How to make the most of social media:
The real deal on the art of online consumer engagement

Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, MySpace, Digg, LinkedIn - if these terms aren't part of your everyday lexicon, they will be soon. Social media isn't rising; it has risen, and it is the newest frontier between the reputation managers of corporate Canada and the millions of consumers they attempt to engage.

Social media presents both an unprecedented challenge and opportunity to influence public opinion. Purveyors of corporate messaging can no longer retain complete control over the dissemination and interpretation of information about their companies or their brands. Today's consumers drive messages--some good, others bad--and have altered the nature of corporate communications to be as reactive as it is active.

The use of social media as a communication tool by today's businesses is inevitable. With 21.9 million consumers downloading podcasts today and 200 million Facebook subscribers, including 11.5 million in Canada (two-thirds of the population), there is no ignoring the power and influence of these digital forces. And companies are taking notice. More than 50 per cent of APEX's clients are working with us to use social media as a method of engaging consumers, be it through blogs, podcasts, viral video campaigns or Facebook interaction. And according to data presented by social media expert Mark Evans at a recent event hosted by APEX, 53 per cent of businesses say they will increase the amount they spend on social media during recessionary times.

Yet to make effective use of this not-so-new media, we must understand the rules of engagement and which tools to incorporate into our arsenal. For many, this will be a process of trial and error. We cannot be afraid to make mistakes along the way; experimenting is crucial.

Canadian businesses can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines of the digital game. Conquering social media can only be achieved by using it to engage in a two-way conversation with consumers. This means engaging in social media on an ongoing basis as a means of brand reputation management when you have nothing to sell as well as supplementing this regular dialogue with forays into social media through marketing and public relations campaigns when selling is your primary goal.

Like any other tactic, success with social media can only come about with a clearly defined strategy and objectives. Businesses must first learn what's being said about them online and respond in a way that is personalized, entertaining, engaging, and useful, and that is neither contrived nor overtly branded - a skill he says is best left to communications professionals.

Only through honesty, transparency, accountability and most of all creativity will businesses earn the respect and attention of the sceptical and always-connected Facebook fanatics and the masses of Twittering information seekers.

Dedicated resources must be allocated to maintaining the two-way dialogue that should serve as a part of businesses' overall outreach strategy irrespective of whether it is also being used as a tool within a marketing or PR campaign.

The advent of social media presents an extraordinary opportunity to remain relevant among the masses and maintain brand reputation. Though it may still appear somewhat of an enigma today, businesses can overcome their inhibitions about social media through earnest experimentation guided by experts, and can realize incredible success by using a clearly defined strategy that complements traditional tools of consumer engagement. Doing so serves not only to mitigate consumer cynicism but also to establish a genuine rapport with consumers and create a new mass of brand ambassadors.

"[Social media] is one of the tools that you're going to be deploying sooner or later; so it had better be sooner rather than later." - Mark Evans, marketing and communications consulting strategist specializing in social media