Socializing your retail business - The facts of why Social Media is a must!

If you are a retail business considering getting into Social Media Marketing –or- you are currently utilizing social media but are trying to figure out the what’s and more importantly the why’s, this is a must read.

According to Razorfish’s 2009 Digital Brand Experience Study, as reported by eMarketer, over 40% of US Facebook and MySpace users have “friended” a brand or company. Couple this data with the chart put out by The Business Insider, showing the average Facebook user views 662 pages a month and the data begins to become almost surreal. These numbers beckon retailers, whether kicking and screaming or with positive enthusiasm to engage in the medium.

Meeting with several prospective clients of fondalo recently, I’ve heard many excuses or reasons why a company has decided not engage the medium for their retail business. Two of the top reasons have been 1) “our customers are not on the internet/Facebook” and 2) “we don’t have the knowledge, time or bandwidth to do it”.

Let’s address these individually:

1) Our customers are not online or on Facebook: Excuse me, but I beg to differ! With almost 100 million social network users in the US alone, your customers are not only on Facebook, they are finding your competitors and NOT you.

Further data in the Razorfish study shows that 64% of consumers said they made their first purchase from a brand because of a digital experience—be it a Website, microsite, mobile coupon or e-mail. More importantly “friending” or becoming a fan took raising awareness to consideration, purchase and recommendations to friends. What other medium you have used has these results?

2) We don’t have the bandwidth: What company now days are blessed with additional human and/or expertise bandwidth to throw at a new requirement? The answer, none! So making decisions, setting priorities and even seeking outside professional help is a must.

fondalo helps many clients to build a sustainable social marketing strategy and use social media marketing to achieve ROI immediately, while escalating the results of branding and viral customer sharing of your offers.

So lets review… Step one: realize that the reasoning you have used for not creating a social media presence is flawed and modify your decisions to engage your customers. Step two: find and hire a social media professional, consultant or company that can help you build a strategy. Use these outsourced resources to help you execute the strategy and learn the necessary skills and information you need to make it successful.

By Robert M. Caruso

www.facebook.com/robertcaruso

CEO fondalo, Inc.