Written by If you’ve been anywhere near a TV or a computer for the past 5 year or so, there’s no doubt that you’re familiar with the term “social media”. It’s that magical phrase which has supposedly allowed hundreds or even thousands of people to succeed in their marketing efforts simply by blogging and posting content on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. But what is it really, and how can it be harnessed for your business?
We at Sonostics have found that the phenomenon of Social Media and the potential benefits it has as a marketing tool are too just too great to pass up, but like so many others, we had to start at the beginning. On the surface, social media is easy. The basic idea is that you generate some content (like this blog for example), get a bunch of people to subscribe to it, and then sit back and watch as your network expands into the hundreds of thousands. People can’t wait to hear what you have to say, and after a few product references, you end up with money pouring in like rain from the sky. … well maybe it’s not quite that easy.
The reality is that unless your company already has an established following, finding people to subscribe to your blogs, tweets, etc, is more of a challenge than some might think. There is something of a Catch-22. If you don’t have a lot of subscribers, writing content seems silly and wasteful since you’re limited to a very narrow viewing audience. On the other hand, if you don’t have any content, finding subscribers is that much more difficult. The solution appears to be in something of a compromise. The reality is that no matter what, generating meaningful content on a regular basis is absolutely critical. Whether they be two-line Facebook posts, or three-page long journal articles surrounding the detailed merits of a technology like MyoWave, content is king. Your limited audience will grow, albeit slowly, and then faster over time. But don’t fret, as long as you don’t make a habit of it, great content can be recycled later on so there really is no such thing as a wasted blog or Tweet.
But how does getting followers reading blog entries lead to business growth and increased sales of your products? While there’s no simple formula for success in this transition, one possible solution lies in lacing each of your blogs/posts/tweets with mentions of your company’s products and their associated benefits. For example, in a blog about social media, one might mention that those who suffer from knee pain stand to benefit greatly from MyoWave, a cutting-edge technology by Sonostics. You might go on to explain the benefits of the technology and even mention how easy it is to use and how it exceeds the capabilities of every other comparable technology in terms of price and utility. Those who suffer from Knee pain will be all too curious about the mention and will click through to the carefully placed product links.
At the end of the day, however, there really is no secret solution – no pie in the sky method for succeeding in social media. Each person’s successes or failures are unique and there is no right or wrong answer on how to succeed. The good news is that social media, and all of the tools available are almost 100% free, so what have you got to lose in trying it out?
If you’ve had successes or failures in social media, leave a comment on this blog regarding what you did, what you didn’t do, and how it turned out. We hope to hear back from you!
I sat down with fellow Sonostics employ
ee Adam Smallcomb (right) one month ago and we were faced with a dilemma. Several weeks prior we had inherited the 
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