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Home Insider Blogs Eric Wu's Blog Social media, where is the value?
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Jun 15
2009

Social media, where is the value?

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Posted by: Eric Wu on Jun 15, 2009 01:00

Tagged in: Untagged 

In 1997, I can recall my older sisters saying how cumbersome email was.

In 1999, I can recall high school classmates saying that Napster will never replace music CD’s.

In 2005, I remember friends saying how stupid Facebook is.

Today, I have my own friends and peers asking me the value of social media as a distribution, marketing, and communication tool.

I think it's important to note that we've seen disruptive technologies and changing consumer behavior change industries. This seems particularly true in the newspaper and television industries as of late. And the inability to adapt to this change has caused large print and television corporations to lose market share.

What should have happened is these well-funded and well-positioned companies should have identified the trend, and set up division to experiment, explore, and develop new technologies in line with consumer demand. In essence, Gannett should have created Blogger, NBC should have created YouTube, and Yellowpages should have created Yelp.

In terms of the Multi-family housing industry, I’m not defending the value of Twitter as a lead generating service for the apartment industry. It may never provide significant results as a lead generator. And I am not saying that Twitter, FriendFeed, or Facebook is the next platform that will change the way we find apartments. But I think it is a mistake to make all decisions based on measurable results.

Here is why:


1) It takes time to build and adapt to new technologies.

There is a learning curve involved. You cannot just get a PageRank of 9 overnight. You cannot build a network of followers for your blog with one post. You cannot build your online content presence by creating a Facebook Fanpage.

2) Social Media is also an engagement, communication, and customer service tool.

Not all results of customer service are immediately measurable. I do not need to defend the value of transparency; we all use UCG and review sites everyday. But I feel like I need to convey this… The way we (consumers) communicate, interact, and consume information is changing and for the most part, has changed. The social web, reviews, and UGC influence our purchasing decisions.

Conclusion

Social media is a rapidly growing consumer trend and many companies are still figuring out how to use it effectively. However, it has changed the way consumers make decisions and it is important that companies understand how to employ it to their advantage.

Comments (4)Add Comment
68
written by Eric Brown, June 16, 2009
Good Morning Eric,
Nicely done, You have articulated your points well!
1772
written by Brian Barfield, June 16, 2009
Excellent thoughts. I do think that it is important to define print beyond newspapers. I am involved in an integrated media platform that strives to deliver our clients' messages directly to their prospects and we use print, online and social media. The bottom line is that the message needs to be in front of the eyes of who are ready to buy no matter the medium.
909
written by Allison Crabtree, June 17, 2009
This is great, Eric. Thanks for posting! Dead on.
1691
written by Trevor Henson, June 18, 2009
Great positive posting Eric! I agree: social media should be just one arm of our marketing and customer outreach. We use it as tool to strengthen our brand - not as end all, solve all to conventional relationships.
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