Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, FourSquare, Vine and the list goes on and on. Social media marketing continues to explode as a communications platform both personally and professionally. But does it work?
Yes! I know it does. We’ve worked in and seen it work for clients.
First some stats and facts… (from a November FastCompany article)
- The fastest growing demographic on Twitter is the 55-64 year-old (grown 79% since 2012).
- 189 million Facebook users are “mobile only.
- YouTube reaches more U.S. adults aged 18–34 than any cable network.
So back to the question: Does social media really work for businesses?
During 4Q 2013 Hostetler Public Relations realized two great successes with social media. These are true tales of success:
True Tale #1
We’ve worked with an import/export company for several years. The company started a small social media campaign early 2013. We agreed only to post when it made sense. Most posts are related to their community relations campaign.
In December, the owner received an email from an Indianapolis-based mid-sized business. The company found my client on Twitter. The email simply said: We’ve been looking for a new importer. I found you on Twitter. When can we meet? The budget is sizable and the business could be lucrative. Nice!
True Tale #2
Right before Thanksgiving we received a phone call from a long-time friend of the company. This local businesswoman was trying her expertise at product development via crowd funding on Kickstarter. She had 14 days left to generate her funding goal. She was off by many thousand dollars.
We wrote a PRWeb release about the product and posted it to bloggers, linked, followed, friended professionals in the crowd funding business. This generate buzz on the right blogs online and ultimately the client hit her funding goal. All from chatting it up online in the right places!