Social media do or do-not checklist

Social media … is getting right up there in my hated marketing terms along with webinar, buzz, needs, and solutions.

Us industrial manufacturers are nonplussed by the buzz (shoot, I used one myself) of social media. But truly it is a case-by-case basis. Some marketplaces lend themselves to social media. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Are some of your staff already involved in social media for your market?
  • When you go trolling for mentions of your company or a competitor, do you find anything interesting?
  • Does your product require programming or constant use so that operators want to talk about solutions?
  • Do you have an email newsletter that you send out already?
  • Are there changes in your market? Do people want to know about them?
  • Are you interested in social media because it is ‘free advertising’?
  • Is there a specific trade-pub or website that embodies the whole of your market?
  • Does the one video you posted on YouTube have more than 25 views?
  • Are prospects curious about your technology, but not always ready to buy?
  • Does the trade pub in your market have more than 175 Facebook fans?
  • Do you have the time, content, and energy to put into such a program?

These are just off the top of my head. The last question is really the zinger. Because if you can’t do it right … strategically … you are going to fail. Publicly:

  • Everyone can see how many Twitter followers you have. How many Facebook fans there are. When you last blog-post was. How you responded to a upset customer.

So give it some thought. Drag out these questions to anyone bugging you to do SMM in 2011.

Personally, I’d invest my time in making videos. They are for the ages, and much more versatile. And your customers will appreciate them much more than a fan page regardless of their use of social media.