Social media: ongoing challenges and conversations
Jinfo Blog

By Michelle Manafy

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I've just had the privilege of participating on a panel called Social Media Success: Uncovering What Works, hosted by WBZ (CBS Boston) Radio. The panel was the latest in a series of Business Breakfasts on social media that WBZ has held to provide a forum for local businesspeople to learn about and discuss their issues with implementing social media successfully. (They are also available to anyone via archived streaming video.) Not surprisingly, the topic has been incredibly popular for WBZ and, as with its previous events, this panel discussion was standing room only.

WBZ was kind enough to invite me because of my work on the book Dancing With Digital Natives: Staying in Step With the Generation That's Transforming the Way Business is Done. However, given my work here at FreePint, it was wonderful to have an opportunity to learn from my fellow panellists: video blogging pioneer Steve Garfield, social media marketing consultant AJ Gerritson from 451 Marketing, and social media natural (and veteran of Fox TV's Hell's Kitchen), Jason Santos who is the chef and owner of Boston-based Blue, Inc.

This panel focused specifically on success stories in order to provide examples that others can emulate. A Boston-based social media friend, IBM technology architect Eric Andersen, was kind enough to provide me with some terrific examples from Boston to share with this audience (and you) that include Boston Local Company, The Charles Hotel and the Boston Police.

As we moved to the question segment of the discussion, a social media truism became quickly apparent: The concerns and issues are as diverse as the businesses seeking to solve them. In the responses, another truism was revealed: be authentic, genuine and go beyond self-promotion to be a positive force in your community.

When we think about social media, it is essential to remember that this is fundamentally social. We are part of a community. Knowing that community so you can be constructive and deliver information that matters will resonate in valuable ways. It remains a challenge to quantify the value (the ROI) of social media participation by traditional business metrics. Not that we don't all love "fans," "followers" and "likes." But how do you monetise a "like" anyhow?

Well, like social life, social media will never be a tidy value proposition. However fellow panellists proffered some good ideas to begin to quantify (and build) engagement including special or discount offers and surveys. One example I particularly liked was cross promotion with a charity, cause or organisation you support: support a good cause, generate good will and maybe build some business in the process.

Certainly, the social media "conversation" – and the conversation about how to best leverage it for business objectives – will only grow louder in the coming years. Now, at least, we are beginning to see a real range of organisations in a variety of sectors aggressively experimenting and effectively leveraging it for customer interaction, if not yet the quantifiable marketing and sales numbers we all crave. Engaging with customers is, after all, the foundation of good business.

Here's hoping you'll engage FreePint on Twitter and interact with the VIP team on Twitter.

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