There is a cost to participating in social media. Although social sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are "free", before jumping on the social media bandwagon, a company must understand the supporting costs involved in 1) launching a presence and 2) maintaining a following on these sites.

Costs include the dedication of staff to this social media effort. Employees must be trained in the effective use of social media for promotion and, more importantly, human "conversational" contact with your customers.

It's likely your staff will be using some non-core competencies to put a "human" face on your company. As a result, several companies now have social media policies in place to govern their employees' online activities. Striking a good balance between control and freedom of speech is the challenge - especially since involvement in social media, by its very nature, implies a surrender of corporate control to some degree!

Social media is just that - social. Companies that view social media as just another platform for top-down corporate communication, miss the point. If companies aren't "social" or conversational, they'll never develop a loyal following of advocates that enthusiastically spread their branding message across the web. Yes, you can promote your products on social media, but it is much better if your customers promote them for you - assuming your products/services are worth talking about in the first place!

Beyond Word of Mouth Marketing

But for the old school marketers out there, social media is more than a word of mouth marketing vehicle. It is a powerful tool that helps companies brand themselves more pervasively across the internet and be "top of mind" when customers and prospects have need.

Why is that important? Well, studies show that 9 out of 10 industrial buyers and engineers use the internet during some portion of the buying process BEFORE they even contact a supplier.

 Companies that participate actively in social media benefit from:

• cross-channel online promotion of their products and services
• increased website traffic
• a boost to natural search engine rankings
• a new customer service vehicle
• access to innovative R & D ideas from a broader customer base
• the ability to better monitor their competitors
• networking that results in more sales leads

How can a small to medium-sized industrial company evaluate whether it is worth allocating time and resources to social media?

More Listening Posts

Here are a few more free online "listening posts" that may help you answer that question:

Google Blog Search Blogs (or WeB Logs) are an excellent means to gain search engine ranking because they help build rich content on a company's website. This tool allows you to see who blogged about the keywords, products, brands or services of importance to your company. Just input these keywords in Google Blog Search to gather relevant marketing data.

SocialMention enables you to search keywords and phrases as a whole across social media channels or by specific categories (i.e. blogs, images, video, news etc.). If you do a keyword search for your company brand or a competitors, it also gives you a rating on the "strength, passion, sentiment and reach" of that keyword across the web. Whenever anything you query is mentioned, you receive an email. Here's a sample SocialMention analysis http://socialmention.com/search?q=thomasnet&t=all

Tweetbeep Alerts Somewhat like a Google Alert, Tweetbeep searches the search.twitter.com site for mentions of the specific keywords or phrases that you input. You are allowed up to 10 free alerts, and they are sent as an email to you either hourly, daily, or as they occur. If you are not always on Twitter, or checking in to the search feature of Twitter, this is a great alert system.

Take note of what's being said at these "listening posts"; whether positive, negative or neutral. The data you mine from these online reputation management tools can offer a wealth of insight into customer needs or perhaps some market segments that aren't being well served.

Such insight can also help you build a case for more active participation in social media since, whether you engage in social media conversations or not, it may prove that others are talking about your company's brand all over the web.

Industrial companies are invited to contact me directly at (519) 342-8551 for a free integrated online marketing consultation. For more internet marketing and social media tips, follow me on Twitter!

Flickr Photo Credit "Lost in the Translation"