Twitterpated: How You Can Learn to Love Social Media

If you immediately associate the word “twitter” with “chatter about trivial matters,” your vocabulary may be robust, but your knowledge about cutting-edge social media is probably lacking. Ask a 25-year-old young professional about Twitter and he or she will undoubtedly reference the popular social networking Web site that allows users to micro-blog by sending and receiving short, text-based information.

And so exists the great divide in today’s workplace regarding social media. A split between younger workers – generally the 30 and under crowd – who have this type of communication ingrained in their daily routines, and the older decision makers who have typically shied away from understanding the potential of social media.

The reality is while senior level staffers are watching the evening news and reading the newspaper, younger employees are going to blogs, Facebook-ing (yes it can be a verb too), and scouring online videos for their daily intake of information. Most CEOs realize social media’s endurance as an influential communication channel and acknowledge that it should be incorporated into the company’s marketing strategy in some way, but are clueless as to how to translate the glamorous notion of social media into specific tactics that can help the company grow.

BUILT-IN EXPERTS: What CEOs do not often realize is that they may already have a built in staff of social media experts: the iPod wearing, text messaging younger staffers who are YouTubing their way through Friday afternoons. Rather than ignoring the great divide between worker generations, bridge the gap by tapping into these junior employees’ fresh perspectives and social media savvy. Use them as private tutors for “social media 101” lessons and get an insider’s guide to blogs, online video and social networks – the three most popular social media tools, according to a 2008 research study called “New Media, New Influencers and Implications for Public Relations” by the Society for New Communications Research.

According to the aforementioned study, online conversations through social media increasingly influence traditional media, so marketing your company in new“social” ways can lead to more mainstream coverage. In fact, 57 percent of survey respondents agreed that social media tools are becoming more valuable to their activ ities as more customers and influencers use them, and 27 percent reported that social media is a core element of their communications strategy.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Another way to unite the two fronts and boost a company’s social media understanding – not to mention earn brownie points among staff – is to implement “Facebook Fridays” where employees spend an hour or so cruising social media sites, posting comments on industry blogs, joining new networking sites, or monitoring related trends on www.blogpulse.com. Becoming part of the online conversation is the first step in maximizing social media as a marketing tool and staff will view this time as a Friday treat rather than work.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT: One of the biggest challenges concerning social media is obtaining a return on investment for your efforts. The study reported that search engine ranking and Web site traffic were perceived as being most useful in evaluating the influence of social media campaigns, but these quantitative measures do not always speak to the more qualitative goal of increasing target audience awareness.

Nonetheless, evaluation challenges should not dissuade you from utilizing socialmedia, especially since companies that have a presence in the conversation are viewed as more credible and cutting edge. In fact, as indicated in Universal McCann’s “Social Media Research Wave 3” research report, 36 percent of the 17,000 respondents think more positively about companies that have blogs.

It is time to stop resisting and start embracing the expanding workplace generation of social media enthusiasts – your company’s “street cred” and future bottom line will depend upon this new media marketing evolution.

Laura Van Eperen, CEO, and Allison Gebhardt, account executive, are with Van Eperen Public Relations, a full service public relations and marketing firm. www.vepublicrelations.com.