Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words ...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media

A category of sites that is based on user participation and user-generated content. They include social networking sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, social bookmarking sites like Del.icio.us, social news sites like Digg or Reddit, and other sites that are centered on user interaction.

searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html

The term social media describes media that is posed by the user and can take many different forms. Some types of social media are forums, message boards, blogs, wikis and podcasts. Social media applications include Google, Facebook and YouTube.

www.batchblue.com/glossary.html

Software tools that allow groups to generate content and engage in peer-to-peer conversations and exchange of content (examples are YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace etc)

www.bottlepr.co.uk/glossary.html

Social media is the use of online and mobile technology and tools that let people share

content, personal opinions, different perspectives and insights about everything

and anything.

Social Media: Time to Get on the Bandwagon

The novelty of social media is over

It's here and becoming an integral part of how companies communicate, market and

sell their products and services.

What’s Important About Social Media?

It’s the Customer

Yet, many companies are still scared to embrace social media.

Why?

Don't understand it

Don't know how much it's going to cost

Can’t see how it can be measured (aka ROI)

AND

There’s No Lack of Choice

But Only a Small Number Really Matter

Rule #1: Experiment

Blogs…Still Alive and Well

Still the most effective corporate social media to build brands because they’re a powerful way to showcase a company’s

knowledge, passion and brand while connecting with other people.

In the same way that companies eventually started to blog, they will (sooner or later)

embrace Twitter upon realizing it’s become a valuable communications, marketing and

sales tool.

Easier and quicker than writing a blog

Lets you be part of the conversation

Can be used for a variety of purposes

5M supporters on 15 social networks More than 1B Emails sent to supporters 180,000 followers on Twitter

YouTube: 139,000 Obama related videos 1,800 official videos The “Yes We Can” received 14.2M views 15 videos in channel with >1M views

Dell says Twitter has produced more than $1 million in revenue over the past 18 months

through sales alerts

Fuzion:

Small Price, Big Sales....

and no advertising or promotion

"People were talking about it on blogs and at parties, on Facebook, via text

messaging, on BlackBerrys and in chat rooms. Everyone wants to know what is

hot. It is viral. Such instant communication is new and dynamic and a very interesting

phenomenon for the wine business." - Shari Mogk-Edwards, VP, merchandising,

LCBO

Even Pope Benedict XVI is doing social media

ME Consulting: www.markevans.ca Twitter: @markevans Blog: markevanstech.com, twitterrati.com Facebook: http://preview.tinyurl.com/bpb2rc