• Social Media Marketing

    We just got back from the DFWIMA meeting on marketing and social media. Some guys from Yahoo! shared statistical findings about “Brand Advocates.” They define an advocate as someone who researches extensively before purchasing and also recommends their products. They compared behavior between Advocates and Non-Advocates.

    The end result is that we were all encouraged to pursue a working understanding of social media and to locate the Advocates online who might best respresent our clients or our own products. Not enough was said about practical applications, but it was worth attending simply to receive the reinforced knowledge that Advocates take pride in promoting their purchases through blogs, forums, online communities, photoblogs, and online videos.

    Social media is exploding as people seek to voice their opinions and experiences. Everyone wants to be heard. Not everyone chooses to use web 2.0 tools to do so, but it is the age of information sharing and popularity plays a big role in whose voice is heard.

    Now the question is: who are the popular Advocates, how did they become so popular, and is it better to create our own advocates or harness existing talents to do the work for us?