I was recently doing some research on Google and typed in the search box “simple steps to social media”. The results made me chuckle when the top 15 results contained the following descriptions:

• 10 Simple Steps to Social Media
• 9 Simple Steps to Social Media
• 8 Simple Steps to Social Media
• 7 Simple Steps to Social Media
• 5 Simple Steps to Social Media
• 4 Simple Steps to Social Media
• 3 Simple Steps to Social Media

I’m curious what happened with the 2-step and 6-step process. Well, if you search for 6 simple steps, it’s out there too! But I was surprised that no one seems to have the brilliance to devise a 2-step process. So I began to ponder to notion of how many steps does it take? Is there a answer to this question? Perhaps the magic 8-ball will know the answer? I know, Mr. Owl will know! He figured out how many licks it took to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. A one, a two, a three.

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I’m often asked “Should my company have a blog?” My answer is almost always yes. I advocated the idea of creating a corporate blog for most of my clients. The power of a corporate blog can have extremely positive results; however, several recent articles have focused on the downside of corporate blogging.

The Upside
One of the biggest advantages of creating a company blog is it allows organizations a platform where information, data and opinion can be shared and traded. The open forum of communication is a two-way exchange between the company and its employees, customers, partners and prospects allowing a constant stream of exchanged information. Blogs make it easy for group participation allowing users a quick way to post and comment, creating an ongoing conversation.
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Recently many clients, business colleagues and friends have been asking my opinion on social marketing and its roll in today’s business environment. Is it a fad or trend? Do you think my company should engage in social marketing? What are the first steps? Facebook or Twitter? Blog or bulletin board?

Social marketing has been around since the early 1970’s but has only become very mainstream in the past decade. The first thing to understand is, what is social marketing? It takes many forms, but can be most easily be described as “interaction between an audience or community with a common interest.” Of course, this is a very simplified definition of a very complex marketing concept.

Social marketing is made up of bits and pieces of several different disciplines, such as education, marketing/advertising, anthropology and social psychology. The benefits of social marketing are more directly associated with the individual or society than the marketer’s organization. Social marketing is most effective at sustaining socially beneficial behavioral change, increase program use and customer interaction of an existing service or product.
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