been working for you.

Allow me to also mention that I tweeted your post several days ago and several of the people who commented here did so because of that tweet. That goes in the “for what it’s worth” department I suppose, but it does serve as evidence to support a central tenet of social media marketing — that it’s about engaging people (customers, prospects) in conversations that lead to business relationships. We’re all still trying to figure it out, where, how and why it works.

I can tell you blogging has been very good to me. And I’ve seen it serve beneficially for many others as well. In your case, I believe using your blog as social media headquarters and establishing your thought leadership is certainly a way to gain attention for your company. It’s personal brand building that leads to brand awareness for the company as well. (Kind of meme going around now.)

Seems to me steps one and two are a no-brainer for most folks: we’re in the business we’re in, after all.

But step three… what’s a reasonable goal?

If you make your goal ‘to sell stuff’ I’d think you’d naturally end up creating a pitch-fest, which can’t work.

If it’s to gather an audience, what kind of numbers can be expected for a startup blog? So many blogs – even well written and updated ones – are dead dead dead. And what kind of numbers are significant?

Not that I’d ever consider monetizing with ads (I’ve got my own business to promote), but does anyone have any idea what kind of audience you need to make an ad model work? Seems like that would be a potential measure of ’success’.

You’ll know you’ve developed something of value when… ?

I’m on Twitter as Webconomist as well. I’ll search for you.

My experience with corporate clients that has worked has been very much the same principles as any marketing campaign with a Social Media twist:
1. Determine the target market (audience)
2. Determine what your “goal” is: pick your topic you know best or at least a theme so you can defend it when necessary.
3. Define what “success” means to you
4. Participate in the Social Media channels that are relevant to your audience (Facebook in the U.S./Canada is better than Bebo which is HUGE in the EU/UK.)
5. Evaluate/Measure and determine if/how you proceed.

Not saying this is perfect, but it’s worked for us with some fairly large organizations and government departments. Anyone else have some approaches that have worked?

Webconomist: Wonder how you’d ‘work it’ from here. Any specific strategies/tactics you’d use first? I suppose to determine the goal, huh?

Marc: I don’t agree that one should embrace anything that drives traffic and sales.. that’s sort of the point of this post. I mean, I could go knocking door to door and drive some business, but at what cost? It looks to me like a serious social media commitment will take an hour a day, minimum. For me, that’s a SERIOUS time commitment away from a lot of other stuff I need to be doing, including playing with my kids.

But, I do get that you’re a vote for ‘YES, social media works.’

What would you do with an hour a day for five months, with a goal to create a conversation that’s significant enough to clearly be worth the time it takes?

I guess it has to stem from a need to change something that’s not working or from the need to be at the top of the game – who knows where we’ll be in a year and what will be HOT then.

Thank you for getting my thougths down. I have wondered in the Business to Business marketing and working at the Executive level hwo much time should be invested in Social Media. I concluded if your market isn’t there you don’t have to. Pretty basic, but sometimes we have to remember that just because it is great doesn’t mean it will work for us.

David

“When you can snatch the pebble from my hand Grasshopper, then you will be ready”

Marc