There are skeptics out there who are not willing to take a risk and engage in the world of social media. Some are afraid of change while others simply do not feel that they know enough about it. Then, there are some that know that their competition hasn’t engaged the customers through social media means. All of these are given as reasons for staying away. EXCUSES! But, what these individuals, businesses, brands, and organizations fail to realize is that social media and related Web 2.0 and beyond technologies are great opportunities that can aid their efforts in many different ways. What works for one company, brand, or organization won’t necessarily work for the rest – it is not a universal solution, for, instead, social media and related technologies and marketing efforts should be shaped and tailored to fit the needs and goals of company, brand, or organization. There is no copy and paste; alternatively, proper planning and preparation are needed to reach optimal success. Those rules (the need for planning and preparation) haven’t changed, for only the environment and landscape have changed. Just like football evolved from predominantly a running game to that of a passing game, marketing has evolved from television and newspapers to online media marketing. However, as in the past, the need to preplan and coordinate is just as great if not more so now than ever in the history of marketing. With new options and opportunities comes some added complexity in the marketing mix. But, determination, persistence, and planning will go a long way.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Who are your customers?
2. Where do your customers frequent online? (Facebook? Twitter? Blogs?)
3. What do you want to communicate to your customers?
4. Are you willing to listen to your customers?

For decades, more and more people have surrounded televisions around the nation and even the world to watch the Super Bowl. In its 44th annual installment on Sunday, more and more companies are looking at ways to do one of two things. One: those shelling out nearly three million dollars per 30-second advertising spot are wanting to maximize their visibility as best as they can. A great example of this is GoDaddy.com and its extended commercials (and conclusions) that are online following the airing of the Super Bowl ad. Two: some large companies are simply forgoing the costly route of producing and broadcasting their advertising messages within the normal Super Bowl channels. An example of this is Pepsi and their sudden departure from Super Bowl commercial placement. After 23 straight Super Bowl appearances, they are throwing all of their Super Bowl marketing budget behind social media! They are wanting to make a bigger difference and appeal in the world, and social media is allowing them greater success through their new Refresh Project.

While we do not know which team on the field is going to walk off with the Lombardi Trophy, one thing is for sure – the real winner will be social media. This illustrates how marketing is going through a paradigm shift of sorts. Mass media channels are simply not the only way to go if you seek national or global brand recognition. We have a new set of tools at our disposal, and some are tinkering with these new tools. Of course, there are a few companies and executives out there that are oblivious to this change that is rapidly fermenting; it is time to jump aboard the Social Media train.

Technology is changing more and more in this fast-paced business and consumer world. Businesses are scrambling to keep up with these changes. The traditional means of conducting business is no longer acceptable or viable. Take the communication channels of yesterday versus those of today.

Traditional: We do not send postal mail like we used to. As a result, while the United States Postal Service (USPS) gets more efficient and embraces technology to allow customers to send mail with ease, the cost of shipping each package has increased because the traffic and sheer volume of postal mail has decreased. In fact, to reduce the bottom line and operating expenses, the USPS has considered cutting their Saturday services.

New Age: Email still remains a valid means of communication, but this is even changing as social media is taking over. As Brandon Eley and Shayne Tilley point out in their book, Online Marketing Inside Out, that many of today’s youth don’t check their emails that often and instead rely on their favorite social media channels to act as their communication tools.

Change is ongoing and inevitable. As the great social media guru, Paul Gillin, reminds us in his enlightening book, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, to simply EMBRACE this CHANGE! By embracing the changes within business and marketing… and communication, we put ourselves into the conversation and into the game. If we do not, we will end up struggling to stay significant and lose any hopes of maintaining pace with the industry leaders. So, are you willing to embrace the changes today? Do you want to keep pace with the competition?

Branding is a challenge for people and companies alike, and the addition of advancing technologies both assist and complex this endeavor. Also, it should be noted that the strong brand today cannot simply sleep on yesterday’s achievements, for the customers are powerful and demanding – what are you doing for me today? We live in a world wherein loyalty to brands and companies is decreasing by the minute; each customer has more and more options at his or her fingertips. Consequently, while your brand can reach out to exponentially more customers than in previous decades, the brands and the representatives monitoring and marketing those brands have to stay on their toes! Your brand is constantly being judged, and its value will rise and fall like the stock market.

A brand has to be cultivated and nurtured. It takes hard work and dedication. One thing that we all need to realize is that brands are not isolated or unique simply to the products and services offered by Company A or B! Instead, brands are being extended to you – you are a brand, and social media is illustrating this more and more. Mitch Joel mentions in his highly recommended, exceptional book, Six Pixels of Separation, that “in this digital age, your personal brand will be your most powerful ally (or enemy)” (p. 127). He continues by noting that “branding is the heart and soul of a business – and of the people who make up that business” (p. 129). He is right on target with this one. Branding is at the core of everything the business does and offers. The same is true for the person, you! And those brands’ value will rise and fall, much to the dependency upon what you do with it! Each brand is unique, and the customer is watching. The customer is bright and very keen. Do as Mitch Joel reminds us and be passionate about your brand – in what you do! Don’t let your brand or your passion be fake, for the customer will smell that from many bytes away just like it does when you fake a smile!

So, is your brand on the rise? Or is it simply on the downward slide? Will it reach its potential? All of that is up to you! Are you willing to put forth the time and effort in to make it the best that you can?

Technology enables us all to search on nearly every topic that we can think of, and it enables us to find information at the touch of the mouse. With the continued advancement of technology and movement into a well-established Web 2.0 where social media is growing a force that must be acknowledged, companies and brands alike need to remember the importance of transparency. Companies need to listen to their customers more than ever before, and they have to remain accountable for their actions, both good AND bad. When the companies make mistakes, as they all will, transparency can be the difference between customer forgiveness and understanding and losing critical market share and revenue.

If companies are going to find a competitive advantage, they must remain humble and transparent. Now, in the past, the larger, bigger companies had extra super powers that enabled them to claim themselves as exceptions to the rules, but today, in an age of advancing technology and two-way communication within the improving Internet, all companies have to follow the same rules.  C?ter?s paribus all companies begin on the same level and playing field within the virtual world that we now identify as Web 2.0! With today’s consumers able to reach a vast array of companies in a quest to fill their every need and want, today’s companies need to monitor their brands, put out fires, and ensure that they remain transparent to their niche target market; otherwise, customers will pick one of the other ten million suppliers!